Writing production involves linguistic (spelling) and motor (handwriting) processes. Growing evidence suggests that handwriting may be initiated before orthographic representations have been fully processed, leading to a certain level of influence between spelling and handwriting. However, some levels of linguistic processing have been observed to produce more consistent effects in motor processes than other. Although several studies have found that the sublexical route of spelling has an effect on handwriting movements, the impact of lexical variables on motor processes during writing is less clear. In this talk I will present evidence obtained in several studies supporting the hypothesis that lexical variables affect writing durations only during writing acquisition, while sublexical information seems to consistently affect motor processes throughout the development. Results obtained with children, young adults and older adults seem to suggest that lexical influence on peripheral processes diminishes to eventually disappear at some point in development, presumably when the handwriting system becomes an autonomous system. This evidence is discussed in relation to previous studies addressing the interaction between linguistic and motor processes during handwriting.