# 2024-11-15 10:23:02
Re:
gopher://colorfield.space/0/~mieum/phlog/2021-08-31-handwriting.txt
My handwriting had been pretty bad until I started practicing a
form of cursive. By which time it morphed into a
monospace-but-continuous-like style, a little similar to the
Caveat font. As I started to write a bit more, I also started to
hold my pen a little differently -- in such a way that makes me
feel more comfortable, making writing more enjoyable, as a form
of mindfulness or meditation. My handwriting changed along with
this. It was still monospace-sized + cursive, but I started to
add a lot of extra strokes which made it less legible, such as
making the second circle at the button of g, y, and j's, turning
l into fatter curls and making each letter blend into its
neighbours a little more.
It's worth noting that my so-called "cursive" isn't really what
we normally refer to as cursive, it's simply continuous.
Regardless, my letters are curvy, and the tip of my pen "dances"
as I write, rather than making rigid, sharp turns they sort of
flow, like butter. It is similar to how one might consider all
thoughts and ideas to be interconnected. The way my handwriting
"slurs" words and phrases together as if they are all part of a
whole, convoluted, but beautiful mess is a manifestation of
that. After all, we put our thoughts down through handwriting,
don't we?
(Related: further thoughts of typing vs. writing
https://home.hedy.dev/posts/typing-vs-writing/)
***
Regarding journalling on paper: I absolutely love it -- one, I
enjoy the physical act of writing[*], I enjoy not being able to
catch up to my thoughts and being able to mindfully consider how
I should draw each letter; two, I journal on blank pages --
dotted grid at most, if I've run out of undotted notebooks; this
allows me to write anywhere, in any format I want. It's true that
sometimes my writing would slant down or the margins of my text
would sometimes be inconsistent, but by writing free-form I get
to express on paper much more than just words. I can draw emotes
and make some phrases I want to stress larger, I can purposely
write diagonally to achieve a particular effect.
[*]: This is similar to typing on your favorite mechanical
keyboard.
I can never get enough physical notebooks.
