5 ms·

> I have even rediscovered the visceral pleasantness of writing by hand. A bit unrelated, but I’ve often wondered if I’m in the minority that hates writing by

> I have even rediscovered the visceral pleasantness of writing by hand. A bit unrelated, but I’ve often wondered if I’m in the minority that hates writing by hand. Compared to typing, I’m much slower, and it looks terrible — I print in caps just so that it’s remotely legible. I avoid handwriting at all costs, and loath the few times it’s required.

xattt 5y ago
I worked in positions that required me to write by hand more than I had in the last decade. I found that my handwriting found an equilibrium that balanced speed and legibility after a while. Perhaps consider changing your writing technique?
renewiltord 5y ago
My handwriting is fine but I am slow af compared to editing in a vimlike. Definitely agree with you. None of this writing stuff appeals to me. The drawing maybe.
- eloisant 5y ago
  When I take notes I usually don't limit myself to writing to lines, I write on the sides, makes arrows, etc... For this "visual note taking" paper (or e-ink tablet) is way better.
macintux 5y ago
I took the LSAT on a lark about 20 years ago, and at the time they required an essay written in cursive. Took me a couple of hours just to reconstruct my distant memories of how to write cursive, and I hated every minute of the essay itself.
- jader201 5y ago
  Yes, this exact single moment in my life is often recalled any time the subject of handwriting in cursive comes up. That essay was a complete mess. I was even thinking of that as I wrote my above post. Hilarious that someone else mentioned it.
EvanAnderson 5y ago
You're not alone. I appreciate that some people enjoy hand-writing (the act itself, the ergonomics, and all the various bits of physical ephemera that accompany it-- pens, papers, etc) but for me typing's sheer efficiency and inherent machine-readability (not to mention being readable by other humans) wins every time.
- mmcdermott 5y ago
  This has been a bit of tug-o-war for me for a while. Where I've mostly settled is that I use TiddlyWiki as my main notetaker / knowledge base and using a paper notebook as a sort of sidecar (taking notes by hand where it is easier or more appropriate and then transcribing them into the wiki). My wiki entries range from little "cards" of a few short sentences to longer entries written while analyzing or designing something.
0_____0 5y ago
I long hated writing, and like you only wrote in block capitals, until I decided to re-learn to write cursive. Mostly I wanted to be able to write sweet paper notes to my lovers that didn't look like a 5th grader wrote them. I've found that when the process is approached as art, maybe even meditation, it's far more pleasurable than an act simply meant to record words on paper.
- xeromal 5y ago
  Anytime I write in print, I'm slow and janky but cursive seems to flow out of my hand. By default, it's not very legible except to me but I actually appreciate how it looks and it's easy to focus it when writing to someone else. Cursive definitely flows much easier than print. My only gripe with writing in general is that writing left handed excludes me from about 92% of pens that will streak under my hand.
  - aidenn0 5y ago
    Being left handed, you've probably found this, but the Zebra Sarasa Dry is what my left handed daughter uses. It's the only cheapish pen that she likes
    - clairity 5y ago
      yes, in cobalt blue, they're perfect. much better than the pilot g2's that preceded them.
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  Can you share any resources you used to learn and improve your writing? My love letters can always be better.
  - ngngngng 5y ago
    I worked for about a month a few years back to improve my writing. I just found an example of handwriting I liked and would spend time each morning copying individual characters, then words. Very slowly at first, then it became natural. My handwriting has slipped since then, seems to be something you need to keep working at from time to time.
jfb 5y ago
I hate my handwriting, but the physical act of longhand absolutely helps me with retention, so I have a reMarkable. It's a pretty great device.
crussmann 5y ago
Over the last years, I felt my handwriting was deteriorating. I blamed my lack of practice and reliance on computers, and accepted that. But, last year I got glasses. With them, my hand writing quickly improved. As an aside, I can type a lot faster on a touch screen now too. Presbyopia snuck up on me somewhere when I hit 40...
Nursie 5y ago
I’m terrible at it, but I enjoy fountain pens. They make me slow down enough that it’s at least legible, where my biro-scrawl is very much not. It is hard not to let my brain race ahead though, as it does when I’m typing. Also fountain pens are shiny and you can get all sorts of inks and accessories!
marshmellman 5y ago
Yes, I’m in that minority too. I’ve always had poor handwriting and always hated writing by hand. After introspecting about it, I realized that, for me, it’s because of low grade stress during handwriting, as my attention is constantly churned between thinking about the content and about legibility.
musingsole 5y ago
Writing text by hand is certainly slower than typing. Unless you're filling out a form or writing an essay in school, handwritten things should use more symbolic language. Use a shorthand of words and images and arrows and circles that are meaningful to you. Whether or not someone else (or even you later) can read it is really a secondary concern.
Aeolun 5y ago
I use handwriting for thinking, not writing. I don’t really expect to be able to recover the things I write down more than 2 weeks after the fact without some extra work.
meristohm 5y ago
Have you tried writing with your other hand, if you have it? Writing with my non-dominant hand is slower and more precise. It’s been twenty-odd years of practice, in part in case I lose a hand, and it continues to feel like a fun, healthy challenge.
asdff 5y ago
It might seem obvious but the less you write the more illegible your handwriting seems to you. I noticed this during school. Over summers I would pretty much never have to handwrite anything, and in august I had all the same gripes that you do about my slow illegible terrible looking handwriting. Those kinks would be worked out two weeks into the school year, after your hand is back in shape from writing notes 8+ hours a day. The other thing about handwriting is that you remember things better. The act of transmuting something you've heard, put it into a thought, then taking that thought and stroking out words on a distinct location on a physical page taps into all these levels of comprehension and processing that you just miss if you take the stenographer approach with a keyboard and transcribe directly what you hear, or even writing digitally on the exact same 8x10 screen day in day out. I've fallen asleep in lectures with my hands on the keyboard mid sentence typing up some note, because the effort required by your brain is so much smaller and you are not nearly as engaged as when you are actually stroking out words and in the background thinking about how to fit relevant information on a unique 8'x11' sheet of paper.

