Thank you for that, Adam. It was frustrating not being able to do the survey properly.
Like you, I start with paper and pencil. I buy loads of those cheap, lined A4 pads and for each line I write, I leave a line blank above and below it, where I can add alternative words or phrases in brackets.
When the paper is so messy from alterations I write the whole thing out again and repeat the process.
When I'm more-or-less happy with the poem I transfer it to my laptop. Further changes happen days, weeks, months, even years later (because they're never, ever, going to be perfect, to me.)
I wish I knew what the questions on the survey were (sigh).
I have a pad in my handbag at all times, one beside the bed and a dictaphone in the car - for absolute emergency use to record a couple of lines when I'm driving (don't tell the cops!).
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