What's a good word to replace 'writing'?

[Lobsang]

By ‘writing’ I mean stringing words together in a creative fashion as a hobby or career.

We don’t write any more, we type (well most of us do) so what’s an equally cool sounding word for the task of constructing arrays of words?

‘typing’ is too basic and limited. It makes it sound not like a creative act but like a task. “I enjoy typing” doesn’t have the same ring as “I enjoy writing”

So?

‘Authoring’?

Nah, Too pretentious.

[Jimmy_Chitwood]

Word-smithing?

[Nightwatch_Trailer]

“Composing,” except that it sounds too musical or poetic and doesn’t necessarily bring to mind the creation of prose.

[Dugrik]

Try being more specific about what you’re writiing:

storytelling

essaying

journaling

documenting

[Lobsang]

@Dugrik

Try being more specific about what you’re writiing:

storytelling

essaying

journaling

documenting

I am being deliberately unspecific. Because I am looking for a word that describes the pure act of making sentences and paragraphs.
Because I like doing it. As is probably evident by my post count and rate.

[Loopus]

It’s “writing.” The word “write” is not limited to drawing characters with a pen. For example, it wouldn’t sound odd for me to pick up a new copy of Huckleberry Finn and say “Mark Twain wrote this book,” even though Mark Twain obviously didn’t take his pen and write down the words in the pages of that particular book.

And, from Webster’s:

write . . . 2 : to set down in writing : as a : DRAW UP, DRAFT <write a will> b (1) : to be the author of : COMPOSE <writes poems and essays> (2) : to compose in musical form <write a string quartet>

[Lobsang]

So I guess the meaning of ‘writing’ has changed (even in the dictionaries)

But surely it’s original meaning was drawing characters with a pen?

“Mark Twain wrote this book” would probably mean Mark Twain did originally use a pen to draw characters. And those were put into print.
Anyway. It’s good to know ‘writing’ is still a perfectly valid word for what it is that I enjoy doing. even though I am not using a pen to do it.
I suppose it makes more sense to change the meaning of an existing word as technology changes than to come up with a new word. It just feels slightly wrong to say “I enjoy writing” when I hardly ever write things with a pen.

[Loopus]

@Lobsang

I suppose it makes more sense to change the meaning of an existing word as technology changes than to come up with a new word.

The meaning began changing probably longer ago than you think. Consider this

[quote]
(http://www.twainquotes.com/Typewriters.html) by Mark Twain (yes, I am a Mark Twain fan… why do you ask? ;)):

Please do not even divulge the fact that I own a machine. I have entirely stopped using the Type-Writer, for the reason that I never could write a letter with it to anybody without receiving a request by return mail that I would not only describe the machine but state what progress I had made in the use of it, etc., etc. I don’t like to write letters, and so I don’t want people to know that I own this curiosity-breeding little joker.

(relevant part bolded)

Consider even the word “typewriter.” It contains the word “writer” even though using it involves no “writing” as you narrowly defined it.

[Lobsang]

OK, so, ‘writing’ is not quite so closely connected with drawing words with a pe as I had come to believe.
The SDMB really does fight ignorance!

[Lobsang]

or pen, even.

[Marley23]

You do see “author” used as a verb sometimes, mainly in the past tense. I still like “write” the best. The definition changed long ago to reflect the lack of penmanship, and none of the synonyms I know encapsulate all the details of the process.