Noted writer and actor Emma Thompson calls herself a Luddite because she writes longhand with a fountain pen. Actually, she may be in the vanguard of a cultural shift that I’m calling “slow writing,” part of a larger movement that includes slow food, slow travel, and slow fashion. What characterizes slow writing? First, the material culture of writing: pens, ink, paper. Even if Hemingway didn’t truly use a Moleskin notebook, millions of devotees prefer this option to digital note taking, and research shows that hand to brain learning is better. The increasingly popular bullet journal offers an embellished to do list. A manual on letter writing advises, “A handwritten note is like dining by candlelight instead of flicking on the lights.” Send your epistles “by escargot,” snail mail, savoring the choice of paper and stamp. Slow writing also involves ethical choices. Disposable pens are just that: disposable. Americans discard 1.6 billion pens annually. Using handmade paper from Nepal supports a 1500-year-old tradition and also helps earthquake victims. A Thai elephant sanctuary funds itself through the sale of Poo-Poo paper. Writing is tied to its origins in communication with the gods.  This notion of writing as sacred may have dimmed, but it’s never gone away entirely. As a manufacturer of exclusive pens advertises, “Refill your soul by writing.”