You can’t tell now, but I am writing this column in longhand. I’m on a tropical island (don’t hate me) without access to a computer screen (ditto) and composing a column this way is an enlightening — ...

I'm a writer, and to generate words I care about I first write them longhand, with pen and ink on paper. I'm also a teacher of creative writing, and when I tell my students—virtually all of whom write ...