This year I’m participating in Ali Edwards’ One Little Word workshop. My word is “enough.” All of my OLW posts are here.
This month’s task was to write a letter to ourselves and as has been the pattern this year for me, I struggled with this writing-heavy task. I kept putting it off day after day, until I finally woke up this morning and decided this letter would be my highest non-baby-related priority today. And so between her feedings and while she napped, I finally knocked it out.
I’m not going to post my letter because hey, it’s just for me. But I will offer two observations:
First, it’s ironic that I struggle with the writing prompts, since I write here nearly every day. But blog writing, for whatever reason, is about 10 times easier for me than ACTUAL writing.
Second — and this is going to sound ridiculous — I realized I made a big error in thinking I should write my letter by hand, with pen and paper. That seemed like the “authentic” way to go, but I knew it would be time-consuming, and that was a major factor in my procrastination on this prompt. This morning I decided I would type my letter first to get started, and then copy it by hand for my album. And then halfway through typing it I realized it would be pretty silly to re-write it by hand to fit some arbitrary in-my-own-head definition of “better.” So when I finished, I just put the whole thing in a cheesy “handwriting” font and printed it out. Because my whole WORD for the year is enough, and typing and printing is definitely enough.
Note to self: duh.
I would guess that when we learned to write (by hand), we would have found it easier to write in any form – fiction, letters, papers, whatever – by hand. Now, I find writing by hand limiting. It’s easier for me to get my thoughts on paper by typing. I used to write diaries by hand, and now if I feel the need to write something not public, I still type it. Honestly, I find this a little sad.
I also wonder how things will be for the next generation. They are growing up in an age of devices without keyboards and of text to speech. I find it extremely painful to text or use an electronic keyboard. I have to basically compose what I want to say and than painstakingly “type” it out, but probably not so for today’s kids. We may be the only generation that finds typing on a keyboard the easiest way to write, having grown up that way. Or, even if that is not true, we may be the generation that finds it easiest to type of any generation.
I distinctly remember taking my IB exams as a high school senior and coming out of them with a hand cramp from non-stop writing for 3-4 hours. Whew. I’m totally with you — I can get my thoughts down MUCH faster by typing and probably could even back then, since I had taken a typing class in 9th grade.
Interesting thought about the future. It might be true. Emma has recently started using a computer at school for a math game that requires them to find the number key, hit it, and then hit enter. The teachers say it’s pretty comical to see the kids when they first start using it because they all try to touch the screen, not understanding that not all screens are touchscreens.
just had to say that your second observation made me laugh. i hand wrote mine. i probably would have written a better / more in-depth letter if i had typed it, but figuring out how to get things from the computer onto printed paper is always a struggle. it seemed easier just to write it out. i called it good “enough.”