Thinking and thoughts

Nothing really exciting today.  I've had thoughts running rampant all day, but never the impulse to get up to put them here.  I should have, really, because then it would be far more interesting than this post.

I finished reading the last of the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants books this afternoon, and started to think about my connections with my friends.  There's a lot of letter writing in that book - at least between Lena and Kostos, which isn't really between the friends, but still makes my point.  I think letter writing is a lost art.  And something that should be more missed than it is.  It's much more personal to have someone's handwriting on a physical page in front of you, than to see a random font on a computer screen.  The words take on more meaning, more emotion with the flow of the script on the page.

That's probably why I also feel more comfortable writing fiction with a notebook and a pen, than directly on to the computer.  The typing is part of the editing process.  When I write with a pen I have less time to think about the process, and less impulse to edit as I go.  Less chance to self-censor.  It's a truer version of what I'm trying to write, even if it's in desperate need of editing.

That's how I feel about letter writing.  You're more likely to write what you actually feel with a pen in your hand, and truer version of it, if you don't have the easier way to edit that's provided by being able to delete your thoughts as you go.  Even if you cross it out in ink, it's still there on the page. 

*shrug*  Maybe I'm just born in a wrong era.  Perhaps I belong back in the 40s, or 50s where there was no internet, no email, not the use of the telephone that there is now. 

Or maybe I can start a new trend.  Try something old, and make it new again. 

Here's to writing a letter.