The Lost Art of Handwriting

For a couple of years now I have used a computer for everything it can be used for; writing articles, printing addresses onto envelopes, emailing the world, playing games, watching movies, surfing the web and chatting. My laptop is therefore never far away from my two typing fingers, switched on and at the ready (unless I happen to be swimming, surfing, sick or in the little boys room). Yesterday I had to write a personal letter to my mother, just to say hello sort of thing as I hadn't phoned in a while and felt extremely guilty, - the letter being my wife out of the situation. I initially reached for my computer but after tapping in "Dear Mum" it dawned on me that a printed letter was not really apt for the occasion. A hand written letter would be better, more personal and from the heart!

Upon making the decision to write I assumed that it would be a relatively simple task to accomplish but all was not as easy as I first thought! Finding the paper and a pen proved quite a hurdle to climb over. The only paper I could find in the house was reams of unlined printer paper and some flowery toilet paper, my old and once-trusted fountain pen had more ink on the outside than in and the pen with a naked lady body just seemed so wrong in the circumstance!

I toddled off to the stationary shop to get the necessary and two hours later I repaired to the task in hand. I had my pens, I had my paper and I had a lovely cup of hot coffee to sip whilst jotting down my thoughts and life for my mother to read in due course!

Five minutes later I gave up! My hand was sore; it ached all the way up to the elbow and felt like I had just started to use it after six weeks in a cast!

My five minute foray into using a pen gave to me a lot to think about, apart from a sore hand that is. It brought fond memories flooding back of when I used to sit on planes, trains and buses with a notepad perched on my knees! I used to jot down notes about interesting things happening on my journeys; I used to let my thoughts wander whilst in motion and to later use these inane thought as the theme to an article. I remembered how I used to build up ideas for future essays or articles by spending hours scribbling and dawdling, pondering and playing till hours, nay days later a finished product would surface out of the mess.

I remembered how I used to be a very relaxed person! I was often found curled up in front of the television or in a hammock in the garden, snuggled up under the covers or lying on the grass! I recalled how I used to turn my thoughts slowly and artfully into a product that I was happy with. And then two years ago that stopped like a bullet in the brain! My hobby turned, with the simple purchase of a laptop computer, into an automatic rush to develop and to produce, without proper regard for the finished product! Articles were started and finished in a breathless rush, without discussion or alternative views included! They were completed without pause for reflection and published without fanfare or with the enjoyment that I had once known. But I was so busy becoming a machine, just like the one that I had bought, that I did not realize and had no warning of what was going on. It was only this recent handwriting exercise that brought all that I had lost back to me like the flood from a damn broken!

Writing by hand has unfortunately become a lost art form that may never resurface! The computer and the keyboard, phones and mobile PDF devices have taken over from basic handwriting for anything more than a quick note to self! For many, the simple ability to correct mistakes, to alter and to expand documents with ease, the fact that most written notes have to be entered into a machine anyway and the fact that it is fashionable puts handwriting into the annals of history without second thought or hindrance! But what computers do is to take away the enjoyment, the fun and the relaxation that is synonymous with a pen and paper. Computers are machines that are so useful yet have taken the fun out of writing in one fell swoop.

I still put out the same number of articles, essays, pieces, etc. as I did before but I now realise that the pleasure has been removed.

I am now pondering a return to happier times. To handwrite at least my thoughts, so that I may re-experience the leisure that was so much part of the finished product. But first I must strengthen up my right hand as five-minutes is not long enough to write anything worthwhile!

Ieuan Dolby
Author and Webmaster of SeaDolby.Com
Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, April 2005