Adventures in Letter Writing No. 25: “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men” (Roald Dahl)

I did wonder whether I should handwrite everything on this website and then scan or photograph it, seeing as it is a website about handwritten letters, but that’s because I only really do technology on the PC and looking at a photo of my scrawl on a phone would be near impossible.  Hence we decided it best to stick to convention and type it.  Reconfigure (nice word) I think is the jargon for what “devices” do.

But I feel the need to tell you that all these “blogs” (“web-logs” is not much better) are written out in a notebook with a pencil beforehand.  I’m not sure anyone will really care but at the same time I didn’t want to appear like a complete fraud.  No-one will care about this either, but is it just me who is particular about their pencils.  The lead has to be of Goldilock’s consistency (i.e. not too hard nor too soft) and I quite like a little rubber on the end but generally I’m lazy and just cross things out.  Also by the time I reclaim them from The Borrowers (the children) the rubber has been annihilated.  I found a lovely article by a lady called Barbara Bash (cool name) called “The Simple Joy of Writing by Hand” which says it all perfectly.  One thing that stood out for me was where she had described “the softness of the paper” and how lovely that was in terms of physical sensations when writing (crikey).  But I know what she means. It’s tangible.

I love my little notebooks too.  Just the old A5 school-type lined ones (preferably with a pretty cover but not essential).  Maybe I overthink things, I don’t mind admitting, but I was looking at my current favourite pencils and wondering how long it will be before they are completely pencil-sharpened away.  And this might bake your noodle but what are all the words contained in the lead of a pencil yet to be written? I know, I overthink things.

But buying a new pencil. It’s bittersweet I guess.  Sad but exciting (!?) in that I’ll get to choose a new one.  Much the same as when I fill up my notebooks with my scribbles – it’ll be fun buying some more.  Which is great because it’s a universal fact that one can never have too many notebooks.

Dinah

The purple one’s my favourite…

3 thoughts on “Adventures in Letter Writing No. 25: “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men” (Roald Dahl)

  1. Silvana Withe says:

    Not that fussed about pencils but pens are a different matter entirely…I’m addicted to buying them especially gel pens…do I use them? Nope…i just want them! Stationery OMG…i have boxes reaching the ceiling of envelopes and paper!!!

  2. Pauline Campbell says:

    I have an addiction to pens too. To be truthful i am a pen thief! But I do ask first….and then it i can’t be called stealing! I especially like to acquire the fancy ones used in professional offices….and I now have a couple of donors with whom I trade pens.
    ?

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