When was the last time you wrote a letter? A real letter to a friend or family with news and other idle chatter? Letter writing is a skill. These days it's becoming quaint, old-fashioned as email and typed notes take over.

There is a little formality to letter writing. You start with the date and then add a greeting. It's easy to forget the date and it may not seem important when it's a casual, personal letter. But, the date gives it relevance for when they read it later. Even now, it shows when you wrote the letter and how long it took to get through the mail.

The greeting is also known as the salutation. It's a fancier word for hello. Standard salutations for letters start with Dear. But, that's quite old now. I think even Emily Post would be ok with an update there. You could write Hello, just the person's name or something else which would mean the same to the person you are writing to. After all, this isn't a formal business letter, it's allowed be personal, friendly and intimate.

The body of the letter is freewriting. Write news, updates about past news, how your day is going, what you're thinking about, the town you live in, what you did on vacation, whatever comes to mind. Keep it in paragraph format. That just makes it easier to read. Everyone likes a break in reading now and then. Add a double space between paragraphs. Not everyone does this and it's only become the standard since letters started being typed. But, I think it's a very practical practice. The clever use of white space can only add to the presentation whether it's a magazine layout, a website or a family newsletter.

At the end you sign off. This is a time to be really creative. You can wind down your letter with comments about hope you write back soon, hope you are well, how was your vacation, etc. Or this could all be included in the body. But, there should be some sort of wind down to the closing. Still, every letter ends with some version of good bye: "Take care, Laura" That is my standard close to a letter or an email. It's polite, slightly formal and works for just about anyone I'm writing to. But, I don't have to stick with that and either do you. Be informal, be memorable or just be personable, it's up to you. Don't forget to sign your name though. I once had a letter from a pen pal who didn't sign their name, didn't mention who they were in the letter and didn't add a return address to the outside of the envelope. I guessed who they were; the postage was a help since I was writing to people all over the world at that time.

So we come to the last part of writing a letter, the envelope. If you have used fancy stationary you may need to choose the best spot to write the addresses and stick the stamps. Some stationary doesn't leave space in the right places. The post office likes everything done just the same for their machines to read the letters. This also gives your letter an edge in delivery time. If the machines can handle it all the way it goes through the system faster. If humans have to take over it will be delayed. Anyway, the standard is to put the stamps in the upper right corner, which I'm sure you know well by now. But, did you know they actually like the address and postal code on the low side? I'd usually write them in the middle of the envelope so that the whole address was centered. But, I found that the postal machines are set up to read lower on the envelope, they pick out the postal code and sort it that way. (At least that's what I was told when I asked here, if someone works for the post office let me know if I'm mislead about this). Don't forget a return address. You can write it across from the stamp on the front of your letter, the upper left corner. Or you can write it on the back of your letter where there is more space. However, if there is a chance your letter won't reach your intended destination write the return address on the front. This makes it easier for the letter to be returned to you.

I feel like I've just written the Martha Stewart guide to writing a letter. Though this is simple stuff to most people I expect there are some people who have never written a personal letter. You're missing out on something. Letter writing is a great way of keeping in touch with people and with yourself. When you write about yourself, your life and your feelings you let go of some things and hang onto others that are good. At times it's like getting to know yourself. It's therapeutic and it's almost free.

Also, as writers, we can always use more writing to practice our skills with grammar, punctuation and spelling. More than that, we practice our skills with communicating in words. Letter writing gives you feedback in a way you miss out with writing articles, stories and such. People will reply to letters but you will seldom get feedback from any other writing you do. Another plus, letter writing feedback is tempered with good attitude and their comments about your grammar goofs will be meant well and given from a friend rather than a human dictionary who seems to just live to correct others. Don't you hate people like that? (Not that I mind learning from my mistakes but spare me the attitude).

One other excellent thing I found about writing pen pal letters was how much I learned about the world and the people in it. Other cultures, lifestyles and values are at your pen tip. I always think it's a shame that some people cut themselves off from the world and live in a very small space inside their own head. There is so much out there in the world around us. Even if you never travel you can be an armchair traveler through your letters. Ask about things, find new ways of thinking, seeing and doing things. Make your life an expedition into the world, even if it's only through the paper of your letters.

Originally written for WordCraft, at BackWash.

We may be going to a kid's birthday party today. Still haven't heard from anyone about a time. Its a bit of a drive so it would be nice to know. It's almost 4:30, getting kind of late. I don't know why the ex doesn't phone and find out. He isn't keen on going but its a place to get out and have free conversation and food. Birthday cake too. Besides, each time I have seen this kid at a party she has managed to dive into the cake, pretty funny. She is only 2. It's the ex husband's family so it isn't likely I will see any of them again after I move.

I used to have dozens of pen pals. That was a long time ago. These days I can't keep up with anyone's life, barely even my own.

