I spend more time writing on my phone and on my desktop rather than in a notebook or journal. I used to write by hand but I found myself “finishing” much of what I start using the computer or phone. I’ve found it to be much easier. My actual handwriting is a combination of printing and cursive and is sometimes difficult for others to read.
Oh I feel this and love the way you describe your passion for writing. The paper, the pen, the missing beautiful cursive…
I understand too well the loss and frustration of fingers fumbling, numb and unable to paint the beautiful words you imagine to paper as you once could.
I can’t hold books as I once did and losing sensation in fingertips lead to pages no longer being felt….
A simple thing I loved so much about a book also the very reason I never owned a kindle.
I am left with the memory of anticipation as I rounded the last few words in a sentence.. the slow pause as I readied myself to turn to the next page..
I still grab my favorite’s from time to time.
I fan through them,
their scent, nostalgic
Memories shift to days when swan shaped fingers and sore hands worked with ease and were under appreciated.
Thank you for your words today as I heal.
I maybe looking for steel fingertip gloves soon in an effort to protect the remaining fingers in tact that I have left.
Yikes! 1/3 less of a pointer finger to old lefty as of last week. The cabbage pizza was fantastic just the same
Thank you for sharing your story.
So sad many of us here were told not to follow our writing dreams for the same reasons…
Brilliant are we that created the spaces like Substack to come together in spite of their opinions
Glad you enjoyed that.. my youngest is laughing while I point at what he’s meant to “pick up.” Where Mom, over there? 👉 haha it is a little wonky and does point slightly crooked now. He is completely correct upon further inspection 😂.
As I am researching, studying or roughing out thoughts for a post, it’s all pen and paper! Has to be a medium point pen, though! Appreciate your honest post. My printing is mixed with cursive. If I am not careful, I have to go back and make I’ll be able to decipher it later!
I’m happy to hear there’s some hand writing. I read Mickey Z on Substack too and he is currently transcribing the Bible and finding it to be epiphanic in that there is so much more his brain is absorbing. I’ve been in a letter writing campaign for a niece with cancer. I send her a handwritten note card every Monday and it’s really centered me around the words I’m saying to her every week. I choose to be present in those moments with her weekly. I never remember what I’ve written which seems odd to me but it’s for her so once the gift is gone to the mailbox I don’t think about it again. I also renewed the practice of sending Christmas cards the last 2 years. Not hundreds but just 25 or so. It’s been a fun project to keep my writing skills real and challenge myself to pic the perfect photograph to make the cards. Writing is definitely cathartic be it digital or by hand.
I Also enjoy the articles in the Epoch Times, especially Walker Larsen. Journaling is still in my wheelhouse. Glad to know you can still use the keyboard to tap out your enjoyable articles!
Kev - always enjoy your pieces. This one really resonated. I had written a long comment about my own experience with this, but couldn’t finish and when I went back to it-it was not there any longer. That’s why I’m a laptop guy and not a phone guy. 🙄
I've thought about this a lot. You explain it well. I finally decided that cursive longhand is just an evolution from heiroglyphics. The next technological step is underway: dictation. I don't think I can pull that off. Like you, I love tapping my keyboard. Very often my voice appears on the page before it forms words in my head. I guess we're each left to our own devices.
I gave up “writing” in favor of printing probably in my late 20s early 30s. I still try to have a real signature, but it’s sloppy as hell. When I need to “sign” with my finger on a screen, it’s strictly K_______ M_______? Letter- line, letter-line.
Sorry to hear about the death of your penmanship, may it rest in peace!
I, as well as my mother and many siblings, never had any penmanship to begin with. I still remember the nuns making me stay after school to practice my Os on the blackboard. Fortunately, my wife understands and doesn’t mind me printing her cards. She also does all the writing of any going out.
Kevin, as long as the ONLY thing coming to an end is writing in cursive. I enjoy your writing too much to ever see it come to an end.
“… Larson points out that most love letters, even today, are penned by hand. It is simply more personal, more intimate, more soulful ...”
