I Just Like To Write

The Cambridge International Dictionary of English gives as one of the definitions of writing: “…Writing is also the activity of creating pieces of written work, such as stories, poems or articles…” (1692). What is very clear in this definition is it does not mention any specific artifacts which are directly attached to the activity. This art only involves the capacity for literary creation. However, nobody can deny the fact that the tools used for performing such a worthwhile pursuit are closely related to it. 

It is well known the tools used for writing are divided into two categories, namely the surface to write on and the device to write with. It seems the former has maintained its consistency, from the ancient Egyptian papyrus to modern-day paper. Man realized these kinds of surface were well suited for the purpose of imprinting his ideas on. Paper manufacturing has experienced several processes of improving since the medieval illuminated manuscripts epoch, and pieces of it have remained the appropriate surface to write on, both by hand and printing.

As for the instruments to write with, these days there exists a fascinating variety of them. Everybody knows feathers were used in the past for this purpose. Nowadays, one can write with a pencil or choose from a group of different pens: ballpoint, felt-tip, and fountain, to name a few. The latter was a particular beloved one by me when I was a child and in my early teens. For some reason I felt more close to being an actual writer while using the old fountain pens my mother and father would give me. As soon as I started writing with my first fountain pen, I knew it would not be the same anymore. I wanted to use it everywhere: at home, at school, at the English language teaching institute. Then I learned I had to take care of it, so I decided to use it only on special occasions. Years passed and when I entered college it was already a long time I had kept my fountain pens in a safe place. There were many times I wanted to use them again but I always put off the opportunity, until last year when I went to a bookstore looking for a new item. I could not believe I did not find any one: there was only a cartridge pen. This sort of pen looks like a fountain pen—it has a nib and a cap—and one could say they are exactly the same except that it does not have a container to fill with ink but a space wherein you must put a tube containing ink. Now I have three of them. The sensation while writing is almost the same, the results the same.

I do not know in what circumstances the typewriter was invented, but I am sure it opened the way for writers to easily migrate to the computer. This splendid and sophisticated machine offers a range of possibilities for the facilitation of the stages of the publication of a piece of writing. The combination of software and hardware makes the editing process easier. For instance, an impressive number of types of letters and page layouts let the writer customize his piece of work and permit the sight of its final appearance in advance of printing it. Never, since the invention of the printing press, had a high-tech machine contributed so much to the writer’s work in such a remarkable way until now. Furthermore, the advent of the Internet brought the omnipresence of every written work. Blogging is the ultimate example.

Many changes and useful improvements have been made to the writing instruments, different and ubiquitous means of publication are available today; and yet they appear to be a novelty that has not more importance than the act of writing itself. Having examined this matter, I realize the definition of writing mentioned above will always remain perfectly valid, and completely immune to new technologies or its variations. Notwithstanding, I still prefer writing with an old-fashioned pen to doing it using a computer.

Works Cited

Cambridge International Dictionary of English. 1995. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Print.