In the modern era, we are constantly being shaped by external programming. Algorithms decide what we see. Software predicts what we want to type. AI can generate entire pages before we have fully formed the thought ourselves.
There is nothing inherently wrong with these tools. I use them constantly. They are powerful, fast and useful. But that is exactly why I think it is worth protecting one part of the creative process from them.
So I am changing how I write for Beast’s Almanack.
I am drafting by hand first
The first version of a post now starts with a notebook and a pen.
No autocomplete. No grammar correction. No suggestions. No notifications. No software trying to improve the sentence before I even understand what I am trying to say.
Just thought, friction and paper.
That friction matters. When I write by hand, I cannot move at machine speed. I have to slow down enough to follow the idea. I cross things out. I change direction. I leave ugly sentences on the page. I make mistakes.
And that is useful.
The point is not to produce a beautiful manuscript. The point is to see what I actually think before another system starts shaping the output.
We need some space between ourselves and the software
We now spend much of our day inside systems designed by someone else. Feeds rank information for us. Platforms optimize for engagement. Editors complete our sentences. Search engines decide what is relevant. AI systems can now help with reasoning, coding, writing, research and almost everything else.
Again, I am not against any of this. I work in AI. I build with software. I think these tools are extraordinary.
But using powerful tools well also means knowing when not to use them.
A notebook gives me a small space that is not optimized by an external system. The page does not care whether the sentence is engaging. The pen does not suggest a better word. Nothing is ranking the thought.
For a few minutes, the only algorithm in the loop is my own brain.
The workflow is simple
I do not need an expensive productivity system for this.
An ordinary notebook is enough. A blue or black pen is enough. Horizontal, vertical, spiral-bound, expensive, cheap, none of it matters very much.
The process is:
- Think without software.
- Write the raw idea by hand.
- Let the page stay imperfect.
- Move the draft into the computer.
- Use software to clean the grammar, improve structure and format the post.
- Publish.
This is the balance I want.
Human first. Machine second.
The machine should refine the thought, not replace it
Once the idea exists, I have no problem bringing the machines back in.
The computer can fix typos. It can catch grammar mistakes. It can help structure headings. It can resize images, format the page and make the article easier to read.
That is exactly where software is excellent.
But I do not want every original thought to begin inside a box that is already trying to predict what comes next.
I want the first draft to belong to me.
Bad handwriting is completely fine
My handwriting is not the point.
Good handwriting does not make an idea better. Bad handwriting does not make an idea worse.
What matters is that you create a space in your own head where an idea is allowed to exist before it is optimized, corrected, measured or improved.
For me, that space is a notebook.
This post itself began that way.
I drafted it with a pen. I crossed things out. I rewrote sentences. Then I brought the draft into the digital world and let the tools do what they are good at.
That is how I want to write this blog from now on.
Think analog. Refine digitally. Publish deliberately.
Thanks for reading. See you in the next one.