Today I'm looking over the pen pal letters. I've kept them all in a bag. Most are from the 80's. I tried to get postcards from my pen pals so I could see how things looked where they were. Some would send coins too, just local currency. It cost more for the stamps to send them than the coins were worth.

As I'm going through the letters I've been pulling the stamps off all the envelopes. I have never been a stamp collector. My Dad has a stamp collection that's been in limbo for at least 30 years. But someday I might find someone to donate all these stamps too. I doubt any are really valuable but someone might as well have them. It seems a shame to just toss them all out. I am keeping all my postcards and coins though. I don't have a good place to put them and now that I'm packing its all just one more job and one more box. But, I'm not ready to toss them this move at least.

I considered starting pen paling again a few months ago. But even the couple I found interesting I never wrote back to more than once. I have plenty of nice stationery left over from the last bout of letter writing. I just don't have anything settled right now and I do need to get some kind of focus back, a routine would probably be a good thing too.

It sounds like my Mom will drive down on Monday. I hope so. Things are not bad here but not good either. I'm definitely ready to leave and work on whatever comes next. I'm really looking forward to seeing Zack, my nephew.

Anyway, this is enough blabbling for now. I was looking at college courses online but they are too far away, too expensive or too many hours (months, years). Maybe I will find something yet. All I really want is some clue about CGI, Perl and CSS.

"If my doctor told me I had only six months to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster." Isaac Asimov

If you've never tried being a penpal you're missing out on a world of fun. Penpals come in all ages, nationalities and cultures. Write to kids your age in Germany, Hawaii, Australia, England, or Japan. Anywhere you can exchange letters in any language you can write. With a little researching you can even find a penpal at the north pole.

There's more to writing letters than good grammar and punctuation. Writing is a great way to practice your grammar and punctuation but more important is the letter itself. At first you may think you have nothing interesting to write about. So, make a list of things you like to do, your hobbies, what you especially like about school, who your friends are, your brothers and sisters, pets, places you have been, your after school routine, favourite websites, things that you like and things that make you angry. From this list you have an endless supply of things to write about. Also, you can ask questions about your penpals routine, their life and family.

One of my favourite things to find out about was dandelions. Doesn't sound like much of a question, maybe. But think about it. Is there any place in the world where they don't have dandelions? So far, I haven't found one. Maybe you will. Can they really be everywhere. Anyway, you will develop your own questions from things that interest you.

Finding penpals is not too hard. You can choose to have penpals or keypals. Keypals write through email and penpals write through the regular old mail. Keypals have the advantage of not needing stamps. Penpals have the advantage of being an actual letter, its nice to have something just for you in the mailbox. Also, you can trade postcards, stamps and anything else light and flat enough to fit inside and envelope. I always enjoyed having nice stationary to write with too. Sometimes I would find pens with different coloured inks. You can't do that with keypals unless they can get HTML email ok, not everyone can.

Look for penpal clubs on the Internet. There are clubs for keypals, penpals and both. You might have your parents check for the best places for kids to find penpals. Adults and teenagers are sometimes looking for romantic penpals and not just fun friends. So its a good idea to be sure you are looking in the right place for you. Once you find a good club choose a country you would like to know more about. Maybe you don't prefer a country but are happy to write to other kids in your own area. All you need to is look for other girls or boys your own age then. When you choose your penpal or penpals keep a copy of their address and write down any other information available about their interests.

Now you are ready to write that first letter to introduce yourself. Its kind of hard to know what to say to a total stranger. If you feel chatty go ahead and write. Mainly, you need to tell them who you are, where you are and why you would like to write to them. That's really enough information for a first letter. Not everyone you write to will write back. There is a chance they have moved, have enough penpals already, lost interest in writing or just didn't think you had a lot in common with them. Don't write to more than a couple of penpals at once, when you get started. It can be a bit more time consuming than you expected. It may take a week or a few weeks for letters to go back and forth but writing them can take quite a bit of time. Always try to write a couple of pages, make it a letter not just a note.

Penpals also make and pass around friendship books. Those are small booklets made by stapling together cut up paper into a booklet. They are decorated and the person who starts the book writes their name and address as the first person sending the book. Most people hope to see the book again once its full so they add their return address to the back cover of the book too. Friendship books are fun, you can see where they have been in a trail back to the original sender. If you get one try to pass it on as soon as you can. If you want to make one remember to keep it light, too many pages will cost more in stamps to send for yourself and everyone else.

Of course, there are other ways of finding penpals and other ways of writing to them. Get creative. Try writing to a company in another country and ask if anyone working there has kids that would write to you. Photocopy something interesting in the newspaper and write your penpal letter on the back of it. That gives your pal even more to read. Send a postcard of your local area. If you pick up a travel brochure send that too. Ask for letterhead from your school and use it for stationary in your next letter. There are all kinds of things you can do with letter writing. You are only limited by your own imagination and the envelope you mail your letter in.