To me this is simple logic, because I have been there. A wheelchair begins to use the same area as the walking bit of the brain according to some new science. I can link it if I google but I am a bit fried. I read about this a few months ago. It stunned scientists and this had a bunch of wheelchair users laughing at their shock. I only have to think about rolling when I would’ve had to work hardest at not collapsing into a heap of limbs.

The same applies to any other assistive device, or so I have presumed because I use them too. The brain uses different areas for creation than conversation anyway. I do not THINK about typing, but if I am trying to converse, Ithink very hard about which keys I am pushing.

I hope this made sense. Bit under the clouds of coherency.

When you get stuck, just write nonsense until you come unstuck. That’s honestly the best way to handle writing issues. By nonsense I mean you can change and write a story that’s absolutely ridiculous, or try writing about another subject, like history, instead of what you wanted to write. You can always come back and edit it all out.

Just the difference between chatting on instant messenger vs writing a blog post is very noticeable to me. There’s a big difference in how I organize information; there’s the advantage of having an audience of just one person in a conversation and thus being able to tailor things to them; there’s the advantage that my audience can react in (more or less) real time to ask questions or request clarification.

Typed conversation (including instant messaging) and typed stand-alone texts have typing in common, but differ widely in composition and stucture. And that composition and structure is a big part of a piece of writing.

It seems like everyone who has ever used online chat and written an essay at some point in their lives would have personal experience of the difference. They’ve probably just never thought about the difference.

There was a time in middle school when I behaved so badly that the teacher told me to write my parents a report on what I’d done. It ended up going something like, “Please don’t send me to this school anymore, the teachers are idiots and yell at me for mistakes I don’t understand.” When I was calm again, the teacher and I reread it and mutually agreed it was useless. Afterwords I was able to write a much more thoughtful confession, and she never again made me write about my behavior while I was still raging.

If you are “writing” to communicate while you’re in a bad mood, your skills will also deteriorate. I probably would have made the same mistake with someone who communicates through typing that you’ve experienced, if you hadn’t told me that “writing” for communication and literary output are not the same. Thank you.

There’s a lot I could say here about this phenomenon (even though I’ve actually been having a lot of trouble writing lately about most things myself). But one thing in particular that comes to mind re. what bugs me about it is when attempts to explain it (or even just state a fact about how my brain seems to operate where language is concerned) are taken to indicate that I have “ulterior motives” or are somehow trying to get away with something.

I grew up with a near-constant sense of guilt in part due to this kind of reaction to my “inconsistent” abilities (especially in the realm of communication)…even though I couldn’t fathom what in the world my supposed ulterior motives might BE for something like that, I eventually managed to internalize the notion that I must actually just be a very lazy and selfish person who “wasn’t trying”. And it’s really only been as an adult that I’ve been able to get past some of that. And as a result I’ve definitely gotten to the point of being able to communicate more effectively, but it’s very much an “over time” thing. My abilities still wax and wane depending on various factors (some known to me, some still unknown) but now at least I don’t sit there mentally beating myself up over not being able to force words out.

I agree, it is a completely different mental process.