Write a diary entry, reflection, short story, or a poem of approximately 500 words by hand. Take a photo of your work. You may opt to reflect on a moment of your day, comment on a news story you’ve encountered, or theorize about readings with which you’ve engaged. Alternately, you may opt to write creatively. Whatever genre you select, the goal is to write “manually” (from Old French manuel, from [and later assimilated to] Latin manualis, from manus, “hand”)
Written Reflection Link:
Reflection Questions:
- Do you normally write by hand or type? Did you find this task difficult or easy? Explain.
- What did you do when you made a mistake or wanted to change your writing? How did you edit your work? Did your choice of media play a part in how you edited your work
I have not normally written or typed by hand since the end of my public school education. I realized quickly the amount of reliance I have on the keyboard. I do want to note that I use my iPad and its accessory, apple pencil for my daily lesson plans, however extended writing is not part of my daily routine. The task was difficult mentally and physically for myself as my hand was feeling stiff halfway through the writing portion. In addition, it was difficult for myself to stay focused and transfer my thoughts onto the paper. There was a barrier and I often found myself pausing mid-sentence to recoup and properly finish the sentence. My thoughts are that I am able to edit my sentences quickly on the computer but with written text, it is difficult to do so I had to slow down.
I sort of mentioned it in the reflection question above but I think my brain just shut off. I am the type of person who does not like to erase and/or cross out when I handwrite. I would rather go slow and steady than go back to correct any errors in writing. As you can see in the reference photo above, I wrote in pen and did not make many errors (to my knowledge haha).
As I was doing my writing, I paused for a moment as I realized the sheer amount of effort people in previous generations had to put into handwriting documentations. In music, there are certain rules for pitches where if a symbol is written for one note, all the other notes in the same spot will have the symbol applied to even though it was not written individually. Upon further research after writing, I found it was a method to save time. Instead of writing endless symbols, a few key symbols could define a whole section. This is similar to key signatures, tempo marking and other aspects in sheet music.
I need to write more often, it feels like I am losing one of native tongues.
References:
- Clement, R. W. (1997). Medieval and Renaissance book production site.. Library Faculty & Staff Publications, Paper 10.
- Lamb, R., & McCormick, J. (Hosts). (2020, May 26). From the vault: Invention of the book, part 1. [Audio podcast episode]. In Stuff to blow your mind. iHeart Radio.
- Lamb, R., & McCormick, J. (Hosts). (2020, May 28). From the vault: Invention of the book, part 2[Audio podcast episode]. In Stuff to blow your mind. iHeart Radio.