Pen to Paper...

Today is National Handwriting Day, although in these times of social media it's more international handwriting day. Handwriting really is something that I'm passionate about because I do it every single day. Let me explain...
Anyone who has met me or followed me on social media for any length of time will know that I am a serious notebook addict. I currently have slightly over 100 full notebooks and 35 notebooks waiting to be filled (and I will buy more, I know I will).

           With a notebook collection like that it makes sense to write by hand. I also love the sensation of writing by hand. I love the way ink flows over paper, the curves of letters, the flow of ones thoughts. I find it particularly pleasurable when writing fiction because I can completely immerse myself in the world I am creating. My notebooks contain first drafts and research and character profiles; they are a complete and tangible history of my interests and inspiration. I love seeing them sitting together on a shelf and I love opening an old notebook and finding some forgotten treasure.
          I recently took down one of my beautiful Paperblanks silver filigree notebooks and found notes on Louis XIV's love of ballet, of 17th Century fairy folklore and snippets from a love story I had titled, "May I be your Cello" (yes, that is as naughty as it sounds).

        It was a wonderful moment, a beautiful moment; seeing the person that I had been and that I was. I still have many of the same obsessions (I am certainly still fascinated by Louis XIV) but I have developed new obsessions too and my writing style has changed and evolved over the years.
I wonder what I will think in a couple of years time when I open the notebooks I am keeping now?

In fact if there is one downside to writing everything by hand it is this: eventually, everything must be typed up.