journaling – Andy writes!

Writing (by hand) to remember

New research suggests that writing by hand helps us remember.

These past couple of years, as I’ve begun to take the craft of writing more seriously, I’ve found that writing by hand tends to make me more thoughtful and more engaged in the writing process. Also, when I compose ideas for stories on paper, I tend to have better recall of those ideas than those I tap out on a computer, smartphone notes app, or tablet.

Now there’s some research that supports the idea that writing by hand helps us remember.

Easter Monday, resurrected writings

None of us gets to live forever. But perhaps our words will outlive us, somehow.

Today is April Fools’ Day, a day of joy for pranksters, a day of annoyance for those of us who may be subject to the pranks. (You’ll find no pranks or tomfoolery on this blog today. I hope you’re not disappointed.) It is also the first day of National Poetry Month, which ought to be celebrated broadly, and I plan to do my part to highlight poetry in the coming days and weeks.

Today is also Easter Monday, which is celebrated in some parts of the world, but, aside from the annual Easter egg hunt on the White House lawn today, not so much in the U.S. You might, however, score some bargains on overstocked candy eggs and Easter bunnies today.

As for me, I’ve been thinking today and recently about the idea of resurrection — not only of the resurrection of Jesus as recorded in the New Testament gospels, but of the resurrection of writings. My own.