HOW DO YOU WRITE?

Taranaki Daily News, 17 November 1928, Page 18

HOW DO YOU WRITE?

(By Mary Tudor.—Special to News.) How do you write? I am afraid the answer, in many cases, will be: “Shockingly 1 ” There will " be no diffidence about the admission; rather a queer sort of pride in the • fact that the art of beautiful hand- writing has been allowed to lapse. ■ Bad writing is too \often a pose. People rush about, pretending to be very busy doing nothing, ‘-Oh!” they say, “I have not time to spend on careful writing. Thoughts tumble over each other so rapidly that f.my hand can’t keep pace with my ) byain! If my friends like to hear from" me, I am afraid they must put up jjwith my awful scribble!” Which is rather rude to the friends! People . like this really ought to use a typewriter, ••'lt is mechanical and “unsympathetic” I know, but so is illegible writing. At least the machine would save the eyesight and temper of long-suffering recipients of “hurried scrawls.” Women who pride themselves on the “artistic temperament” will deliberately write a deplorable hand. It is supposed to suggest that some muse, far removed from such mundane things as correspondence, is at work. All very well for successful authors —though even these resort to t lie typewriter now’ I believe. All very well for the great painter, whose brush hand may actually refuse to wield the pen. Except on rare occasions, he does not write at all; when he does, much is forgiven him! I know a man, ckver, popular, a brilliant writer and a great sportsman, whose every moment is filled with a number of interests. His Calligraphy is an object lesson —beautiful, flowing, easy, legible. Yet he takes no undue amount of time over it. He writes as he speaks to his friends, without overemphasis, without “gabble,” and without boredom! "Which goes to prove that a busy life is no excuse for bad writing. Look for the hand-writing which is firm and purposeful, bold and straightforward. You may be assured of the strong character behind it. Dots and dashes, strokes and flourishes meanjust nothing! Unless they mean that the pseudo “artistic temperament” is getting busy! Many a woman declares she is temperamental when, as a matter of fact, she is merely disagreeable. • * * « Pity may be akin to love, but no girl is going to accept it as a substitute.