Monday, 9 August 2010

Journaling - Love Your Handwiriting?!

Follwoing on from my post on the 3rd about making journaling a focus on your layouts i wanted to talk about that age old debate... to use your writing or not to.

Now I will hold my hands up and say that i have always thought my handwriting is ok, not great but ok. So in many ways I can't really empathise with those of you who hate your handwriting however I am still going to try to persuade you to use your handwriting, even if it is only in small amounts or only on some of your layouts.

These two photographs are the main pieces of evidence I am going to use in my case for using your handwriting. Photograph one is a photo of me on my wedding day in 2002 with my Gran, the second photo is a page from the guest book we had at our wedding. Two of my ushers went round and took a polaroid photo fo the guests and the photo was added to the book there and then and the guests wrote their comments next to them.


My Gran died in January 2003 so 6 months after my wedding. We were very close and as always when you lose someone close to you it is a time of great sadness. When we were sorting through Grans things we all took some small items that held precious memories but even now, 7 years on, this little piece of handwriting in a book seems like so much more of a tangible connection than an ornament or other keepsake.

Your handwriting is so personal to you that even if you don't like it, it is as much a part of you as your physical appearance and your personality.

In much the same way as I hear people say they can't have photos of themselves in their albums because they don't like photos of themself, we commonly hear, "I don't like my handwriting in my albums as it is not nice enough." But like it or not it is a part of you - and one that will remain when you are no longer here. So morbid though it sounds adding your own handwriting adds a little bit of you as a personal legacy for those who will look at your albums when you are gone.

I hope that one day my children enjoy the handwritten comments as much as I love that single entry in my guest book from my wonderful Gran.