Jerry it is to our benefit that your impulse to write survived Sister Mary Benedictine (or perhaps, the repression strengthened it!)

Thanks to prodding by e-Coach Colonna, i'm really getting into this blogging thing.

You guys should do the playground one, though. The girls angle is, “Don't Pull Hair” and “Don't Double-Cross your Friends”. A more sinister flavor than you'd want to take the book, I think.

someone should write a book called “life lessons learned at recess”

the computer was a gift to me because i basically cannot write with a pen. i squeeze so hard on it that my hand cramps within seconds and i can't write.

i failed penmanship every year as a kid.

If only more people connected to their non-verbal selves, pre-verbal selves, post-verbal selves. Dancing is a form where you must learn to leave embarrassment (how you look) and embrace joy (how you feel). Let your body Talk. I'm sure it has a lot to say.

Once upon a time dancing was the great stress buster and social connector. If only more people danced, and people danced more, the world would be far groovier.

What was really freeing was giving up the notion that someone, someday would read what I was writing in the journal. Then I no longer had to care about penmanship (the bane of my life since second grade).

Amen, you're allowed to say kickass and church in the same sentence!

I have also been interested to hear about everyone's personal strategies, so thank you @kareem, @Tereza, and @panterosa for sharing as well!

My writing really took off when I transitioned to word processing. My brain works in a highly conceptual chunky kind of way. So the blank e-sheet where I unleash my stream of consciousness and then link the thoughts together is what makes me feel good. It's kind of a lightening-out-of-the-fingertips, sorta vibrational feeling.

I have that same feeling when I sing. After a many year hiatus, I recently joined the kickass choir at my church (am I allowed to say “kickass” and “church” in the same sentence? Ha!) I walk away from rehearsal thinking WOW I feel better.

I don't have that feeling when I write linearly on paper. My hand can't keep up with my brain and I'm also not very patient vis-a-vis multiple drafts.

Now all that said — as a reader, there is nothing so special as handwriting on paper. I've been going thru old letters, recipes, etc from my parents, grandparents and so on. You can't beat that tactile, emotional experience. A whole different level of connection.