There was a time when it was impossible to think of writing without the help of pen and paper. Proverbs like “pen is mightier than sword” prove how integral a part it was of writing. But in the current times with the invasion of internet things have radically changed. Now-a-days we see writers writing full volume of books without the help of pen and paper on their laptops using different writing softwares. But that has not made the conventional writing method obsolete. Even today it holds the same water it used to hold before the invention of internet.

Writing is not just a simple process of scribbling down one’s thoughts. It is a complex process of constantly going back and coming forth while expressing someone’s thoughts. It involves stages like thinking, writing drafts , editing , proofreading etc. These constitute the life cycle of a document.

Some of the above mentioned stages are better done in the digital medium whereas some others are better done in the traditional medium. E.g. jotting down ones thoughts before actually writing the first draft is more conveniently done in a piece of paper. Even writing the drafts is sometimes preferably done by authors in pen and paper. The first draft where the author allows free flowing of thoughts is often written in black and white. Subsequently keeping an eye on the necessities the first draft is typed into the digital medium. In some cases authors directly write in the digital medium without using the choreographic mode of writing.

When it comes to editing now-a-days authors and publishers prefer the digital medium to its traditional counterpart. While editing the help of several advanced editing softwares can be taken which is not possible while editing a draft in the conventional way. Softwares like grammarly, spelling checker etc. have made the process of editing much simpler and effective. Editing requires free moving inside the text which is again not very convenient when it comes to editing a piece on paper. In the digital medium one can have multiple edits without bothering about the space because while editing one can simply delete a particular word, sentence or a passage and rewrite it as per the necessities.

But proofreading which is another very important stage of the writing process is almost always done in print. Printed paper is always reader friendly. So be it proof reader of any common reader, they prefer reading paperback to reading in the digital medium. in the opinion of readers printed materials allow a fairly pleasurable and easygoing reading compared to the digital medium. And when it comes to storage of documents both digital and traditional mediums are used. Issues like space is better addressed in the digital medium whereas issues of security and longevity is better addressed in the traditional medium.

So yes it is absolutely right to say that in current times the life cycle of a document is closely intertwined with the digital and traditional medium. ln the process of writing keeping an eye on the needs the document has to pass through several transformations from digital to print and from print to digital .