Shelby Foote Quotes

I write by hand and then transfer the text onto the computer. I like the process of actually having a pen in my hand. Things flow more easily for me that way.

I write everything with fountain pens. I don't know why. I've done it since I was bar mitzvahed. I was given a fountain pen, a Parker fountain pen, and I loved it, and I've never liked writing anything with pencils or ball-points.

I write in pen because it works. A fountain pen is no good for writing in the way I do because I'd have to decide, each time I stopped, how long I was likely to stop for in order to know whether or not to put the cap on. But I never know. So instead, I use a ballpoint - a Montblanc, to be precise - the most comfortably balanced pen I've ever found.

To hold a pen is to be at war.

I work by hand, with a fountain pen, in bound notebooks I buy in India.

I still write in long hand. I type like a chimpanzee.

I've always written by hand. Mostly with a fountain pen, but sometimes with a pencil - especially for corrections.

I have to write a first draft with a fountain pen before I type it up as a second.

I write all over the house. Because I write in longhand, I can go anywhere I want... I have some notebooks here and there, and then I type it in and pull it out, and I do the revisions all over the place.

I often write in pencil on paper and then type up later. It's much quicker than using a keyboard.

Writing has always had that tactile quality for me. It's a physical experience.

I can't even imagine writing nonfiction by hand. I think if I didn't have a computer, I just couldn't do it. Maybe it's a brain-section issue.

I use a ball pen because fountain pens are clumsy, and I get ink all over my fingers by the time I finish with it.

First, consider the pen you write with. It should be a fast-writing pen because your thoughts are always much faster than your hand. You don't want to slow up your hand even more with a slow pen. A ballpoint, a pencil, a felt tip, for sure, are slow. Go to a stationery store and see what feels good to you. Try out different kinds. Don't get too fancy and expensive. I mostly use a cheap Sheaffer fountain pen, about $1.95.... You want to be able to feel the connection and texture of the pen on paper.

I work with pen and paper. That's my favorite way to write. I love the way the ink sinks into the wood, soaks into the wood pulp. There's something about that process that's so organic.

I write description in longhand because that's hardest for me and you're closer to the paper when you work by hand, but I use the typewriter for dialogue because people speak like a typewriter works.

I like the process of pencil and paper as opposed to a machine. I think the writing is better when it's done in handwriting.

I don't feel I write fast. I write in longhand and do so much revision. On the page, it's so old-fashioned. I could write a whole novel on scrap paper, scribbles and things. I keep looking at it and something develops. For me, using a word processor would mean staring at a screen for too many hours.

There's something special about writing by hand, writing with a fountain pen, and there's something special about writing into a book, to take a blank book and turn it into an actual book.

I always write in pencil, so I can erase.

I'm not a big gadget guy. When I write, I'll do the whole thing by hand, and then I'll put it into the computer.

I write in longhand. I am accustomed to that proximity, that feel of writing. Then I sit down and type.

My first five novels were written longhand. So were hosts of short stories.

I do a lot of revising on paper. Sometimes I think I should just write longhand - what I type reads very different once I print it out.

The first drafts of my novels have all been written in longhand, and then I type them up on my old electric. I have resisted getting a computer because I distrust the whole PC thing. I don't think a great book has yet been written on computer.