… and a lot more painful, if the writer has osteoarthritis. Oh ain't it interesting to be a senior?
transferring slices of my soul onto a lined page. I love this line.
I spend more time writing on my phone and on my desktop rather than in a notebook or journal. I used to write by hand but I found myself “finishing” much of what I start using the computer or phone. I’ve found it to be much easier. My actual handwriting is a combination of printing and cursive and is sometimes difficult for others to read.
Same here, Paul. I have to say mine is so bad sometimes I don’t know what I was writing - lol!
I know what you mean, Kevin. I don’t think I’ve even ever signed my name the same way twice!
Oh I feel this and love the way you describe your passion for writing. The paper, the pen, the missing beautiful cursive…
I understand too well the loss and frustration of fingers fumbling, numb and unable to paint the beautiful words you imagine to paper as you once could.
I can’t hold books as I once did and losing sensation in fingertips lead to pages no longer being felt….
A simple thing I loved so much about a book also the very reason I never owned a kindle.
I am left with the memory of anticipation as I rounded the last few words in a sentence.. the slow pause as I readied myself to turn to the next page..
I still grab my favorite’s from time to time.
I fan through them,
their scent, nostalgic
Memories shift to days when swan shaped fingers and sore hands worked with ease and were under appreciated.
Thank you for your words today as I heal.
I maybe looking for steel fingertip gloves soon in an effort to protect the remaining fingers in tact that I have left.
Yikes! 1/3 less of a pointer finger to old lefty as of last week. The cabbage pizza was fantastic just the same
Thank you for sharing your story.
So sad many of us here were told not to follow our writing dreams for the same reasons…
Brilliant are we that created the spaces like Substack to come together in spite of their opinions
Can’t wait to read your next entry
Glad you enjoyed that.. my youngest is laughing while I point at what he’s meant to “pick up.” Where Mom, over there? 👉 haha it is a little wonky and does point slightly crooked now. He is completely correct upon further inspection 😂.
As I am researching, studying or roughing out thoughts for a post, it’s all pen and paper! Has to be a medium point pen, though! Appreciate your honest post. My printing is mixed with cursive. If I am not careful, I have to go back and make I’ll be able to decipher it later!
I’m happy to hear there’s some hand writing. I read Mickey Z on Substack too and he is currently transcribing the Bible and finding it to be epiphanic in that there is so much more his brain is absorbing. I’ve been in a letter writing campaign for a niece with cancer. I send her a handwritten note card every Monday and it’s really centered me around the words I’m saying to her every week. I choose to be present in those moments with her weekly. I never remember what I’ve written which seems odd to me but it’s for her so once the gift is gone to the mailbox I don’t think about it again. I also renewed the practice of sending Christmas cards the last 2 years. Not hundreds but just 25 or so. It’s been a fun project to keep my writing skills real and challenge myself to pic the perfect photograph to make the cards. Writing is definitely cathartic be it digital or by hand.
I Also enjoy the articles in the Epoch Times, especially Walker Larsen. Journaling is still in my wheelhouse. Glad to know you can still use the keyboard to tap out your enjoyable articles!
Kev - always enjoy your pieces. This one really resonated. I had written a long comment about my own experience with this, but couldn’t finish and when I went back to it-it was not there any longer. That’s why I’m a laptop guy and not a phone guy. 🙄
I've thought about this a lot. You explain it well. I finally decided that cursive longhand is just an evolution from heiroglyphics. The next technological step is underway: dictation. I don't think I can pull that off. Like you, I love tapping my keyboard. Very often my voice appears on the page before it forms words in my head. I guess we're each left to our own devices.
I gave up “writing” in favor of printing probably in my late 20s early 30s. I still try to have a real signature, but it’s sloppy as hell. When I need to “sign” with my finger on a screen, it’s strictly K_______ M_______? Letter- line, letter-line.
Sorry to hear about the death of your penmanship, may it rest in peace!
I, as well as my mother and many siblings, never had any penmanship to begin with. I still remember the nuns making me stay after school to practice my Os on the blackboard. Fortunately, my wife understands and doesn’t mind me printing her cards. She also does all the writing of any going out.