I was immediately defensive when I first clicked on this article. I got nothing but Ns in handwriting through grade school and if I could get away with e-mailing thank-you cards, I would. I have horrible handwriting. I get comments about it all the time. I would take pride in the fact that my signature is little more than two lines with a dot over the line representing my last name. I used to joke that my news organization shouldn't feel at all concerned about the possibility of my notes being subpoenaed, because no one would be able to read them, anyway.

My mother is a teacher who has beautiful, perfect handwriting (though, after reading your article, I suspect she has loopy Ls, too). Perhaps this was my rebellion.

But my handwriting these days isn't so funny to me anymore. I'm also a journalist, and especially since my pregnancy, my hands would simply cramp up while taking notes. My handwriting got so illegible even I couldn't read it. I have to admit, I probably missed the opportunity to include particularly compelling quotes or interesting details in stories sometimes because my notes were so hard to read. I'd have to call back sources to "clarify points" -- thankfully, my memory is good enough I wouldn't have to totally re-interview sources again. I started to prefer phone interviews so I could type all my notes on the computer.

I guess what I'm saying is is that handwriting, as much as I hate admit it, probably is pretty freaking important. At least for me and for my job. Perhaps I need to go to handwriting school, too.