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Technically I should have handwritten this post, but since I don’t have a scanner at home and taking a photo of a handwritten page isn’t great, I have to type.
If your excuse for not writing letters or handwriting anything at all is because your script is bad, here is a short handwriting pep talk (via Letter Writers Alliance):
Handwriting is also good for your brain and there are other benefits that include being a better writer.
I personally may not have the most beautiful handwriting but as long as it is legible I don’t think it matters. I love handwriting because it is an excuse to use my fountain pens, which I so very much love. Not that I need Twelve Reasons to Write with a Fountain Pen, but I will confess that while I love a beautiful pen and the way it feels in my hand and glides across the paper, it’s really all about the ink. I have *mumble mumble* bottles of ink in a variety of colors and I am always wanting more. I only wish I could write with a fountain pen on glossy paper — postcards, greeting cards — and then I would be very happy indeed.
So go pick up a pen or pencil and spend some time handwriting — a note, a list, a letter — just write!
I bought 100 stamps today to beat the raise in postage rates on the 26th.
and honest, I was thinking of writing a letter to a friend and using one of
my new wonderful stamps.Should I choose the Harry Potter stamp? the
flower seed packets, the love stamp, the Chinese New Year . . .and now
with your inspiration, maybe I’ll really write that letter tonight!
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booksandbuttons, I bought extra stamps too before the rate increase but not quite that many! You are well stocked. I love the flower seed packets, so cheery!
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Indeed! Happy Handwriting Day to you, too, and thanks for all the fun links too. I love writing by hand nearly as much as you do, I think… 🙂
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Melwyk, glad you enjoyed the links. There is so much pleasure to be had in writing by hand, isn’t there?
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Happy Handwriting Day!!! I think I owe someone a letter…….
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Helen, yay for a letter! 🙂
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For National Handwriting Day, I’ve written down a movie title in my Moleskine.
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Arti, way to celebrate! Moleskines are so lovely. I’m currently writing in a Clairefontane notebook which is nice but the paper is too smooth for my liking. When I get it filled it I have a Leuchtrum 1917 to try. I hear they are better than Moleskine. I am looking forward to finding out if that is true!
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I was schocked to find out cursive writing is no longer taught in NYC schools. I remember my mother buying notepaper for me and my siblings to write “thank you” cards after Christmas and our birthday. I still write those cards and notes and I still write letters. This is surprising to my family and friends, but I get a kick out of it
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Lydia, it is a sad thing that cursive is no longer taught in the vast majority of schools. I there are only 4 or 5 states that still require it be taught. My mom always made me and my sister write thank you notes too and I still do as well. It makes me sad that younger members of the family no longer do this and we are lucky if we get a thanks posted on a Facebook wall.
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Because I’ve kept a diary for almost 50 years, it’s easy for me to see how my handwriting has changed / deteriorated. Some is due to always being in a hurry, always one thought ahead of my hand, and some is because of arthritis. I went from a child’s handwriting, attempting to appear sophisticated, to a teenager’s cool backhand, to the physician-like, barely legible scribble of today.
I love knowing that you have a stash of ink! I love fountain pens, too, and have several. I use mine every day for my journal. Where do you buy lovely colors of ink? I know I was a strange child, but when my mother would take me to the 5 & 10 with my allowance, I often bought bottles of ink and pads of paper. I had a bottle of beautiful peacock blue ink that I especially loved.
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Joan, I’ve been keeping a diary since I was 10 so can see how my writing has changed too. It used to be fat and loopy but it’s lost weight and many of the loops have disappeared and when I am in a hurry it degenerates into a complete mess of a scrawl.
I used to get ink from Levenger and The Colorado Pen Company. About two years ago I discovered Goulet Pens. They are fantastic, family-owned with marvelous customer service. I have bought several bottles from them and will continue to do so. I currently have my eye on a bottle of Noodler’s Apache Sunset. I’m planning to gift it to myself for my birthday in April along with some new paper 🙂 Your peacock blue ink sounds like it was gorgeous.
