Handwriting
It is famously said that the pen is mightier than the sword. An arguably outdated phrase; it has been a long time since armies fought each other with swords, technology has seen to that, as it has to writing too. It has been a while since we wrote by hand.
If you look back to my entry entitled Live a little (26/10/08), I wrote the line: "In this age of multi-media have you sat down and written something at length by hand?" I like the feel of a good pen flowing on paper. Just as James Bond never goes anywhere without packing his trusty Walther PPK, I can't write at length with just any old bic biro, I holster my run-of the-mill Pilot Rollerball which I never lend out to anyone. Call me selfish, call me strange, but that's the truth. When I travel I always have my notebook, things come to me at the strangest of moments and if I don't write it down I will lose that moment; moments I never want to lose. Then simply think about a love letter; who would ever want to receive one typed or even by email? Some emotion, some feeling, and above all, the intimacy, in my mind is lost.
I said in my last entry I am interested in what certain esteemed people have to say, especially when they write it down. Right now I could keep talking about handwriting, but for what I have to say I would prefer to leave the stage to a fellow blogger I recently came across, David, who has written it so beautifully well. Check out his blog 'The Rest Is Still Unwritten' (http://www.diamondkt.blogspot.com/), especially this entry (12/09/08), 'The handwritten letter is a dying art':
http://diamondkt.blogspot.com/2008/09/handwritten-letter-is-dying-art.html
And just to finish off and quote from his entry, David writes: "As you know, as of right now, I am not a published writer. I write for free. However, I feel I am paid in terms of pleasure on a daily basis".
My sentiments exactly. This is fundamentally what writing is about.
If you look back to my entry entitled Live a little (26/10/08), I wrote the line: "In this age of multi-media have you sat down and written something at length by hand?" I like the feel of a good pen flowing on paper. Just as James Bond never goes anywhere without packing his trusty Walther PPK, I can't write at length with just any old bic biro, I holster my run-of the-mill Pilot Rollerball which I never lend out to anyone. Call me selfish, call me strange, but that's the truth. When I travel I always have my notebook, things come to me at the strangest of moments and if I don't write it down I will lose that moment; moments I never want to lose. Then simply think about a love letter; who would ever want to receive one typed or even by email? Some emotion, some feeling, and above all, the intimacy, in my mind is lost.
I said in my last entry I am interested in what certain esteemed people have to say, especially when they write it down. Right now I could keep talking about handwriting, but for what I have to say I would prefer to leave the stage to a fellow blogger I recently came across, David, who has written it so beautifully well. Check out his blog 'The Rest Is Still Unwritten' (http://www.diamondkt.blogspot.com/), especially this entry (12/09/08), 'The handwritten letter is a dying art':
http://diamondkt.blogspot.com/2008/09/handwritten-letter-is-dying-art.html
And just to finish off and quote from his entry, David writes: "As you know, as of right now, I am not a published writer. I write for free. However, I feel I am paid in terms of pleasure on a daily basis".
My sentiments exactly. This is fundamentally what writing is about.
Comments