I have noticed lately that my handwriting changes when I write during day time and night time. There's a 'special' state of consciousness that enables me to write in a particular kind of way in the late hours of the night. (Perhaps it's related to the fact that I did lots of late-night study at that particular time of night when I was at school?)

I notice that consciously I'm paying more attention to the physical action of writing itself when I write during the day, whereas I'm focusing more on the words in my head during the night. I think this causes a shift in writing style depending on how awake I am. I seem to be writing by 'instinct' by night, and by conscious thought by day :ph34r:

Being very broad, I have heard that some artists and poets deliberately try to achieve altered states of consciousness to achieve creativity they cannot get in their normal waking consciousness - so maybe this applies slightly to handwriting too? /:)

In these past few months, I have also noticed that handwriting is something that needs to be consistently practiced to be maintained I haven't written anything like this for the past few months (holidays from school), but I know I have felt this "sensation" of my hand going on auto-pilot and writing instinctively as the thoughts in my head flow. Just like an athlete training for his/her sport, there seems to be an "optimal level" our handwriting reaches, and this being the time when we can push our "limits" to improve even more.

The samples provided in the other post, as many of you have seen:
http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...showtopic=21881
is how I write during day when I'm concentrating on the action of my hands.

Below is a comparison. In the night time writing, I wasn't focusing on how I'm writing, but on what I'm writing. Writing thoughts down - purely on first trial. (It was a part of a letter I was writing at 2am last night )

When I compare the two - I notice that there is a bit of a sloppy slope in my day writing (in previous post) due to trying to control the slope of writing through conscious effort - whereas in my night writing, my nervous system is doing it for me. The spacing seems to be more compressed in my night time writing, and there is more conformity to the writing. And the great thing is, I have til June30 to keep practicing (to enter the World's Handwriting Contest )

It's a very strange experience, because my hand seems to be on "autopilot" Do you all fall into this kind of state of writing mood from time to time?


edited to repost picture
note: The "Day time writing" and "Night time writing" titles in the picture are computer font, NOT my writing :doh:

Wow - that's pretty cool! I know I enter altered states when I am deeply involved in design or coding where the outside world disappears, but I've never noticed a difference in writing since those activities take place on a computer. I'll have to try this experiment.

Just for reference I find your night time writing far more legible, although both are better than my hand!

I think there is a thesis in this for someone!

Maybe some of the "altered state" is letting your subconscious take over the task of writing rather consciously forming the letters. Kind of like driving on automatic -- one minute you're getting on the highway, and next thing you know, you're ten miles down the road without remembering how you got there.

That, or wacky tobaccy!

--Rob

I tried writing at night but in the morning I didn't know what I was talking about, could not make head or tail out of it.

I certainly do believe that one can enter the Zen state when writing where time loses its hold, when the act of writing and its focus can take over. Thanks for an interesting thread.

Kissing,

I too notice a great difference between my day and night hand. I generally write in a journal in the morning before going to work, and late at night before going to sleep, and the for me the difference in handwriting is, well, night and day.

I like writing so much that I often start nodding out while writing at night. Speaking of altered states of consciousness, I sometimes return to my journal in the morning to find the previous night's entry an odd and mystical chain of words. Usually they make no sense and the lines of writing sometimes start wandering around the page crossing lanes until I can see where they actually ran off the page. Sometimes the words evoke wonderful poetic imagery, but that is certainly an unintentional byproduct of the hour; the words and their arrangement are more likely just random words crawling over each other in an effort to get out of my head. I usually have no recollection of what idea I was trying to express of what I was talking about. By they way, I find the difference in your day and night handwriting fascinating. Your night hand is surprisingly readable and relaxed and fluid. Very nice!

I have a habit of entering the day and time before I make an entry into my journal and have found this to yield interesting "data." I can go back and find out what I was thinking about and how I felt on any particular day or time. Anyway, just wanted to respond to your thought provoking post, and thank you for posting scans of your night and day hands.

Quite the penman, you!

Doug

P.S. Oh, just found this: here's a transcript of my last "nodding out" entry of last night:

I never write late at night - my handwriting becomes illegible when I'm tired.