Handwriting vs revisions

[jonvandalen]

Just curious how you who draft and revise on paper are formatting and spacing your poetry on the page, and if there are any good practices to know about for revising and inserting words into an existing handwritten poem.

[alonso ramoran]

I just write it as it comes to me and don't really worry about if the length of the line overflows into the next line spacing. It's only once I transfer it over onto an online/printed document that I consider the line lengths more closely. As for revising an existing handwritten poem, I write in pen so I have no issues with scribbling out a word I don't like or rewriting the poem altogether if I wanna make more drastic changes.

[milo]

Just curious how you who draft and revise on paper are formatting and spacing your poetry on the page, and if there are any good practices to know about for revising and inserting words into an existing handwritten poem.

I think there is some merit to handwriting but what I jot down is just ideas - key phrases, metaphors, thoughts etc.  I inevitably type it all in on the computer so I can copy, paste, etc.

Usually, I will read the ideas, and then kind of free write with carriage returns on key thoughts or words.  Then I read back through it for rhythm, spacing, breathing, verbiage.  I will make another pass for line breaks, trimming, any final thoughts on metaphor and clarity.  Most of my edits are done from the site so I edit them right in the post screen.