Why you should love your handwriting
First of all, let me dispel a myth: calligraphers do not necessarily have beautiful handwriting. The lettering process, using a penholder and nib, or a brush, is very different to everyday writing. Yes, I can write beautifully with the right tools, paper and time. But give me a biro and a birthday card and the result will be a wonky scrawl. This, incidentally, is why I don’t include handwritten thank you notes in my parcels: I just know that they wouldn’t meet expectations!
So I don’t have especially nice handwriting, but that’s not to say that I dislike it, or would ever avoid writing by hand. These are just some of the reasons why you too should love your handwriting.
1. Your handwriting is part of you
Just like your voice, your laugh, or your mannerisms, your handwriting is uniquely yours. These are all things we can alter. We can learn to project our voice, or change our accent, temper our laughter and mimic gestures and expressions. But we’ll still be making them our own. Our personality and history will still come through. My handwriting has changed multiple times over the last four decades, but it will always bear the traces of being taught French cursive with a fountain pen at primary school – in the same way I will never quite sound like a native when I speak English.
2. Handwriting is more than just words
Writing by hand is not just a method of inscribing words, slower and less efficient than typing. It has character, and mood. It changes depending on what you write with, how tired you are, whether you’re in a hurry or relaxed, angry or sad. It captures the moment, and the context, in a way nothing else can. Looking back on diary entries can be revealing in this way: not just the words and feelings, but the very shape of each sentence, expresses the moment.
3. Your handwriting is part of history
Writing descends from hieroglyphs, alphabet by alphabet. The same shapes can be traced back, although they have been rotated, simplified and stylised over time. Your own version of the alphabet is part of this process. As you shape and reshape those lines and curves, you carry on the work of centuries, transcribing sounds into script. We all have our quirks, and while they may not take off as a new, shared, revised alphabet, they are part of the same human process, of finding better ways to communicate.
4. You can always ‘improve’ your handwriting
Writing is like dancing. It is a physical choreography that requires practice to seem effortless, from individual steps (or strokes) to smooth, elegant movement (or lines). When I was at school I would often try copying the way a friend shaped a particular letter, or simply decide to try something different. Writing by hand was pretty much an all-day activity – the thumb and fingers on my right hand still bear the marks of all that pen-holding – so it was easy to spend time experimenting. For many of us, those opportunities have dwindled, but it’s never too late. You can still practise, be creative with your flourishes, and learn to love your handwriting.
