The other day I had to write a birthday card for my brother, and while I was writing I realized that it actually felt a little strange...to be writing. Then I took a second to think about when the last time I had written was. Now of course I write...when I sign receipts or when I scribble down a grocery list, but I'm talking about my actual, proper, taking time to do it handwriting. And that....I haven't seen in a while. Why? Because everything has become about typing; I typed this blog post, I type on Twitter and Facebook, I type emails, and of course, I type my books. But that wasn't always the case.
My first four books were handwritten in spiral notebooks, so were the outlines and notes. And I loved it. For a few months it would be me, a pen, a notebook, a penlight, and I'd be on my bed writing while the rest of my family was sleeping. Then I'd type the books up. Time consuming, yes, but I loved it. Then I got older and realized the value of saving time, and books 5 onward started as Word documents from the get go. Now I won't go back to hand writing books, but I have to say there is some nostalgia for those days.
The only creative writing I keep hand written nowadays is poetry, I have a much treasured notebook where I write my poetry, and with those I take my time and write them all pretty like...but it's been at least six months since I've written a poem! Sigh.
Where I grew up, one of my school subjects was Penmanship and honing our cursive handwriting was taking very seriously, so I spent years learning the proper way to write cursive letters and in the end I came away with nice cursive handwriting that leans slightly to the right. I mean, how many ten years old write like this (maybe they do, what do I know about how 10 yr olds write these days):
(This is from a story I wrote for class)
But these days when I actually have reason to write something and write it properly, it feels a little strange, and that kinda makes me go...yikes. I kinda miss holding a pen and writing something meaningful....something beyond grocery lists and receipts, so I think I'll make an effort to write more, if not actual books then maybe notes for my books, and maybe a poetry kick will come in some time soon. See you soon handwriting.
