Writing Tools

Writing is something that comes naturally to us, learning to form letters from an early age makes it part of our life and part of us as people. The written word has developed over thousands of years to what it is today. Now at any point in time someone could write down a quick note and pass it to you and you’ll understand what has been written. We almost take writing for granted nowadays. Being able to write is perceived to be something that makes a person civilized.

As a child you learn to write, you go to school and learn you ‘abc’ – you practice and practice until you can recite your alphabet parrot fashion and you practice and practice until you can write your alphabet perfectly. Learning to write the alphabet can be tough and it can take a while to do. When I was little I could form the letter ‘f’ very well. I used to write an ‘s’ and then put a line through the middle. I remember my parents spending ages trying to help me form the body of an ‘f’, until one day I could. As you learn to write, you learn to read and these two things go hand in hand together. If you can’t read then you can’t write…. how can you form letters if you don’t know what they look like or stand for.

When you were at school and you were being taught a new language, for example French… you already had a head start because you could read, but think about how difficult it was for you to remember the sentence structure when writing or remembering how different words were spelt and what accents were needed where. I always found writing the hardest part. But if you think about it, we learn to speak first before we learn to write. Thus the written word even though once we learn to do it and it becomes like second nature… it is essentially an afterthought because we learn to speak first. That is our ‘original’ method of communication…. But why then, if it is so easy to talk and now with the invention of phones and mobile phones, when people are literally so only a phone call away.. why do people still turn to writing? Some people even prefer to text rather than make a phone call. What is so important about writing and be able to write?

In society today the written world is crucial… we will always talk (at least I hope we will) but the written word even though so common in most of us if not learned it is a skill that could be forgotten. But we need the written word to be able to communicate – how many places in the world still do not have phones? African countries for example… When I was at school, my English class had a partnership with a school in Ghana. We would write to students and they would write back.  We would help them develop their writing skills and also help them communicate with the western world so they did not feel isolated. “Pen Friends” – that’s the term used. Or if you think about legal documents and treaties… without which we would not have laws and possibly peace – the written word is crucial. You can have a conversation with someone about something important but unless it is written down there is no record and thus people could claim the conversation never happened. Without the written word then we would not being able to refer back to the past to ratify the future.

How do you write though…. this brings me to the invention of the pencil and the pen. Without something to be able to make a mark we would not be able to write. (Have you ever written a message with your lipstick on a mirror?) – the pen therefore is one of our most treasured inventions.

Have you ever noticed that writers have a “special” pen, one they use to do all their important work. It’s usually a fountain pen or a pen where the ink system can be replaced when it runs out of ‘ink’. My cousin is a writer and she claims that she uses her ‘special’ pen when she has writers block. I’m told that the specialness of the pen makes her feel more imaginative. I asked her about this pen and she showed it to me and explained the story behind it. If you look at it it’s just an engraved pen – there is nothing really spectacular about it. But it is the story that makes the pen so special. When my cousin was 13 she realised she wanted to be a writer… she wrote all the time; short stories, adverts and anything else that needed the written word. One day her dad came home with a novel book and that engraved pen, he had bought it for her because he had seen how much she had loved to write and he wanted to encourage her to write something worthwhile and something that would mean something to her. That engraved pen is the pen she used when she first began to write her novel. There was no computer for her to write her draft at that time, only a typewriter… but who wants to use a typewriter when their dad has gone out and bought them an engraved pen and novel book….

A pen is a such a small gift, but it’s so incredibly special. Being able to write and having the tools to be able to write enables us to express our thoughts and feelings, to capture moments that the spoken word might forget. Being able to write is a gift, just like the pen given to help you pursue that gift.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/giftsonline4ucom/the-pen/398159843197

http://www.birthdaygifts-shop.co.uk/A-Simple-Birthday-Gift-Idea–article.php

http://www.weddinggifts2u.co.uk/Groom-Wedding-Gifts-article.php

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