A long time ago, Japanese people had a habit of doing Shodo around January 2nd. Shodo done during the New Year holidays is called “Kakizome” (New Year’s writing). Besides some people that still do it as a symbol of the start of the year's activities, most children in elementary schools do it at school at the beginning of the New Year. If you are interested in Japan and Japanese culture, I recommend you to try Shodo at least once, because when you travel to Japan you will find an abundance of Shodo works of art in many places, such as temples, museums, and hotels. Once you have had an experience doing Shodo, you will likely be able to have a greater feel and taste from the works you encounter.
Shodo is, in a sense, a simple art of writing your favorite words using your favorite letters. In Japan, we usually write using Japanese characters (Kanji or Hiragana), but if you want to write using the English alphabet, I think that's fine.
However, I would highly recommend using a brush and India ink, not a pen or a pencil, although there is one type of Shodo writing that uses these more modern writing utensils. You gently slide the tip of the brush soaked in ink onto the paper. Tools, including special paper, can easily be bought online by searching for a “Shodo calligraphy set.” The brush is a bundle of about an inch of animal hair (maybe a little bigger than the brushes that are used for painting). You can write one character with different expressions depending on how strongly the brush is pressed and by the type of brush movement. Shodo is a full-fledged artform, but may be easier to attempt than painting in the sense that the letters that are drawn have shapes that are functionally fixed.
