Every day, one of my sisters-in-law, niece, and I play Connections, one of the daily games developed by The New York Times. If you’re unfamiliar with the game, four columns of four words are given. The challenge is to figure out the category that connects a group of four words. Of course, the words are not presented in the order of their categories! You’re allowed to make four mistakes before you’re told to try again the next day. In other words, you’ve lost.
Do you play it? I used to play it sporadically. But my sister-in-law and niece challenged me to do it regularly and then post to each other how we did. There have been many times when I was told to try again the next day. Sometimes, I rage-quit.
I used to look at the words on my phone and then make my guesses. But lately, the biggest help to me in solving the game is to write all of the words on a piece of paper and then read them.
You probably already know where I’m going with this. To prove how smart you are, I’ll post a quote I found at NBC.com:
Our main finding was that handwriting activates almost the whole brain as compared to typewriting, which hardly activates the brain as such.
This can be found in a January 2024 article, “Writing by hand may increase brain connectivity more than typing, readings of student brains suggest.” The person quoted is Audrey van der Meer, a professor of neuropsychology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Van der Meer and another professor, F. R. (Ruud) van der Weel, coauthored a study that is the subject of the NBC article. You can access the study here.
Now before you rage at me that this is the twenty-first century and no one has time to write anything and how dare I suggest that you have to write by hand, please take a deep breath. No one is suggesting that you have to do anything. I have a laptop. I type manuscripts and edit my own manuscripts and those of other authors on it. I don’t have the luxury of time allotted to handwriting manuscripts, though I used to write all of my manuscripts by hand back in the day.
However, when I am stuck on a scene, grabbing a pen and paper helps me to think through the scene. This is especially helpful when a scene is very active (i.e., a fight is going down). I need to be able to choreograph the scene, sometimes in words and images. Writing by hand helps me make the connections.
Do you write by hand? What helps you when you’re stuck or need to remember something? What puzzles do you like to do?
NYT Connections logo from NYT. Brain image from the internet.
El Space--The Blog of L. Marie 
Thank you for sharing this post! I do write in my journals by hand, and I cherish all hand-written notes and cards from friends. It can be a creative experience as well if you scrapbook and use different colored pens to write in bits of information about a time or place, travels, etc. It makes it feel very personal. I know people who create art journals who feel the same way. I like how you presented it here as a springboard for writing a scene etc.
Thanks, Linda! 😄😊 I made a remembrance journal once and still have it. Good idea about color coding with different pens. I know people who color code their manuscripts. I tried doing that once but forgot to write down the code. 😄
I play Connections every morning, love the way it stretches my mind to think about words in different unexpected ways. Don’t always finish it, but I try.
I write/scribble notes by hand. Like ideas I want to remember or a grocery list or a quote I liked, but as for writing anything of length I use a computer. I do doodle on a pad of paper sometimes, when I’m listening to a podcast or music. That’s when my mind wanders, as my hand does something silly.
I keep a pad handy for that reason too, Ally. I used to have one in my purse to jot down notes. I don’t know why I removed it. I’ve had to make do with writing on old receipts! 😄
Interesting! I love Connections but hadn’t thought of writing them down when I get stuck. I do say them aloud since often the answers have something to do with the way the words sound rather than what they mean. I’ll try writing. Interested to see the effect.
Let me know, Shari! Writing things helps. But sometimes hearing things helps me too.
Interesting. I write by typing, but went back to editing by hand. Used to do that on the computer and it never went as well as hand-editing. Guess this explains why.
One of these days, when I get a decent printer, I might go back to editing by hand. My printer is so old, the ink cartridges cost more than it did.
That’s why I stopped. Ink is crazy expensive in general.
It is! I tried buying pens at the dollar store. But sometimes those stop working after a few uses!
Pens? Like the Bic ones? I haven’t bought pens in a while, but I could believe they’re expensive now.
They have Bic and other brands of gel pens. Usually in bags of three or more pens. At least you can get some use out of them. But yes, the dollar store (or the dollar twenty-five store now) has pens and pencils. They’re like $6 or $7 other places.
Dollar store sounds like the best place to get them.
It is a great place!
I miss writing by hand. I can’t do it anymore because of the severe arthritis crippling my fingers. The pain gets worse with every year. 😕
So sorry! I think a lot of people have stopped writing by hand. 😓
I write notes for reviews by hand for most of the books I read, and if I don’t I find I can barely remember the books a few days after finishing – not enough to write interesting reviews anyway. I’ve tried typing notes as I go along so I could just tidy them up for a review later, but it’s not the same – I don’t think it through the way I do when handwriting. Writing definitely makes my brain work harder and better!
That is a good example of what the study mentioned. We seem to retain more when we write something down. But wow! You read so many books! That means a lot of writing by hand!
I also type my blog posts and manuscripts but I’ve gone back to handwriting my journals. It feels more natural and personal, seeing my script on paper.
Wow! That’s great! I used to write journals by hand. But I wind up typing them, because it’s easier for me to cross-reference some things. But maybe I will return to journaling by hand.
I love Connections . . . but also do Letter Boxed, Wordle, Quordle, Octordle, Blossom, Spelling Bee, three Sudokus, and the mini Crossword. Puzzles are a great way to wake up.
They are. I used to do Wordle and Octordle also. I rarely do them now.
I’ve never tried Connections. I do Sudoku every day to relax after lunch. That’s about it.
Today I wrote a letter to Biden. And I wrote a long note to my daughters about a WA State Supreme Court decision. I did both of those on my computer. But when I write fiction, I do most of my writing by hand first. I’m old school (and slow).
Nicki, you are a good citizen. 😄 Thank you for caring and being responsible. I need to return to letter writing more. I do write letters to two friends (though I fell off the writing to one of them).
Long ago I was invited to play with puzzles on Candy Crush, and then Wordle. I don’t believe I have time for word games, but I might try Connections, which seems like a good mental exercise.
I too have heard about the value of handwriting as opposed to using only the computer. Sometimes I write by hand to brainstorm or to get unstuck. Thanks for providing the science behind using handwriting, L. Marie. 😀
Glad to, Marian! I used to play CandyCrush, but quit since to advance you have to pay! Connections is fun!
I used to play Sudoku, and back in the day, I liked doing the crossword puzzles in newspapers. Now I have a game on my iPad that emphasizes memory (one of those object-search games). I don’t know if that game actually helps my memory but I do know that I’m more likely to remember something if I write it down. I still handwrite in a journal, and I’ve found that if I’m upset about something, handwriting my thoughts can calm me down faster than typing 🙂
I tried Sudoku many years ago. I find I need a word puzzle, rather than a numbers puzzle.
I also type my journals, unless I’m on a trip. Then I’ll bring along a purse-size journal to write on!
I prefer word puzzles too 🙂
There is something about my brain that rebels against numbers puzzles.
I have a tendency to transpose numbers. When taking down someone’s telephone number, for example, I always have to read it out loud to make sure I didn’t flip a couple of numbers. So, number puzzles are no fun for me 🙂
This is so interesting L! I’ll try that with Connections when I’m stuck. I sometimes write down the letters in Wordle and that helps. I’m learning Italian on the Duolingo app … and will start to write more down to keep it in memory banks! Thank you 💐
That’s great, Val! I tried to refresh my Spanish on Duolingo, but didn’t keep up with it, sadly.
Hmmm … maybe it’s better for beginners rather than refreshers. I might dip into French to see what it does.
I thought about getting it to learn Italian.