I'm doing something lately that is surprisingly difficult and rewarding: writing by hand.
What!
You know, that strange thing we used to do all the time, taking a pen, or pencil on a pad of paper and writing a letter to a relative, friend, business associate or whomever. Remember those days of not so long ago? Seems like ages when handwriting was it, before technology flew in and landed in our world.
And lest we forget, two of the greatest documents known to man ever created were originally written by hand: the U.S. Constitution, and The Bible.
Now with computers, keyboards and texting - don't let me go there, texters can't or don't spell or construct intelligent sentences. Well anyway, handwriting requires a thought process, the act of the brain message flowing to the pen/pencil onto the writing tablet.
Where's the spell check in handwriting? How about the "delete" or "backspace" key to start over? Is it okay to scribble out a misspelled word or incomplete sentence, or cross out a sentence that is not saying what you want it to say?
I've quickly discovered that as I do more handwriting wads of paper pile up. I've become a pretty good shot in the trash can - the destination for my balled-up, scribbled-on and numerous rewrites.
Man, your hand gets tired, too.
Handwriting requires you to think, to ponder your thoughts, to not ramble on and on and on and on because you just don't want to do all that writing. Forget about writing on un-lined paper - see how un-straight it is?
But when you do hand write a note or a letter, the recipient has to feel obligated to read it, especially if the envelope is in your handwriting, too. A heartfelt letter, written to me makes me feel important. The mere fact that someone took the time out of their busy stuff-doing to spend a few precious minutes composing a letter addressed to me is, well, touching. I like it.
I'll be handwriting more. It'll keep my fingers in shape and my mind sharp. I'm not going to toss my keyboard out the window, but pen and paper will be in hand more. I enjoy using a pencil to write, too, because it has an eraser.
What!
You know, that strange thing we used to do all the time, taking a pen, or pencil on a pad of paper and writing a letter to a relative, friend, business associate or whomever. Remember those days of not so long ago? Seems like ages when handwriting was it, before technology flew in and landed in our world.
And lest we forget, two of the greatest documents known to man ever created were originally written by hand: the U.S. Constitution, and The Bible.
Now with computers, keyboards and texting - don't let me go there, texters can't or don't spell or construct intelligent sentences. Well anyway, handwriting requires a thought process, the act of the brain message flowing to the pen/pencil onto the writing tablet.
Where's the spell check in handwriting? How about the "delete" or "backspace" key to start over? Is it okay to scribble out a misspelled word or incomplete sentence, or cross out a sentence that is not saying what you want it to say?
I've quickly discovered that as I do more handwriting wads of paper pile up. I've become a pretty good shot in the trash can - the destination for my balled-up, scribbled-on and numerous rewrites.
Man, your hand gets tired, too.
Handwriting requires you to think, to ponder your thoughts, to not ramble on and on and on and on because you just don't want to do all that writing. Forget about writing on un-lined paper - see how un-straight it is?
But when you do hand write a note or a letter, the recipient has to feel obligated to read it, especially if the envelope is in your handwriting, too. A heartfelt letter, written to me makes me feel important. The mere fact that someone took the time out of their busy stuff-doing to spend a few precious minutes composing a letter addressed to me is, well, touching. I like it.
I'll be handwriting more. It'll keep my fingers in shape and my mind sharp. I'm not going to toss my keyboard out the window, but pen and paper will be in hand more. I enjoy using a pencil to write, too, because it has an eraser.
Personal notes and letters are great, still there are some people who write so fast or ornate that you cannot clearly read their writing, I know this because I have read some writing that was impossible to understand and I am also an ornate write; that makes me hesitate to share my handwritten material.
ReplyDeleteSince my learning style is analytical student, I find myself taking notes along the pages of study material or breaking down information (on the print out or book) as I go to ensure I understand. I have also found writing on paper writes it in my head. So, I write a lot, I just don't share a lot of hand written material.
Still I get what you mean about handwriting correspondence being special and endangered ‘if you will’ of becoming extinct.
We now have a lot of technology which facilitates new ways to take notes, send letters such as texting-notes and messages, v-mail, posting, blogging and the like.
I love technology and I say learn and use as much as you can as quickly as you can; but never give up the personal touch-taking pen in hand to paper to touch the life of a new contact or an old friend.
Write on!
ReplyDeleteHi Walter,
ReplyDeleteI've been reinventing my handwriting since September, and recorded some of my progress and resources in my blogpost "The Black Art of Palmer (A Spiritual Pilgrimage to Low Tech)" I'd love to get your reaction. I'm also trying to write more letters these days, too, although it won't be enough to save the post office all by myself.
I'm also journaling, but that hasn't made it into a post, yet.
http://goo.gl/tlDMN