Dear Reader,
It’s been too long since I’ve check in! I’ve been working on a novel, and that sucks up my writing time. But I’ve got something on my mind that I want to share with you.
I fear that as we lose the ability to write by hand, we are losing more than just the ability to manipulate a pen to scrawl characters on a page. We are losing something beautiful. Creative.
So, I have this new obsession. Handwriting letters.
You can doodle on a letter! Draw pictures instead of words. Or augment the words with rays of light shooting off them. Or black clouds hovering above. Or turn your O’s into eyeballs. So much more expressive than an emoji. And you get to lick the envelope shut. Sexy! Or, if occasion calls, chastely sponge. Then comes a sticker of your choosing. The stamp. I mean, the fun never ends.
There’s also the intimacy of a handwritten letter.
Unlike this missive, which is intended for whoever clicks the link, a handwritten letter is targeted to a certain person or persons. It’s specific. Vulnerable. A person’s handwriting reveals so much about their personality. Is it loopy and large? Tight and evenly spaced? You can see the crossed-out misspellings, or where the thoughts were simply too big for the page and are therefore squeezed in at the bottom or climbing up the edge of the page.
And the suspense!
Pose a question in a letter, you must wait for the response. Each day wondering, hoping, that today will be the day you’ll find out if she got the job. Or what she thinks about the photo you enclosed in your last letter. The suspense of the three flashing dots on your phone’s screen simply cannot compare.
And here’s another thing. We’re living in an age when it’s hard to know who to trust. Emails asking for help can appear to be from a friend. News on your feed can appear to be from a reputable source. A person’s online profile can appear to be everything you’re looking for. Given your state of mind when you read it, and the quality of the online post or email, it can be tricky to discern fiction from fact. Nor, with a letter, is it convenient to simply forward it the way you can with an email. So, there’s that too: the security of a handwritten letter.
I also want to keep our post office in business. That’s the truth. I love my mail carrier. Her name is Serena. She once helped Dixie and I push our car out of the driveway onto the street. Our battery had died. We needed to get to work. The truck was behind the Mazda so we had to get the Mazda parked on the street. Serena stepped in. You can bet I wrote her a letter! I taped it on our mailbox with her name printed on it. I thanked her profusely.
True Story: Not long ago, I stopped into a Hallmark shop to see if they sold postcards. After wandering through aisles of kitsch and not finding any, I asked the pubescent cashier if they carried them. Her response: “What’s a postcard?” So sad.
Are you a writer of letters? Were you ever? Would love to hear your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Clifford
PS. And remember: Live the Love. It’s all we’ve got.
Read somewhere recently where kids who no longer learn cursive in school can no longer read cursive writing (like messages from their grandparents on their birthday cards!)
Patti Smith says she always writes her poems, prose, and song lyrics by hand and loves stationary stores where she can pick out journals, pens, and pencils. Then transcribes on her computer to send away to publishers and editors. The only way she could unleash her creative juice, she claims.
I treasure boxes of letters my now deceased brother wrote to me weekly even when living next door or close by in town, either in his indecipherable handwriting (to most), or on his ancient Underwood with one key damaged. The lettering is as vivid of a reminder of him as is seeing a photograph.
Keep writing, Clifford, and I’ll send you a postcard soon!!
Hey Diane! Nice to hear from you. I love hearing that about your brother’s letters. Sadly, I have thrown away so many letters in my life. Would love to have them now.
This is interesting to me.
Recently, a friend, someone who I care quite a lot about, suggested that we write letters to each other and give zoom a break.
The thing is that I can send a letter and already have but will they answer?
Yes, I have to wait to see if they will write back and what will be their words in response to mine ?
This is difficult for me and requires trust in other and also maybe timing… am I writing to much too little?
Was my letter well received etc.
I am not sure what to do with all this going on inside me about this.
I love writing the letters but waiting for a response – well that is something isn’t it.
I would love to hear your thoughts
Thank you for your words
Tara🦋
Hey Tara, That’s great that you’re writing letters. And trusting that people will write back is part of it. And I think best to view people writing back as a gift. Not something expected. Glad to hear you’re using the post office!
Excellent post! I have long worried about this for my family’s kids who can’t seem to write by hand. All thumbs and texts. But I recently read that 24 states have voted to add cursive writing back into grade school curriculum. I have always loved hand written letters and like you, have thrown so many away. Now, when I find a card written by my mom or dad, I preserve it as best I can. Even the sight of their handwriting brings me joy.
I think there is a different connection between brain, heart, and hand–one not duplicated by typing on a keyboard. My journals are all handwritten and many first drafts emerge that way, always in large sketch books! They are a scribbled mess and I love them.
So glad they are bringing cursive back! And yeah, I’ve been saving my mom’s letters. Better yet, I recently received 2 volumes of her writing that she did through Storyworth. Have you heard of it? Basically, it got her to blog for two years then turned her writing into books. It’s amazing what I’m learning about her. And yay for the scribbled mess!
I’ve never heard of Storyworth. What a blessing to have your Mom’s writings. I often think about the questions I wish I’d asked my Mom. My dad too. The list is long.
Once, I was scribbling away in a cafe, and this absolutely stunning young couple came in. They sat at the table next to me. I was so taken by their youth (it was freezing outside and the gal was in a tiny tank top, showing off these amazing tats), that I begin to write about then. A little while later, the girl leaned over and whispered in my ear, I love your journal. So wild. 🙂 It was one of those priceless moments.
I love that tats story. Did it find its way into a poem?
And yeah, Storyworth is amazing. Wish I had one for my dad.
Sending love. C
Thank you for this, Cliffi. I totally agree with the magic of handwritten work of all sorts… Letters and also journaling. Two years ago when I made a tremendous change in my life, I developed a practice that I called poetic journaling. I wanted to record my journey in a way that felt like it would capture more than pros. So for a year I created a collection that I called.”poetic journaling to chronicle a year of immense change.” All this written by hand. It would’ve been totally different that I typed out my thoughts and metaphors.
I later Wood transferred the work to my computer and use that opportunity to do some editing. I love this collection and I am so glad that I have this record of my journey.
Sending you much love, dear writer, friend. ❤️
Bayla! Thanks for checking in. So great to hear from you. And yeah, writing by hand. There is nothing like it. But for editing???? Hell no. I think about the days when books were handed to presses in longhand, and typesetters meticulously set them onto the press—one letter at a time. Sheesh. That’s dedication!!
There was something really comforting about reading this. Sometimes a simple message can stay with you because it feels like someone finally put those feelings into words that you were never able to explain yourself. I found myself reading it slowly and thinking about how much meaning can be hidden in the little things we normally overlook. It also reminded me why I enjoy playing around with different forms of writing, and I recently came across this cursive generator while looking for a more personal way to write certain words and messages. It sounds like a small thing, but seeing words in a different style can actually make them feel a little more special. Thank you for sharing something so heartfelt.