It is the weekend, the time when I think about the things that have given me the most joy. I cannot deny that in life, receiving a hand written letter from someone is something that I truly care about. When I was in high school I would write notes to people all day. I'm not talking about short things either, I mean full page notes, sometimes front and back.
Look, I'm going to jump to the chase. There is something magical about receiving a hand written letter, and I want to explain that magic so that you can spread the joy with other people. The value is too great to pass up. But first, let me tell you why you are not writing more by hand.
I remember that it was in the 8th grade that I learned to type faster than I could write and that was the moment that I wanted to type everything instead of writing it by hand. There is a lot of time that goes into writing something by hand. Typing is easy to edit. Nothing is permanent until you hit print when you are typing.
Typing is versatile, you can type an email or a text or a blog post. When you write by hand, it typically only goes to one person (unless you get really creative about it). You cannot copy and paste something that is hand written. You cannot hit "share" or "like" on a letter you get in the mail. You cannot do much but read the letter.
But here is the case for the Hand Written. I'll break it into three arguments.
As I said, you cannot copy and paste a hand written letter, and that is one of the things that makes it so personal. Each person has their own personal font when they write by hand. Your handwriting looks different than other peoples' hand writing. No one writes quite in the way that you do because the letters are formed by your hands.
Forensic analysts are tasked with the job of determining if a hand written artifact belongs to a certain person, and while they are subjectively trying to figure that out they are able to tell within a degree of certainty when something was written by that specific person or by someone else. You see, your hand writing is perfect in its imperfection.
No one can write a letter like you can. They just literally cannot. Only your hands have the ability to make the hand written letter that you are going to send. I cannot write the letter for you because it would be written in my own personal font. It is a Smokey the Bear kind of problem, "Only you can write in your personal font ."
Your hand written font is what makes the letter organic. Businesses are moving towards more hand lettered logos because of the organic, human, hand-made sensation that the logos provides for their customers. Organic things differ from one to another. That is how your hand written words work. No computer can recreate or copy what you have made because each letter is unique.
Your hand writing is your own personal brand. It represents you in the fullness. Each letter reminds the reader of you, each word reminds the reader just of the person they know you to be.
I've been recording myself reading these blog posts because of the impression I want you to have with my voice and the words I write. When you write by hand you are giving people an opportunity to use your spoken voice to read the written words.
Your written voice comes from the history of interactions you have had with the reader of your letter. An email or a text, even a typed letter, lacks the personal depth of your voice. When you type you are placing disembodied words on a screen or sheet of paper, but when you write by hand you are speaking those words to the page.
It is like in the movies, your voice will play in the person's head when they read the letter that you wrote. When you send a hand written letter you are giving people a chance to hear your voice again through the written words on the page.
When you write by hand, you are conveying a secondary message. Yes, you are saying the words that you wrote, but you are also saying something else. Hand written things implicitly say, "you are worth the extra effort."
There is an obvious cost involved with writing somebody a hand written letter. They do not grow on trees. You have to take the time to form each letter, to address the envelope, to find a mailbox and do it all while making the writing legible (I struggle with that sometimes). There is the cost of the stationary, the envelope, the stamp, and the time. Writing things by hand costs you, but it also says something about the person for whom you wrote it.
I wrote this blog post out for you by hand because you are worth the extra effort. Yes, it is not coming into your mailbox, there is no stamp, but the time went into it because I want you to know that you are worth it.
Each person has their own personal font when they write by hand. Your hand writing is perfect in its imperfection. Only you can write in your personal font.
Your hand written font is what makes the letter organic. No computer can recreate or copy what you have made because each letter is unique. Your hand writing is your own personal brand.
When you write by hand you are giving people an opportunity to use your spoken voice to read the written words. Your written voice comes from the history of interactions you have had with the reader of your letter. An email or a text, even a typed letter, lacks the personal depth of your voice.
When you write by hand you are speaking those words to the page. Your voice will play in the person's head when they read the letter that you wrote.
Hand written things implicitly say, "you are worth the extra effort." Writing things by hand costs you, but it also says something about the person for whom you wrote it.
Do you believe that hand written things have extra value?
Who wrote your last hand written letter? Was it special? Why or why not?
Who in your life is worth a hand written letter?
