The virtual world is a disembodied one, and promotes the lie that we do not need our bodies to think. I believe it is no coincidence that researchers keep discovering that use of the body preserves the mind; your risk of developing dementia is lowered with exercise, lowered with keeping and caring for a pet if you live alone, lowered with the richness of in-person social connection which relies on all kinds of bodily cues.

The virtual world can also promote mindlessness in dealing with information. To a large degree, we can collect and move digital information without having to think. I reflexively click a button and the “read-it-later” app that collects digital articles for me instantly copies and saves it. (I go on to read perhaps 10% of the articles I click, generously estimating.) Moving information around digitally can even be automated, making it literally a mindless task.

But analog forces you to THINK, because it forces you to use your body* and use physical materials.

The analog world pulls in the cooperation of the body, and thus, the mind. We think with our whole bodies. Walking is a time-honored aid to thinking; and so is handwriting.

The digital world offers such overwhelming amounts of information that handwriting acts as a curator. Handwriting is slower. Handwriting takes more effort than hitting the hot keys for copy-paste commands. The effort of handwriting creates an automatic editing function.

Is something important enough for you to handwrite it down? Then it is probably important enough to act on.

At the end of each week, I create a handwritten plan for the week – calendar appointments and tasks. (I’ve changed how I do this a little bit, but that link shows the basic practice.)

At the end of each day, I look at my digital work calendar and my digital personal calendar with all their Zoom and Teams invites, and handwrite my appointments for the next day. I also look at my handwritten task list for the weeks, and handwrite the ones I hope to finish the next day.

My task and project lists are handwritten, because it is just too easy for me to get lost in a to-do app which automatically – mindlessly! – populates and replicates and sorts and copies.

No.

I need to do that sorting and copying and revising by hand.

I need to activate my brain to make my real world, real life plans. And this means I need to activate my body, by handwriting my plans down, in physical paper books.

Notes

* I do think the virtual world has a lot to offer people whose bodies don’t allow them to move with ease. For example, being able to write with a dictation app if you cannot use your hands to write, or being able to communicate by using a mouth stick and a tablet.

Copy and share – the link is here. Never miss a post from the Analog Office! Subscribe here to get blog posts via email.

Wondering how to manage your paper-based or hybrid paper-digital systems? Ask me a question.

Isn’t this habit tracker beautiful?

Halsted, whose site is cygnoir.net, kindly allowed me to share this photo of her journal, which accompanied her thoughtful post about switching from tracking her habits and moods with an app, to using pen* and paper.

Halsted also links to a video where she learned how to use three lines on a paper grid, to create lovely patterns as she tracks her habits.

Speaking for myself, I personally get discouraged by habit trackers built on a “don’t break” approach.

This approach – “don’t break the chain,” or “don’t break the streak” – works well for a lot of people, but for me, I just take it the wrong way when I can’t check the little box for that day.

Something eventually happens to break the streak: illness, my own or someone else’s; an appliance or a car breaks down; an emergency at home or at work. Then my streak is broken… and maybe, I wonder, maybe, so am I.

When the pattern on my habit tracker looks a little broken, I feel a little broken.

I’ve been wanting to resume habit tracking but until now, haven’t found anything that would make me feel encouraged to keep going, rather than feel like I broke something (“why can’t I keep it going?”).

What I love about Halsted’s pattern-creating method is that you can still track your habits, and yet it allows for the unpredictability and complexity of human life.

We are persons, after all, not machines.

And the pattern still looks beautiful. Instead of breaking a streak, you are building a unique, emergent pattern that mirrors your days.

Halsted writes,

“The “three lines” method (…) impressed me with its simplicity and its forgiveness. The pattern looks prettiest when I’ve done all my habits for the day, but even if I haven’t, the result is still pleasing to the eye and encourages me to try again tomorrow.”

Yes, indeed.

The beauty here is unbroken.

Copy and share – the link is here. Never miss a post from the Analog Office! Subscribe here to get blog posts via email.

Wondering how to manage your paper-based or hybrid paper-digital systems? Ask me a question.

———————

Tip o’ the Fountain Pen

* To Halsted, who has helped me consider tracking my habits again. Fountain pen and notebook people, you’ll find a kindred spirit at cygnoir.net.

References

Bernard, H.M. (2023) ‘Habit and mood tracking in my Hobonichi Techo,’ 1 April. Available at: https://www.cygnoir.net/2023/04/01/habit-and-mood.html (Accessed: 24 April 2023).

