This is a follow-up to the Success Theater branch started by Libby. Older technology, such as a typewriter or a polaroid camera, hinder constant tweaking and improvement. Does anyone write on a typewriter, edit with a pen and then go to a computer?

@jedsundwall posted a video of Seinfeld discussing his creative process last week, and writes "He doesn’t like having a cursor blink at him when he writes. He feels like it’s asking him “So? Whaddya got?” Instead, he writes everything on yellow pads of paper with a clear-barreled blue Bic pen. He wrote every episode of Seinfeld that way, in long hand."

blog.measuredvoice.com

It's worth noting that none of those tools were built to hinder anything. Their limitations are only apparent relative to the abundant and free editing tools we have now. We now see them as limitations, but also as features rather than bugs.

My bet is that some people work more effectively via constrained, or distraction-free, interfaces. I know I do.

Can we create tools that help us focus on creating something better from the beginning? Before we hide it behind a filter?

There are a bunch of us trying to find out. Medium. IA Writer (which I love). Moleskine/Field Notes/et al. And Twitter, to a large extent. The 140 character limit is Twitter's best feature.