The Substance of the written word

Disclaimer: This blog requires audience participation. It may be a little preechy, but hey! It's my blog, right? ;)

I'm a writer. Always have been and probably always will be - in some form or another.

My long distance friends will tell you I'm the one they can count on for a care package at least once a year, usually including a handwritten letter, or a card.
My producer would tell you I'm a better songwriter than a singer.
My parents will tell you I've been writing forever. Everything from poetry to short stories.
Fly Boy, Anglika, Silent, and Elrindar can tell you I've been addicted to writing fantasy for as long as they have known me (which is over 1/2 my life).

Now adays, most of my writing is contained to school projects, my column in Celebration Magazine, this blog, professional letters to physicians, the (far too rare) occasional RP, and this blog.

Okay, so in reading that list, I guess I still write a lot, but I remember when I had over 300 poems to my credit my the time I was 16, and had already been published a couple times in different anthologies.

It's safe to say I understand and treasure the written word. But more than the type-written word, I treasure the handwritten word. I convinced my mom to hand write a few notes in my scrapbook because, "There's just something about your mother's hand writing..." Even a card that Bon Bon gave me before she left for her cross country adventure is posted on the interior door to my computer armoir.

It amazes me how much of that art is lost now-adays. Reading books has given way to waiting for the movie or the mini series. Writing love notes have given way to short, quick text messages that go out with little or no thought... Poetry has all but been forgotten and romance through the written word is considered adequate when purchased once a year for 99 cents on Valentine's day in a Hallmark card. The antiquated tradition of the handwritten word may eventually come extinct outside of the post-it notes.

Case in point? Take the time to actually write (not e-write)someone a letter this week. Put it in the mail. You never know how priceless the cost of that 42 cent stamp could be to someone you care about...