Wishing a fantastic week to all 10 of you!

If you're enjoying my writing, please share this post with your second-best friend and join the /tudor channel on Farcaster 🤝

My handwriting is not as legible as I'd like it to be. Some people have suggested I write more, others have suggested to simply slow down. Both are right, so I started a Morning Pages ritual every day. 3 pages, no judgement, just stream of consciousness, no expectations beyond the process itself.

My medium of choice is a lined notebook, because it strikes the right balance of freedom and guidance.

A completely blank page is intimidating. Gathering one's thoughts is difficult enough, so dealing with slanted lines and inconsistent spacing is the last thing the mind needs. Particularly in moments when aesthetics are at a premium.

Although John Tetlow invented the machine to automate drawing lines, generations before him have come up with the idea – the right type of lines on notebook paper.

The early inventors must have experimented with various alternatives to parallel, horizontal lines, before settling on a few conventions.

As with all conventions, we have a few choices and contexts to choose from, as alternatives to horizontal lines. From quadrille ruled paper to music sheets, these guides are an ubiquitous tool, for both students and professionals.

Could we use plain blank paper? Sure, especially if pushing artistic boundaries.

Guidelines and norms are important for our activities, particularly in collaborative environments.

Very recently Farcaster redefined how channels work, essentially drawing new guidelines. Time will tell if these changes are for the better. One certainty is that the existing communities are writing on a new set of lines, metaphorically speaking.

1. Are the lines clear to you?

2. If you were to draw a new set of lines within a cozy corner of your internet, what would they look like?

3. Within your team, are you drawing the right lines?

Photo by Damon Lam on Unsplash