Is it silly that I’ve started writing the second draft of “Wedding” by hand? I’m just so in love with my fountain pen and dip pens and ink at the moment that I just can’t help it.

It takes ten times longer, but what’s the rush when you’re an indie author who hasn’t set a launch date yet? There’s something so soothing about the light scratch of nib on paper, the flow of dye, the curves and curls of my not-nice-yet penmanship.

One of my resolutions for 2022, which I’m proud to say I’m still keeping up with, is slowing down and appreciating these quieter more sensory elements of life. As a teen, I’d visit my then best friend’s home and see a plaque mounted to her parents’ kitchen wall.

The hurryer I go, the behinder I get, it said. That message has stuck with me ever since, and come back with full force since pandemic restrictions eased up. Can we really say the rush makes us move faster in a way that’s worthwhile?

Life didn’t slow down nearly as much for me during 20-21, and I don’t know if I can honestly attest to getting more done. Plus the pressures of work and social in the context of a deadly virus made me stop and question what it’s really all for.

Why do we create so much extra stress for ourselves when there are so many critical, fundamental, worthwhile stresses in our lives already? So I’m writing at 40wpm instead of typing 90wpm right now, so I stop to re-fill my ink as well as think. Maybe after half a year of making an effort to live more deliberately, I can make peace with this.