xattt 5y ago

I worked in positions that required me to write by hand more than I had in the last decade. I found that my handwriting found an equilibrium that balanced speed and legibility after a while. Perhaps consider changing your writing technique?

renewiltord 5y ago

My handwriting is fine but I am slow af compared to editing in a vimlike. Definitely agree with you. None of this writing stuff appeals to me. The drawing maybe.

eloisant 5y ago
When I take notes I usually don't limit myself to writing to lines, I write on the sides, makes arrows, etc... For this "visual note taking" paper (or e-ink tablet) is way better.

macintux 5y ago

I took the LSAT on a lark about 20 years ago, and at the time they required an essay written in cursive. Took me a couple of hours just to reconstruct my distant memories of how to write cursive, and I hated every minute of the essay itself.

jader201 5y ago
Yes, this exact single moment in my life is often recalled any time the subject of handwriting in cursive comes up. That essay was a complete mess. I was even thinking of that as I wrote my above post. Hilarious that someone else mentioned it.

EvanAnderson 5y ago

You're not alone. I appreciate that some people enjoy hand-writing (the act itself, the ergonomics, and all the various bits of physical ephemera that accompany it-- pens, papers, etc) but for me typing's sheer efficiency and inherent machine-readability (not to mention being readable by other humans) wins every time.

mmcdermott 5y ago
This has been a bit of tug-o-war for me for a while. Where I've mostly settled is that I use TiddlyWiki as my main notetaker / knowledge base and using a paper notebook as a sort of sidecar (taking notes by hand where it is easier or more appropriate and then transcribing them into the wiki). My wiki entries range from little "cards" of a few short sentences to longer entries written while analyzing or designing something.

