When I was starting out in the journalism business 19 years ago, I got a piece of good advice from my first boss, Poody Walsh, who was the editor of the Eagle Times in Claremont, N.H. Poody (yes, believe it or not, that's what everyone called him) saw that I was handwriting my notes while I interviewed sources on the telephone, and he urged me to get accustomed to typing the notes instead. But I just couldn't do it--typing seemed to require more brainpower than handwriting, making it difficult to concentrate on the interview. Two decades later I'm suffering the consequences: I am surrounded by looming stacks of legal pads that cover nearly every square inch of my disordered office.

This article was originally published with the title Screen Writing.

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