Paper memories

If you’re a creative in 2022, you probably use a lot of tech.

Your strategies, ideas, plans, sketches and writing are probably on a machine.

I write all my blog posts are in Apple Notes. My art is all on local hard drives.

But you know what isn’t on a machine?

The memories:

When I’m exploring new characters, I do it on paper. My paper memories of how personalities were born are priceless, and old avenues sometimes birth new ideas while looking back on them.

When I’m exploring new strategies, I do it on paper. My paper memories remind me of how the slower pace of handwriting slowed my thinking, allowing me to digest each thought more divergently. There’s no backspace, so old ideas are available for rediscovery later on.

When I’m developing new habits, I do it on paper. My paper memories immortalise my commitments and skipped days in ways an app you uninstalled years ago never could.

If you’re not making paper memories, you don’t know what you’re missing.