0_____0 5y ago

I long hated writing, and like you only wrote in block capitals, until I decided to re-learn to write cursive. Mostly I wanted to be able to write sweet paper notes to my lovers that didn't look like a 5th grader wrote them. I've found that when the process is approached as art, maybe even meditation, it's far more pleasurable than an act simply meant to record words on paper.

xeromal 5y ago
Anytime I write in print, I'm slow and janky but cursive seems to flow out of my hand. By default, it's not very legible except to me but I actually appreciate how it looks and it's easy to focus it when writing to someone else. Cursive definitely flows much easier than print. My only gripe with writing in general is that writing left handed excludes me from about 92% of pens that will streak under my hand.
- aidenn0 5y ago
  Being left handed, you've probably found this, but the Zebra Sarasa Dry is what my left handed daughter uses. It's the only cheapish pen that she likes
  - clairity 5y ago
    yes, in cobalt blue, they're perfect. much better than the pilot g2's that preceded them.
toomuchtodo 5y ago
Can you share any resources you used to learn and improve your writing? My love letters can always be better.
- ngngngng 5y ago
  I worked for about a month a few years back to improve my writing. I just found an example of handwriting I liked and would spend time each morning copying individual characters, then words. Very slowly at first, then it became natural. My handwriting has slipped since then, seems to be something you need to keep working at from time to time.

jfb 5y ago

I hate my handwriting, but the physical act of longhand absolutely helps me with retention, so I have a reMarkable. It's a pretty great device.

crussmann 5y ago

Over the last years, I felt my handwriting was deteriorating. I blamed my lack of practice and reliance on computers, and accepted that. But, last year I got glasses. With them, my hand writing quickly improved. As an aside, I can type a lot faster on a touch screen now too. Presbyopia snuck up on me somewhere when I hit 40...

Nursie 5y ago

I’m terrible at it, but I enjoy fountain pens. They make me slow down enough that it’s at least legible, where my biro-scrawl is very much not. It is hard not to let my brain race ahead though, as it does when I’m typing. Also fountain pens are shiny and you can get all sorts of inks and accessories!

marshmellman 5y ago

Yes, I’m in that minority too. I’ve always had poor handwriting and always hated writing by hand. After introspecting about it, I realized that, for me, it’s because of low grade stress during handwriting, as my attention is constantly churned between thinking about the content and about legibility.

musingsole 5y ago

Writing text by hand is certainly slower than typing. Unless you're filling out a form or writing an essay in school, handwritten things should use more symbolic language. Use a shorthand of words and images and arrows and circles that are meaningful to you. Whether or not someone else (or even you later) can read it is really a secondary concern.

Aeolun 5y ago

I use handwriting for thinking, not writing. I don’t really expect to be able to recover the things I write down more than 2 weeks after the fact without some extra work.

meristohm 5y ago

Have you tried writing with your other hand, if you have it? Writing with my non-dominant hand is slower and more precise. It’s been twenty-odd years of practice, in part in case I lose a hand, and it continues to feel like a fun, healthy challenge.

asdff 5y ago

It might seem obvious but the less you write the more illegible your handwriting seems to you. I noticed this during school. Over summers I would pretty much never have to handwrite anything, and in august I had all the same gripes that you do about my slow illegible terrible looking handwriting. Those kinks would be worked out two weeks into the school year, after your hand is back in shape from writing notes 8+ hours a day. The other thing about handwriting is that you remember things better. The act of transmuting something you've heard, put it into a thought, then taking that thought and stroking out words on a distinct location on a physical page taps into all these levels of comprehension and processing that you just miss if you take the stenographer approach with a keyboard and transcribe directly what you hear, or even writing digitally on the exact same 8x10 screen day in day out. I've fallen asleep in lectures with my hands on the keyboard mid sentence typing up some note, because the effort required by your brain is so much smaller and you are not nearly as engaged as when you are actually stroking out words and in the background thinking about how to fit relevant information on a unique 8'x11' sheet of paper.