Greetings, fellow writers! Tomorrow is an exciting day because it is National Handwriting Day. Yup, there IS a day for that and it's celebrated every year on January 23rd. To keep handwriting alive, here are some ideas on how to celebrate.
But first, you need some history because who doesn't love history?
History:
National Handwriting Day was founded in 1977 by the Writing Instrument Manufactures Association (WIMA). January 23rd was the chosen day because that is John Hancock's birthday. He was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence and has the largest signature out of all fifty-six delegates who signed.
After the long seventeen days of writing the document (thanks to Benjamin Franklin), Hancock received the honor of signing first. His signature is almost five inches long! There are various stories as to why he signed so big, but they all state that he wanted people to be able to read it without spectacles.
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| The large John Hancock signature |
How to Celebrate:
The main goal of National Handwriting Day is to bring back the use of handwriting, so doing anything with a pen (or any writing utensil) and paper will work for celebrating.
- Write a letter to a friend
- Start a journal
- Learn calligraphy
- Write your grocery list or to do list by hand
- Write a short story without a computer
- Practice your handwriting
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| Jane Austen's beautiful quill pen writing (credit) |
"Handwriting is a true art form and one of the few ways we can uniquely express ourselves. There's something poetic about grasping a writing instrument and feeling it hit the paper as your thoughts flow through your fingers and pour into words." -Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association
I had no idea there was a national handwriting day! That's so cool! I actually write by hand quite a bit (bullet journaling and most creative writing--my writing seems to come out better when I write by hand), but unfortunately my handwriting is semi-illegible. Definitely not as beautiful as Jane Austen's. :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that there was a national handwriting day until just this year either. Besides taking notes for school, I do a lot of journaling too! This year I'm trying to write one journal entry for every day of the year. Writing letters is definitely my favorite way to use hand writing though. :)
DeleteOh my goodness, Jane Austen's handwriting is amazing! *heart eyes* I love seeing each of my pen pals' different handwriting. There's just something special about it. My ordinary handwriting is average to messy, but I enjoy doing pretty lettering for writing letters. :)
ReplyDeleteI know, her handwriting is amazing! That's actually her only surviving handwritten novel manuscript. My print is pretty average and I'm trying to write in cursive more often to improve its neatness. Thanks for the comment, Allison!
DeleteMy sister specializes in calligraphy, but my handwriting is pretty poor. I didn't know that the 23rd was National Handwriting Day! The history is pretty awesome based on John Hancock and his signature. I write in my journal everyday, but I should do more than that on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I love calligraphy! I'm trying to teach myself, but I haven't gotten too far yet. John Hancock sure knew what he was doing when he made his signature bigger than the rest. :)
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