I’m writing in a notebook because I felt the need to fill blank pages with pretty blue handwriting. I’m trying to resist the urge to rip out the pages and start over when something looks sloppy. I’ve already failed once.
I don’t like my handwriting. I could never get my lowercase b’s and k’s to look right – or my capital G’s. My handwriting is an inelegant mix mosh of cursive and print. The obsessive compulsive in me is screaming to get to the computer where the words are always neatly spread across the page.
But I miss writing in notebooks and journals. I miss the writer’s bump on my right ring finger. It’s not even a bump anymore – barely a rough patch. I once wore that callus with pride – it was a symbol of my passion . . . but all the keyboard gives me is carpel tunnel.
I’ve almost covered an entire page in the purple marble copy book I bought for 50 cents 4 years ago at Rite Aid. I bought 6 of them because, well, they were 50 cents. There’s still one left untouched, but the others have barely more than a few pages filled – all sporadic and short-lived attempts at getting back in the habit of writing by hand.
I don’t know if this will become a regular thing. I honestly doubt it. But it was nice to watch the ink spread across the page, to listen to the scratching of my pen, to feel the slight cramp in my hand, and to even see my mix moshed handwriting laid out in front of me.
Posted by Carolyn Brown on February 23, 2013 at 11:06 am
Shows how different everyone is. I always had aching in my wrists when I wrote in my notebook (and that writers bump). Keyboard writing is painless!
Posted by Dayle Lynne on February 25, 2013 at 5:13 am
The keyboard doesn’t bother me while I’m typing, but I can definitely feel the long-term affects on my wrists. . . . My hand does ache when I write in a journal or notebook, but it didn’t used to . . . I think it’s just because I’m out of practice . . . . Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m going to start doing it all the time
Posted by therealsharon on February 23, 2013 at 4:42 pm
I use to write in notebooks all the time when I was a kid. I even started a couple “books” that I never finished. Since I’ve been able to just type on the computer, I hardly ever write in notebooks much except notes now, though. So much easier!
I don’t like my handwriting either, but I blame it on my 1st grade teacher who always said write smaller!, then I would and she would say, Write bigger! and then I would and she would go back and forth…ugh!
Posted by Dayle Lynne on February 25, 2013 at 5:14 am
It’s definitely easier to type, but I do miss filling notebooks and journals!
I’m having an Alice in Wonderland visual with your 1st grade teacher’s write bigger/write smaller thing!
Posted by therealsharon on February 25, 2013 at 5:08 pm
LOL
My hand writing before 1st grade was, while very childlike, actually pretty and decent, but having to constantly change how I wrote messed me up…and see, I went to a private school where ALL elementary we actually had Penmanship class where we were graded on how well we wrote….which is when she kept telling me bigger and smaller….so I really think that screwed me up…now, I write a mixture of big and small…seriously…I am so confused in my writing!
Posted by Dayle Lynne on February 28, 2013 at 9:38 pm
Hehe, you have the mix mosh of big and small and I have the mix mosh of cursive and print!
Posted by Jen Hurowitz on February 25, 2013 at 9:19 am
“I once wore that callus with pride – it was a symbol of my passion . . . but all the keyboard gives me is carpel tunnel.”
Amen to that!
Posted by Dayle Lynne on February 28, 2013 at 9:41 pm