Write up my alley

Nov 05 2026

I am a pen and paper junkie. I love writing by hand. I love the feeling of my hand flowing over the page, gliding across the paper, like a figure skater on ice. I love every loop, swoop and swirl, the fat rounds and bellies of various letters. My signature is big and wild and when forced to confine itself to the little box on a passport application or the thin strip on the back of a credit card, very, very unhappy. Ugh.

Writing by hand has been nudged aside for years now. Notes once folded into tiny squares and passed under desks have largely given way to text messages. Laptops and tablets have elbowed their way past paper notebooks. And email? Well, email, what can I say? Email is email.

But I have not given up hope on longhand. Handwriting is not a lost art. No, indeed, far from it. And I think it is the digital world that will keep it alive and blooming. Have you ever noticed how many script fonts are available for use on your computer? Sites like Creative Market abound with gorgeous hand written fonts which can be downloaded to your computer and used within MS Word, or wherever. Handwriting has character that typed text does not. There is no comparison.

They say that there is a huge connection between the brain and writing something by hand. Writing by hand somehow, to me, inspires creativity. It’s almost like drawing. I think it improves memory. I do find that if I write something down, I’m more likely to remember it — sometimes so well that I never need to look at the note again.

And what about the joy, because it is a joy, no? When you spy a handwritten letter in the post amongst the plethora of bills and junk mail? What a surprise! How thoughtful, you think. Or maybe it’s what the heck is this, first. Then, “What a surprise!” followed by how thoughtful. 😉 Whichever the order, don’t you love receiving a handwritten letter or note card? Not the usual, I know, but sooo special. Doesn’t one handwritten note exude connection with the sender more than all the text and emails in a day? It costs so much more time to write a letter than an email, but that’s just one of the things that make it so special.

Or think of a signature, even. Is it not a true expression of a person? The most personal representation of themselves. One’s name written in their own hand. One’s name bonded to a birthday card for their beloved or to a contract that will launch their career. Big and bold, small and tidy, elegant or gloriously untidy. Every signature has a personality of its own.

I have not even raised calligraphy, handwriting analysis or letter writing, yet. Or stationery and journals, or fountain pens and ink. Fountain Pen Day seems as good an excuse as any to find a piece of paper, uncap a pen and write something by hand. A grocery list. A thought. Your name. A note to somebody you love.

Nothing important, necessarily. Just something unmistakably yours.

Long live longhand.