Handwriting is still important – Julian Summerhayes
Grant you, the rubric is a bit tendentious — how do I know? — but none of us can entirely escape, even in an age of Smart Phones, the need, once in a while, to sign something, write a few words in a card, or (and we normally have to be in the right mood) send a hand-written letter.
World Sketchnote Day – Mattisms
Today is World Sketchnote Day and my friend Matthew Lang has a good write up about his own sketchnote journey.
Why I Wrote My Latest Book By Hand | MONTECRISTO
The pencil is a tool; the laptop is a machine.
What we believe in.
Finding an idea and creativity space with PLOTTER – Brad Dowdy [Interview No.003] – Plotter
I tried out many planners and notebooks at my job. My planner has rules, my journal has rules. However, I don’t have any rules when I open this up, so it just becomes a space to explore, freewheel, and expand on ideas. It’s an idea space that none of my other notebooks have.
PLOTTER is a Japanese notebook system soon to be released in the U.S. Nice profile of Brad and how he’s been using it while testing it out.
How hundred year old books are restored | Boing Boing
YouTuber Merphy Napier takes viewers into the world of book restoration in her series of videos about the world of publishing. Merphy follows a seasoned restoration expert as she breaks down the various steps necessary to preserve and rebind books that are centuries old.
Very cool. I have an early edition of my favorite Hemingway novel, For Whom The Bell Tolls, that will need some similar love sooner rather than later.
My friend Matthew Lang has been making mini-sketchnotes in his daily log and they are so great.
Today, I am. A collection of Hobonichi Techo’s from 2020.
When you read back on your techo, it’s as if you on that day are there. What you saw, what you ate, what you talked about . . . We collected “my one page” of 2020, a year where we were unable to meet with people casually. The pages are a record of everyone’s life in a year that will go down in history. Let’s look at the “Today, I am.”’s, the theme of the Hobonichi Techo 2020, by date.
Many fascinating examples of how others used their Techo in what turned out to be a historical year.
Our friend Rachael Hartzler does these lovely little illustrations using a Sakura Pigma Micron Pen. Most are not much larger than a business card but the level of detail is amazing.
If you happen to be in/around Saint Paul, MN you get check out and purchase her work at The Grand Micro Gallery and Boutique — which she is the owner and curator of.
One of the motivations in my personal zeitgeist as I started this site was my long fascination with other people’s handwritten habits and styles.
I recently noticed that the copious lists my Dad relies on have the same structure. For instance:
No particular point other than I find such things endlessly interesting.
I’ve been thinking a lot about this site lately. As you’ve surely noticed, I haven’t posted to it in a while. The last post before today was on July 1st — almost 6 months ago.
There are a number of reasons for this. One is that, when I started this site, I had some collaborators and contributors who have since moved on to other things. All of our lives are busy and we all have other sites that are more primary for us. Here’s mine. So it’s difficult to keep up a separate, single interest, site.
The truth is, I have lots of interests and my focus on which of those I’m more interested in than others changes. There was a time when I was super focused on the idea of a site focused not so much on the stuff of analog writing but the act of it and I think this site did a very good job of that. I felt it was a voice that was missing in the conversation around pens and paper and pencils and typewriters and etc. “Sure, but what about what you DO with those things?” is the question this site sought to explore. I’m proud of it.
I’ve also been in this position before. A very popular site that I’m pretty proud of that I’ve ended when I felt I had all I’ve had to say on that subject.
So, I’ve been thinking to myself that I’ve said all I have to say on this one… But then the previous two links pop into my focus and here I am excited about finding more stuff like that and posting about it here and…
All this is to say that I’m sorry for the lack of posts around here and that may or may not change and I’m just not sure what will become of it but know that I know and that I’m thinking about it more than you know.