The built-in Newton HWR has many shortcuts that make writing a whole lot easier. Here, I'll hilight those I use often, and point out where the Writer's Keyboard may help. (This may have a lot of information you already know, but at least skim through it, because it may help - even if you don't use the Writer's Keyboard.)

Note, that there already is a great handwriting article at Catamount's site.  That's a great resource, especially if you're new to the Newton Handwriting Recognition.  This page, however, is slanted specifically to provide tips for those who are looking to write long emails/notes etc...  (I'm assuming you know how to write a recognizable "A".)

Joining Words Together
 

If you write a "V" underneath and connecting two seperate words/characters, the words will be joined.

Draw an caret in between two letters, and a space will be added.
A caret & line (^-----) will create a longer space. (I've never found a use for it)
 

Sure enough, draw a ">" in the between the beginning of 2 lines, and it'll seperate them.  This would be good for seperating lines in the Quote text of an email reply.

Alternatively, you could place the cursor at the end of the previous line, and hit the Return key on the Writer's Keyboard a number of times.  (Easier than writing CR CR CR CR - or whatever your expansion for Return is...)

Write over a letter
 

You are allowed to write over a single letter and it will replace it with the letter you wrote. If you write more than a single letter, however, it will think you are writing a new word.

Adding a Return to the middle of a line

Sometimes you want to add a return in the middle of a line, and the way to do it is this:  Draw a  "_|" (backwards L) where you want the return to go.  Unfortunately, this only seems to work well in the middle of text.  You can't just tag one on the end of a sentence (while writing) and expect a return to appear (usually, a "J" appears instead).

Theoretically, you should be able to scrub out a single letter by repeatedly drawing a vertical line (a really narrow "scrub") over the offending letter. However, for me, this usually results in an undesired character or scrubbing the wrong letter.

An easier way could be to tap to move the cursor directly to the right of the offending letter, hitting "delete" on the Writer's Keyboard and then tapping back to your original location. While this may sound like a lot of work... it's just 3 quick taps.
 

Undoubtedly, if you are a long time Newton owner, you already have word expansions for things such as "Return" and "Tab". Well, while these are useful, if you can "train" yourself to use the Writer's Keyboard, I think you will find it to be quicker, and easier.

However, word expansions for other things can still be very useful.  To access these, you need to tap the "Open Book" icon on the bottom left corner of the standard QWERTY keyboard. 

As well, however - now, you can add in letters/words to the 2 available "custom" keys in the Writer's Keyboard.

Scrubbing
 

Sometimes, you only have to scrub a very specific piece of text. In email replys, for example. A quick way to do this is to hilight the text you wish to delete and then do a quick, small scrub over part of it. This should scrub the entire selected selection and is a bit more precise than trying to eyeball it.

(Or, of course, hilight, then hit the Delete key.)
 

Use your pointer when you can.  The most often use of a carriage return is likely when you are writing a paragraph and want to add a couple of lines before your next one.

The quickest way?  Tap your pointer where you want to begin your next paragraph.  The cursor will go there.
 

How often has this happened...

You write: "Dear Mom" <pause>

Oops... didn't write the "," fast enough - eh?  Try it after the translation... "No, not a '1'... Oops, tapped somewhere else."

You can use the caret menu, of course... but I never liked it - too awkward.  Alternatively, you can just tap the "," in the Writer's Keyboard.

That's it for now... if you have any personal tips, please forward them to me (arn@visi.net) and I'll post them.