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Goulet’s is fabulous! I want a bottle of every color ink! Apache Sunset is beautiful. Of course that means I’ll need a pen for each color! Thanks, Stephanie.
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You bet Joan! Have fun! 🙂
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I didn’t realize today was a holiday for writing! I’ve not ketp up with LWA lately, but they always have such good things on their website! I will be writing a few cards today, however–not that I needed an excuse, but I will do my part to celebrate handwriting! 🙂
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Danielle, both my LWA pen pals flaked out on me but I still keep up with LWA news. You are very good at celebrating both handwriting and letters, no special day required 🙂
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I love writing letters and I especially love getting them. I think I wrote a post about a college friend who dropped me from Facebook (and from life) because I failed to comment on her FB page. She had discounted the fact that several months prior I had written her a letter and enclosed a postcard written in 1908 congratulating new parents on the “baby.” I then found an obituary on the internet of that same “baby” who lived to be 100! I thought it was pretty amazing. So, you see, technology and the art of handwriting can live in harmony. And I am a fountain pen addict as well. This post was “write” on, Stef. (Okay – that was pretty corny, I admit).
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Grad, oh yes, I remember about that friend. If all my friends dropped me because I didn’t comment on their FB page I think I wouldn’t have any friends! I agree that tech and handwriting can live in harmony, but then I would! 🙂 And corny is ok by me!
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I always wanted to have a great script…especially growing up in a time when we still had to do practice handwriting during Junior school….My mom has a beautiful handwriting…they are actually like tiny pearl drops arranged in shape of an alphabet. Unfortunately as her daughter, I think after years of writing on paper for grad school ( too poor for a laptop then) kind of killed whatever basic beauty it had…now one can just understand my handwriting! Thank Heavens for MS Word!!
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cirtnecce, I always wanted a great script too, something legible but at the same time swirly and elegant. But I think college did me in too. Looking through diaries I kept in pre-college it is clear I was trying out different scripts but once college arrived my handwriting hasn’t changed all that much since. I have gone from desiring elegant to just being glad it is mostly legible!
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The problem with using a fountain pen these days is finding paper of a good enough quality to take the ink without any sort of spread. I know of only one company in the UK whose paper I am prepared to buy when I want to use ink. Are things any better in the US?
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Alex, there are a number of good papers for handwriting with fountain pens. I love G Lalo for letters and Clairefontane is also nice but is turning out to be too smooth for my preferences. I like a little texture to my paper. Both those are French but also sold in the US so I bet you can get them in the UK. For US paper there is Crown Mill which is lovely, similar to the G Lalo. I have also heard Rhodia is good but it is pricey so I haven’t ventured to try it yet. If you like notebooks, Moleskine and Leuchtrum 1917 are excellent. Rhodia also makes a well-reviewed notebook and I have heard Field Notes is good too. The paper is out there, you just probably have to find an online supplier.
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I wrote in my journal yesterday! Not only do I love journals but I’m always buying new pens too always in search of a new favorite.
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Iliana, yay for journals! And you are the only person I know who can actually make the journal she is writing in. So cool!
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I had no idea it was National Handwriting Day yesterday, but I did decide to write part of a new short story by hand, instead of typing as I usually do. Your post must have sent out some vibes that reached me here in Crete 🙂
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Andrew, you must have caught a vibe! I forgot you are in Crete, which I bet is a really nice place to be right now, at least I imagine it is. Your view probably doesn’t have a foot of snow on the ground and the sound of wind howling around the eaves of the house!
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You should hear the way my son pours scorn on my handwriting! Definitely a case of pot calling the kettle black…. It is definitely good to handwrite things, though. My students often found their thoughts flowed more smoothly and they wrote more grammatically when they stepped away from the keyboard. Surprising, perhaps, but true.
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Litlove, LOL, you know kids always think they are better than their parents 🙂 I find that handwriting things is really good when I am stuck on something I am writing. The brain has to slow down so the hand can keep up and the clogged freeway of thoughts eventually clears up.
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