I know there’s apparently a link between messy handwriting and how smart someone is. Simply put, the hand can’t keep up with the brain 
my old English teacher would write in block capitals during class, but his comments on assignments were impossible to read.
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I only handwrite my drafts and ideas. I usually carry a notebook with me wherever I go and if a story idea comes to mind then I quickly jot it down. Other than that, I prefer typing 
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I handwrite notes when I am learning something new because I can use the whole page more freely to quickly draw lines or figures or side notes and reference things earlier on the page much more quickly to make connections.
When drafting or writing out my own thoughts, my handwriting is WAY TOO SLOW to keep up. I am a speedy touch typist and even typing can slow me down composing. I have been frustrated more than once by trying to get one part of an idea down and somehow lose track of where I was going because I couldn’t keep up with the thoughts racing ahead in my mind.
I would try dictation but for some reason I feel subjectively more creative when the writing comes through my fingers than by speaking my thoughts.
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I handwrite when I’m stuck. If I’ve got an idea for a scene but it’s not working, I’ll freewrite everything I know to be true about the scene, the things I want to have happen, how each of the characters feel, etc. till I can figure out the best way to approach it. Once that’s done, I can go back to drafting which I do at my computer.
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The greatest gift of college must be the quirks we carry and persist. . .
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I romanticize the thought of handwriting on paper. I picture myself writing perfect cursive in a notebook with thoughtful ideas.
In reality, i can never read what I write, partly because I tend to overthink and edit as I write, then lose my thought of where I was going.
I prefer typing for the different devices and formats possible. I type in Google docs. Fornat in Scrivner. Speech to text while driving. Chart in Google sheets. Take notes on a phone app or google keep… or an occasional J K. Rowling napkin if nothing electronic is handy.
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@Saragflee Sometimes I struggle to read some of my handwritten notes–especially if I haven’t seen them in a while. This is a pic of some of the notes I did for a short story I wrote a couple months ago, and it’s by far not the worst example I have of my chicken scratch… 
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The JK napkin . . . my desk is covered in dp Post-Its!
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I do a bit of both. Up to and through most of college I was almost exclusively a handwritten style writer. I still have the hordes of composition notebooks with my uncounted number of drafts and edits in the margins. There’s something relaxing about the slower pace it takes to do longhand writing. It gives you time to think as you go.
It was probably because I started take notes in class with my laptop, but during college I slowly transitioned to writing more on the computer. It was certainly faster and once I had a phone with a Word program that could sync with my computer, well…I was fast becoming a better typist than longhand writer.
I still carry a notebook with me wherever I go, but I remember when it would take me only a month or two to fill one of those while now I can go half a year before filling a hardcopy notebook. When I have a phone that has all the typing and memory capability of a computer it makes collecting my notes that much easier.
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I used to write in longhand. I loved it every scene I wrote I could see and hear everything like i was watching it enfold on a screen. Then, because my wrist had started acting up and I would get a headache if I wrote for too long, I got a computer. It was like a thick pain of glass came between me and my characters. I have gotten used to it over the years I’ve been using one because to not write is to not be happy.
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Sorry for all the typos and even the wrong word (it should have been pane) I was writing near supper time and must have been really hungry! Also my tablet keyboard has a mind of its own sometimes
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In an altered form, it very well could be a “pain” of glass.
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Speech recognition software is what I use to get my ideas, and books, on the page as well as any computer use generally. In this way, I don’t let my physical disabilities get in the way of my creation.
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Got done transcribing one of my handwritten outlines a little bit ago and realized… this chapter introduces my characters into what might be considered “Extreme Hide and Seek.” They’re onboard a locked-down ship, and there’s a murderer hiding somewhere onboard. O_O
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Hand written in longhand? Give me a break. My penmanship is so bad that even I can’t read it. Back in the dark ages when I got my start as a writer, I carried the obligatory pocket notebooks but my note taking was a slow, laborious process because I had to print everything if I wanted to read my notes. When small cassette recorders became available, it was a day to celebrate. Today I carry a digital voice recorder. Today I often dictate my text into my Notebook or Laptop using voice to text programs. Anyway, I have written nothing in longhand since graduating from high school and then college back in the 1960s.
I do both. Mostly I type straight into the wordprocessor, but if I need to “think aloud” I prefer to do that by writing it down on paper. I also prefer paper when I’m doing an especially difficult scene, partly because it feels more organic somehow but more I think because there are fewer distractions. I also find it helpful at those times to be lying on my sofa, so I write on A6 sheets (A5 folded into little 4-page booklets) I bulldog clip to an A6 piece of cardboard. That way it feels very disposable and throw-away while still being permanent. When I get around to typing them up I cross out the sections or pages so I know I’ve captured as much of it as I want.
I write fast, but print for clarity, and writing small helps a lot since the pencil doesn’t move far. I even found 0.3mm propelling pencils and 0.3mm 2B pencil leads so the letters are crisp and I don’t need to worry about stopping to sharpen a pencil.
The above image is one such A6 page. I’m a bit short-sighted so I have no trouble reading it - usually!
I guess I write 80% on computer, about 20% on paper, and occasionally dictate short emails or notes to myself if I don’t have either of those handy.
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Mostly typing although I will turn to handwriting if I need a change of pace. Also, certain types of revising I will do on printouts of the work rather than on a computer as it helps me see the text differently. What is 100% handwritten are my notes. Writing things down has always been my most successful way of learning things, so now I keep a ‘bible’ of everything story related: character histories, development, floor plans, maps, research notes, outlines, histories, music etc. in a specific journal-like notebook. It’s organized with an index that grows as the notes do and is beginning to tell its own story about how my current project is coming to be.
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Handwriting? Oh… noooooooo. While my writing would look fine for a few paragraphs, it would quickly change to something unreadable. Plus, my hand would ache.
Writing in Word, with it set up as an actual 6x9 book works for me.
I used to only write longhand- with a sharp pencil and soft eraser. But my hand had trouble keeping up with my brain! The main reason… I write on the go- in the doctors waiting room, on the plane or train, on the beach (my favorite place!) on lunch break. Now I have small laptop so it travels with me.
And I no longer worry about that soft eraser wearing away!
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As a recently retired ‘multi media marketing creative’, typing still feels too much like I am at work, so I have been using longhand for my newest novel attempt adventure.
So far so good, although I do worry about when the time comes to type it all up!
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