Fading Letters

On top of my wardrobe sits what I call my 'childhood' box, which is full of pictures, small diaries; greeting cards from my school friends, and some letters that came from the other side of the world.

Every time I open the box I instantly lose myself in all the memories of long school days, passing secret notes during lessons, gossiping in the lunch hall and teasing each other about our not-so-secret crushes. I even remember the times I had with one friend who became my pen pal after she moved back to South Korea. Yes those letters are from her. I have a little piece of South Korea in my box. But above all this, all the notes and letters I've kept over the years reminds of who they were and why they were important to me.

Writing is such a personal form of communication and it can reveal so much about a person. It's rather sad to think that the days of putting pen to paper are fading. In an era dominated by emails, blogs and 140-character tweets, fewer people are taking the time to sit down and write. Technology has made it faster and easier for us to communicate with each other wherever we are in the world and sadly it means we're using our pens less.

Despite recent discussion in the media about 'reviving' the dying art of letter writing, it will be hard for it compete in the digital age where a message can be sent to the other side of the world in a matter of seconds...

Down the Writing Road (1)

I planned everything carefully. I was going to make a quick stop and redraft my 5,000 word short story in time for a competition before continuing straight ahead with the rest of my novel. Instead I was stuck in a traffic jam in procrastination lane. Hmmm...

It's not that I don't have any ideas, or that I'm stuck on what to do next, it's picking up the pen and actually writing that is problem. It's like my hand just can't be bothered. I couldn't write anything. When I hear other writers talking about writing 2,000 words a day I think to myself, really?

Now I said 'was stuck' because luckily I've moved on a little. After reading some brilliant advice from the Mslexia writer's diary I decided to take a U-turn and go down the non-fiction street by writing some reviews and this has actually helped me start writing again. I've got two books, two radio plays and an audiobook to review and so far it's been fun. It may not be what I was hoping to write but at least it counts as writing...