Why Putting Pen To Paper Matters

National Stationery Week is fast approaching an as a NatStatWeek blogger I thought it was appropriate that I write a post on this years theme, why writing matters and not typing like I'm doing to produce this post, no I mean putting pen to paper.

We are in the age of modern technology. Screen only communication whether that be through emails or even blogs. These days most of us are so used to typing letters out using the keys on our phones or computers that we seem to have lost the ability to pick up a pen and physically write something out ourselves.

I think the trouble with this is that we are now out of practice, our handwriting has become sloppy, rather illegible, so it comes across as too hard to attempt and therefore opting for the easier option of typing instead, but that's just so impersonal. I mean wouldn't you rather open up a nice letter in the post to read instead of a generic email on a computer screen?

To me the pen is mightier than the laptop. Whether you are writing love notes, a simple list for shopping or penning your latest story, you are allowing your brain to work/exercise. Your creative juices begin to flow and in the end it can be just as therapeutic as things like colouring.

I've always encouraged my children to write, each of my girls have various notebooks, diaries and pens. My eldest enjoys writing so much that she aspires to be an author, her jotters are filled with various stories that she has conjured up.

When I was a child I remember spending a lot of time trying out different styles of writing, slanted, curly letters, you can get to know a lot about a person by the way they right and of course your handwriting is unique to you, again it comes back to being a very personal thing.

All my ideas for blog posts get written down in my blogger journal, I love being able to put my thoughts onto paper. And of course all of the gorgeous stationery that is available these days certainly helps to make writing more appealing to all.

You may have heard of bullet journals, these have become very popular in recent months, a great way for getting organised, they are described as the analogue system for the digital age.

The question is do we want to get a stage in life where handwritten things become extinct? I certainly don't. Schools these days are filled with computers and iPads, younger generations are missing out on this vital life skill. They don't even get the chance to learn from spelling mistakes because predictive/autocorrect automatically changes anything wrong before we even notice the mistake in the first place.

Putting pen to paper matters because this way of writing is a powerful way to express ourselves, to show off our individuality and if we are being honest here, if this means stepping away away from the screens and allowing some technology free time it can only be a good thing.

So lets all join in National Stationery Week and share those #writingmatters hashtags and give the pen back the power it deserves!