Margaret Shepherd - The Art of the Handwritten Note: A Guide to Reclaiming Civilized Communication

The Handwritten Note Is
Alive and Well

When I mention the handwritten note to any group of otherwise optimistic and intelligent people, I almost always hear someone say, Its a dying art. Wrong! Its not dying, its healthier than ever. But it certainly is an art, because it brings out the best in both the person who creates it and the person who looks at it.

The handwritten note has so many virtues that you ought to reach for pen and paper first, before you pick up the phone or move the mouse. In contrast to a phone call, a handwritten note doesnt arrive demanding to be read when youve just sat down to dinner; it courteously lets you know who sent it even before you open it; you wont be annoyed by the sounds coming from the pens of compulsive note-writers at the next table in your favorite restaurant. Youll never get a busy signal from a mailbox; you wont have to play note tag to get read; and your readers wont use note waiting to put you on hold while they open a note that arrives while theyre opening yours. And in contrast to e-mail, a handwritten note looks beautiful and feels personal; you wont get an electronic virus from opening a handwritten note nor find a list of last weeks lamebrained jokes. You can still write a note by candlelight when your electricity fails, and mail your note while your server is down.

The handwritten note has been around for hundreds of years, and its not going to die out just because some of its everyday functions have been taken over by e-mail and voice mail. Adapting to the needs of every fresh generation, it continues to connect people. In fact, a handwritten note is even more vital now than it was a few years ago because its less routinely used. A note in the mail brightens a dreary landscape of junk mail, form letters, and prefabricated greeting cards, and it shines through a virtual blizzard of abrupt digital memos and disembodied voice chat. When a handwritten note comes in the mail, people pay special attention to what it says. It announces beyond a doubt that reader really matters to you. Your handwriting insures that your words will be read and thought about in a way that cant be mimicked by print, e-mail, or voice. Handwritten notes are not going to die out, because people still love to receive them and they value each note more as they receive fewer of them.

But the handwritten note has an intrinsic value beyond its rarity. Its not just an antiquarian curiosity, its an extremely useful tool. It upgrades a wide variety of messages, transforming Oops into Please accept my apology, and Got the money into Thank you for your generosity. Ink on paper is still the classiest way to express the thoughts that really matter, on the occasions that really count. And sometimes its the only way; your words will carry sympathy and gratitude with a special kind of sincerity when your reader sees them on paper in your writing.

Furthermore, the handwritten note does more than inspire the reader who reads it; it inspires the writer who writes it. Your words not only look better when you write them, but the act of writing them enables you to choose better words. Youll probably be pleasantly and mysteriously surprised to find that the flowing line of pen and ink lets you express yourself in ways that key tapping just doesnt allow.

Corresponding on paper lets you elevate a simple pleasure into an art form. And art has always survived technology. A handwritten note is like dining by candlelight instead of flicking on the lights, like making a gift instead of ordering a product, like taking a walk instead of driving. Handwritten notes will add a lot to your life. You can still use the telephone or the Web for the daily chores of staying in touch, but for the words that matter, its courteous, classy, caring, and civilized to pick up a pen.

Good Reasons to Stop Making Excuses

Writing by hand makes you look good on paper and feel good inside. Even an ordinary handwritten note is better than the best e-mail, and a good handwritten note on the right occasion is a work of art. It says to the reader,You matter to me, I thought of you, I took trouble on your behalf, heres who I am, Ive been thinking of you in the days since this was mailed, I want to share with you the textures and colors and images that I like. And thats just the