Fran, over at Sacred Ordinary has an entry about Exploring Benefits of Hand Writing vs. Computer Writing. This got me thinking about how I choose to write.
As you may be aware, I keep a personal journal in addition to this blog. In it, I write about more personal issues and thoughts that I don’t feel comfortable sharing with the whole world. This journal is handwritten, in purple ink, in notebooks who’s covers I decorate. It is a very personal thing, and I feel that writing the entries by hand make it feel more so that way. I may not get a chance to write down everything I am thinking, since handwriting is so much slower then typing, but I think the trade off is well worth it.
I also write the notes for The Book by hand. Again, this is a very personal process. I think that the first draft of The Book will be typed though, since it is becoming more public in that stage.
Maybe that is the line for me. Personal things are written by hand, like my journal, notes for The Book, and the items in my Book of Shadows and Tarot journal. Public things, like this journal and much of my other writing, are typed. Interestingly enough, articles for The Lotus Pond usually start life as being handwritten, and are edited while being typed up. However, entries for the Pond are always typed first. Maybe there is more of me over there then there is here.
Needleworker, Knitter, Crocheter, Sewist, Paper Crafter, and more!
I tend to agree with you about preferring to write personal things by hand. There’s a certain sense of intimacy in writing.
Personally, I also find a certain meditative and creative aspect to the process of writing by hand. There have been times when I’ve written by hand that a small part of me has almost “stepped outside” of the process and just taken the time to appreciate the the beauty of the various pen strokes forming letters, words, and sentences. I’ve found it very fulfilling and inspiring, in some ways.