Clear, J. (2019) ‘The Ultimate Habit Tracker Guide: Why and How to Track Your Habits’, James Clear, 14 January. Available at: https://jamesclear.com/habit-tracker (Accessed: 24 April 2023).

When I started using notebooks after years of keyboarding, I immediately re-discovered how illegible my handwriting was.

If you, too, find yourself squinting at your own chicken-scratch, here are two books I used to help me understand what I needed to change.

It came down to a couple of simple fixes. My handwriting is readable now (at least to me).

A Practical Book on Making Your Handwriting More Readable

Most handwriting books are geared toward handwriting as an artistic practice. However, this first book I’m recommending takes more of a clinical approach; aimed at making your handwriting legible.

It also includes a detailed chapter for left-handed people.

Because my handwriting was so bad, Improve Your Handwriting by Rosemary Sassoon and Gunnlaugur SE Briem was the book that helped me most.

Now I can read what I wrote.

Cool!

A Practical Book on Making Your Handwriting More Artistic

The second book I recommend is Brenna Jordan’s The Lost Art of Handwriting.

Jordan covers hand lettering techniques for both cursive and printing, with suggestions about how to mix the two in composition.

If, for example, you want to make quotes stand out in your notebook, or letter something as a gift for someone, The Lost Art of Handwriting would be a valuable resource.

Jordan addresses left-hander problems briefly, but not as in depth as Improve Your Handwriting does.

I loved her tips on flourishes, and how to use them responsibly effectively; and now I have wonky but legible writing with swoopety-loops around it.

Also cool!

Two Video Courses on Improving Your Handwriting

Tip o’ the Fountain Pen to a reader in Istanbul who took two handwriting courses, considered them “very good,” and kindly emailed me about them.

Since I made a solemn vow to be semi-reasonable* about my online course habit, I haven’t checked these out.

Yet.

But they do look interesting!

Here are the links:

Skillshare, Transform Your Handwriting

The Postman’s Knock, Improve Your Handwriting

Finally, if drawing a robot or a daisy in the margin feels too ambitious for you, handwriting exercises (loops and lines!) are excellent for doodling.

I think of handwriting exercises now as almost like a fidget tool.

Copy and share – the link is here. Never miss a post from the Analog Office! Subscribe here to get blog posts via email.

Notes

* I vowed to finish a course before I line up another one. Right now I’m drawing birds; so handwriting will have to wait.

References

Sassoon, R. and Briem, G.S.E. (2010) Improve your handwriting. London: Teach Yourself (Teach yourself books).

Jordan, B. (2019) The lost art of handwriting: rediscover the beauty and power of penmanship. First Adams Media hardcover edition. New York: Adams Media.

Transform Your Handwriting With Beautiful & Easy To Read Cursive | Robert J. P. Oberg (no date) Skillshare. Available at: www.skillshare.com/en/classe… (Accessed: 24 February 2023).

Improve Your Handwriting: A Comprehensive Online Course (no date) The Postman’s Knock. Available at: https://thepostmansknock.com/course/improve-your-handwriting-a-comprehensive-ecourse/ (Accessed: 24 February 2023).

Nature Journaling and Field Sketching | Bird Academy • The Cornell Lab (2023). Available at: https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/product/nature-journaling-and-field-sketching/ (Accessed: 24 February 2023).

If you do venture into the world of fountain pens and inks, justify the cost by declaring yourself an artist, and declaring your pens and inks to be art supplies.

Here is a drawing I made in my trusty 50¢ comp book*, of some rosemary, garlic, and carrots that we got at a farmer’s market:

Since most fountain pen ink is water-based, you can smear it with your fingers for a watercolor effect.

Bonus: your fingers will look artistic too.

Possible extra bonus: you can also call yourself an “ink-stained wretch.”

NOTES

* Composition books with paper made in Vietnam tend to be more fountain pen friendly.

If you think with paper and write a lot, consider using a fountain pen*. Modern pens strain your wrist and hand far more than fountain pens.

Fountain Pens vs Ballpoint Pens, Rollerball Pens, Gel Pens

Josh Giesbrecht, in his Atlantic article “How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive,” wrote about why he switched to fountain pens:

A lifetime writing with the ballpoint and minor variations on the concept (gel pens, rollerballs) left me unprepared for how completely different a fountain pen would feel. Its thin ink immediately leaves a mark on paper with even the slightest, pressure-free touch to the surface. My writing suddenly grew extra lines, appearing between what used to be separate pen strokes. My hand, trained by the ballpoint, expected that lessening the pressure from the pen was enough to stop writing, but I found I had to lift it clear off the paper entirely. Once I started to adjust to this change, however, it felt like a godsend; a less-firm press on the page also meant less strain on my hand. (…) My experience with fountain pens suggests a new answer. Perhaps it’s not digital technology that hindered my handwriting, but the technology that I was holding as I put pen to paper.

