I have used this writing habit from an early age, whether it was writing stories, observations and letters to self-reflection and analysis. Being farm children, we were sent to boarding school from age 12. Every week, our house mistress made us sit and write newsy letters home. My precious mother wrote back, far longer and more instructional letters to all three of us. Long hand on lined pages, rather fat envelopes that arrived every week, whether we had had an out weekend at home or not. Later, my mother went on to become a renowned author of over 40 books in her specialized field of what she called the “natural green heritage” of plants and all they offered us in health, nourishment, medicine, teas, aromas, cosmetics and more. Writing was her way of passing on her wisdom and insight, all her adult life. So prolific a writer was she that even in her 70s she produced two to three books a year – and all written long hand on lined paper, without access to a computer or the internet.