Do any of you actually hand write anything? (relatives, friends, adult)

[silibran]

I was thinking today that I write so seldom now. I might write a grocery list, and an occasional card. But that's about it. If I send a letter, it will be an email. I don't write out recipes any more, either. I save them to some sort of file. Or if I have to, I type them up.

I almost never send postcards. I don't keep a journal or diary.

So, I don't do hand writing very much.

How about you? Are you still writing recipes down, doing Christmas cards with news, send letters?

I know the younger kids are not learning cursive. But do you think hand writing will become a lost art?

[Escort Rider]

When I have something to write which is complex and which requires careful thought, I prefer to write out a draft in long hand and edit that before I type it into a document or into an email. I suppose my preference is related to my age (71), as I was well into adulthood before word processing capability came into common use.

I seem to write better and think better that way, although I admit that will sound strange to some people, and the younger people are, the stranger it will sound to them.

[maggie2101]

My husband is completely deaf due to cancer treatment so I have to write him a note to communicate with him. We have found a new doctor who might me able to remedy this situation. We won't know until he is able to make it to an appointment. Looking forward to it.

[Harpaint]

After retirement there hasn't been much need to write. We always did our nurses notes at the hospital, but now they use computers for that too. I do still send a few Christmas cards. I also still write a few checks, but not many. My handwriting is really bad sometimes from lack of practice!

[Lastfire]

Like Escort Rider my thought process seems to improve if I write with an old-fashioned pen. I am in my 70s and so it may be an age thing. I often will type a finished copy on the computer after I have worked on my draft for several hours. I write grocery lists, thank you notes, postcards to grandkids, even did a lengthy letter to grandchild using both primary printing and cursive. Some school systems are dropping cursive. She may one day treasure such a rare thing. So, yes, I write and I type.

[banjomike]

I've kept a journal since 1989 and write in it as often as I want- sometimes daily for a spell, and other times, a couple of times a week. Typically I write 3 or more pages at a whack, all written longhand with a fountain pen. The last time I bothered to estimate, I've written well over a million words, and I'm working on Journal # 61. All are spiral bound notebooks, college lines, and 180 or 200 pages each.

Like Lastfire, I also found my thought processes much improved using an old-fashioned pen. The journal has also really helped my memory as well, although I'm steadily getting worse on fast name recall, something I've always had trouble with.

The curious thing I noticed recently is now, like a lot of other things I do, my writing needs my hand to warm up to the task. i've always been a pretty fast hand writer, but these days, the hand slows down on the first couple of sentences, then gradually speeds up. i do most of my writing in early morning, and sometimes my handwriting is irregular too, when it didn't used to be.

I literally can't use another type of pen to do anything more than a signature or a bank deposit any more. All the others require way too much effort. A good fountain pen floats over the paper with almost no hand pressure required.

I still do handwritten letters sometimes to old friends and family, and I carry a good but cheap German fountain pen around daily in my pocket. I own others much more expensive, but I've found my daily walk around always fires up on the first stroke. It's not as comfortable in hand as some of my others, though, when I'm burning through the pages in the journals.

A bonus is a fountain pen and a bottle of ink is by far the cheapest way to write. A bottled ink refill only costs about 3¢, but I keep ink cartridges on hand for when I'm traveling.

[Sojj]

Actually I do. But mostly on my data phone when I'm sending a text. I use the handwriting thingy because its easier than trying to hit those tiny fake buttons that I can hardly see with my arthritic fingers.

[rdflk]

I'm still big into writing personal notes, and sending cards....for now reason sometimes...just to say hi and thinking of you.
So, yeah, I do write those kinds of notes. And some times I'll write a note, like instructions, I need to include with a bill payment I'll mail. That's not often but it happens.It's just quicker and easier to grab a piece of paper and hand-write out a the two lines needed. By the time I go to the computer, open the program needed, type it out, and then print it...I could have just written it out..."please apply to account XYZ"....boom it's done.

And I write lists for work, and shopping. I also hand draw out my own calendars.

[in_newengland]

I keep a handy little notebook with my shoe sizes in different brands, lists of books to read, favorite quotations, and all sorts of miscellaneous information that I want to keep all in one place. I enjoy handwriting and prefer a non ballpoint pen. I truly prefer a good fountain pen because they're easier and more fun to write with.

Grocery lists are hand written, most recipes, unless I find them on the internet, are hand written.

My genealogy notes are hand written; they are not typed up until I've proven that they are accurate and ready to be added to the family tree.

A few older relatives still get hand written letters at Christmas and I've gone back to sending real cards with a written wish to people. I wish card writing would make a come back as I'm kind of sick of a bunch of well wishes on FB instead of a mailbox full of real cards to open. Sometimes I think the novelty of being able to do everything online is getting stale for me.

[phonelady61]

I still write letter and have tons of old fashioned fountain pens and bottles of ink . I love knowing that one day after im gone my grandkids will have those letters and cards I sent them with my signature .I also know that I write notes during the sermon at church and an elderly gentleman behind me tapped me on the shoulder and let me know that he thought it good that the art of the fountain pen was not totally gone and that I must have gone to a catholic school and I said yes . It turns out that he is a former school teacher and he taught penmanship in that school . we talked after service he is 73 yrs old .