Yesterday I wrote a letter on paper, with a pen. You should try it too.
I love this digital way of fast writing that goes online immediately. All I need is my smartphone.
All my notes at work (journalist) are digital notes as well. Back in the days I used paper and pens but the transcription part, when the handwriting had to be transformed to digital text, took way too much time so I gave that up. For the same reason I try not to rely too much on recorded interviews. If a record I see the audio file as a backup, I can go back and listen if I missed a detail or if I have to double check something. Sometimes I forget to make good notes during a conversation/interview and that’s always a hassle afterwards.
With all that said I start to re-evaluate the analog writing, all handwritten things. There’s something special about it, something that never can be digitalised: the feeling of holding a pen in hand and move it with just the right amount of pressure onto the paper. You create words. And if you get something wrong you will have some problems. It’s very hard to delete words on paper without traces. The handwriting acquire thinking in advance. It’s not always good, quite the opposite actually if you ask me. One of the good things with the kind of writing I’m doing right now is that it’s very direct, I’m hammering down my words to use the expression TMO used in a well written post about blogging the other day.
Yesterday I really had to do some thinking before I set down to write. In the first time in many years I wrote a classic enveloped letter to an old friend, a relative that means a lot to me but who I rarely see or talk to. To write a classic letter during Christmas time felt like the right thing to do. It won’t interfere. I hope she’s able to read my handwriting though. Maybe I’ll get a response! When was last time you got a handwritten letter?