More about mail
Well, I decided that getting extra post was such fun -- postcards leavening the usual dross from the bank, fuel bills and unwanted catalogues full of stuff I will never buy -- that I signed up for the Month of Letters, a wonderful February-long challenge, started by Mary Robinette Kowal, to write a piece of correspondence every day.
I think my correspondence will prove to be largely cards -- I almost always write letters on cards anyway, because I like choosing pictures to suit the recipient -- and it will eat into reading time, but it will remind me of the days before computers when I communicated with (some) people at enormous length. I miss letter-writing, in fact, email is not the same and, besides, most of my communication with friends seems to take place on FaceBook now. Which is useful, but brief. But I certainly believe we ought to spend more time with pen and paper, even if writing can be a bit of a struggle as one gets older.
Of course, it feeds into Indextrious Reader's Postal Challenge very nicely, too! I'll let you know how I get on.
I think my correspondence will prove to be largely cards -- I almost always write letters on cards anyway, because I like choosing pictures to suit the recipient -- and it will eat into reading time, but it will remind me of the days before computers when I communicated with (some) people at enormous length. I miss letter-writing, in fact, email is not the same and, besides, most of my communication with friends seems to take place on FaceBook now. Which is useful, but brief. But I certainly believe we ought to spend more time with pen and paper, even if writing can be a bit of a struggle as one gets older.
Of course, it feeds into Indextrious Reader's Postal Challenge very nicely, too! I'll let you know how I get on.
YAY! I am doing postcards. :) I went a bit overboard last year and got kind of burned out... Need to pace myself better this year.
ReplyDeleteI'll learn from your experience, Kailana, and not overdo it :-)
DeleteI love writing letters -- the trick is to find a correspondent who will write back to you. When I was living in New York, I wrote letters home a couple of times a month, which was fun, and my mother sent letters back -- always a lovely treat to find a letter in your mailbox!
ReplyDeleteMy mother and I do send each other short letters anyway, which is nice, and I have an aunt who writes too, but I'd like to catch up with some friends too :-) Or even find some new ones!
DeleteI'm really looking forward to it as well! Such a fun idea, and great to get back in the rhythm of sending mail.
ReplyDeleteI have some mail on my desk waiting to post as I'm replying, Melwyk - I'll have to make sure I save some for Feb 1st!
DeleteGood idea. I'm in.
ReplyDeleteOh wonderful! Look forward to hearing how you get on!
DeleteWriting with pen and paper is a challenge for me, since my handwriting is very bad and I really struggle to make letters and cards legible. I wrote about 15 Christmas cards in December, and that's enough hand-writing for me for a while :-)
ReplyDeleteBut I remember the time when I, as a teenager, had a pen friend and we used to write to each other all the time. It usually took a letter only one day to arrive, and so sometimes we had 3 or 4 letters from each other in one week.
In my teens I used to write screeds! And even more recently I corresponded with some friends entirely on paper for a long time, it was such a pleasure, and much more lasting than email seems to be.
ReplyDeleteI do have trouble with handwriting myself, my hands get very painful, so I may print out some of my letters in February (shall find a nice font for them) - the important thing is that they arrive through the post, I think!
Hope you remember me. You helped me so much with my Angela Thirkell Society work. I am technology challenged. I love your blog. I filled in your postal info. I am going to commit to 28 mailings in February. I write letters/cards a good bit, but get few replies. I send lots of postcards during vacations. We spend lots of vacation time looking for post cards and post offices. I bought my stamps for UK mailings this morning. You're on my list.I am counting all my Valentines, too.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes from Savannah, Georgia, USA.
Stay warm,
Susan V.
Hi Susan, of course I remember you! Look out for a card from me soon :)
DeleteOkay I signed up too! Looks like fun!
ReplyDeleteSending you a card, Peggy Ann :-)
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