Like watches, fountain pens quickly morph from tools into (desk) jewelry or collector’s items.

Therefore, like watches, you can pay as much as you are willing to pay for a fountain pen… but they do not have to be expensive.

How to Try Out Fountain Pens and Fountain Pen Friendly Paper for Under $10

As of this writing, you can buy three Pilot Varsity (a.k.a. VPen) disposable fountain pens on Amazon for $7.99. I’ve seen single Pilot Varsity pens listed for $3.00.

Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pens work reliably* * as writing tools. If you’ve never used a fountain pen, I think these are just dandy to experiment with. They are low cost, have plenty of ink, and you can test to see if you even enjoy writing with a fountain pen.

On the right paper, fountain pens flow. Your thoughts can flow with them. On the wrong paper, fountain pens scritch and scratch; the opposite of flow.

Look for paper with a smooth finish. To do this on a budget, go to your local discount store and buy a composition notebook made in Vietnam. In my neck of the woods, I find these for less than one dollar. Comp books made in Vietnam tend to have nicer paper.

You can also buy non-disposable fountain pens without paying a fortune.

Here is a beginner’s guide to using a fountain pen. Lots of other good videos and guides to fountain pens on the JetPens* * * site as well.

NOTES

* The big drawback? If anyone knows of a fountain pen and ink combo that works well for left-handed folks, let me know. (If you’re left-handed and you’re writing in a language that goes left to right (rather than, say, Hebrew), the ink smears. Lefties writing in English need quick-dry ink.)

* * Since I have loved fountain pens for coughty-cough years, I do have pens that are not disposable. But I still use Pilot Varsity pens for some things.

* * * I wish they paid me to promote them, but nope! I pay them… Anna’s Fun Money often wanders to jetpens.com.

REFERENCES

Giesbrecht, J. (2015) How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive, The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/08/ballpoint-pens-object-lesson-history-handwriting/402205/ (Accessed: 15 September 2022).

The Beginner’s Guide to Fountain Pens | JetPens (no date). Available at: https://www.jetpens.com/blog/The-Beginner-s-Guide-to-Fountain-Pens/pt/927 (Accessed: 23 September 2022).

A public service announcement for fountain pen friends: one piece of blotter paper might last you 20 years.

I bought an old rocker blotter about 20 years ago which still had a sheet of blotting paper in it, and just kept using the old blue blotter paper sheet it came with. (Which was already well used.)

YMMV of course! I tend to let my paper air dry, rather than use blotter paper.

I bought NEW blotter paper* about a year ago. Check it out: still going strong!

This second vintage rocker blotter is literally window dressing. I love green milk glass. (I’m guessing it’s from the 1930s; Scottish terriers and milk glass were both very popular in the U.S. then.)

So. I have two rocker blotters. Two.

Two is not a collection.

If I get that extremely lovely 19th c cobalt blue glass one at the antique shop down the street, then I’ll have three. But I am not going to do that, because I am NOT not not not not NOT, I tell you** , having a rocker blotter collection.

Budgets and shelf space mean we must make choices, and I do not need a rocker blotter collection.

And: collections don’t start until you hit the number three.

This is the Law of Three. Once you have three of something, when you do not need three, it becomes a collection. This is true for cats***, this is true for old cars you’re keeping for parts, and it is true for rocker blotters.

So I am NOT having a rocker blotter collection.

There.

I said it on the internet, so it must be true.

P.S. Nice article here about actually using blotting paper, instead of white-knuckling the urge to buy another old rocker blotter.

REFERENCES

Link to Dorothy and Toto photo – File:The Wizard of Oz Judy Garland Terry 1939.jpg - Wikipedia (no date). Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Wizard_of_Oz_Judy_Garland_Terry_1939.jpg (Accessed: 18 July 2022).

Bosley, J. (2019) How To Use Fountain Pen Blotting Paper, Fountain Pen Love. Available at: https://fountainpenlove.com/how-to/how-to-use-fountain-pen-blotting-paper/ (Accessed: 18 July 2022).

NOTES

* The two questions I’m pretty sure my kids will be asking after my earthly sojourn is done: “What IS this? Why did she keep that?”

** Okay, I’m telling me. Again.

*** Although I can think of many situations where one might need three cats. Maybe you’re opening a cat café, and they need to work in shifts.