Inspired by a post on Confident Writing: Write 4 postcards to be sent to the 4 corners of the word. Pick countries, look them up in an atlas and choose a town to write to. What do you already know about that area? Do you know enough to write about a character being there?

Write to 4 imaginary people in each of those 4 towns. What do you say about yourself and what do you ask about themselves. Make each postcard different.

I collect postcards. Not as much as I did when I wrote to a thousand or so pen pals around the world when I was a teen, but I still pick up the odd one here and there. I don’t get to travel much so it’s far more challenging to collect postcards when you are in one place.

Some people create their own or take it farther and create mail art. If you’ve never heard of mail art take a look at a few sites. It is an art which may seem retro or falling off now that email is so much easier and available without having to leave the house to buy a stamp, paper or anything else. But, losing things like mail art, letter writing and goofy little things like swapping friendship books and postcards is sad. I don’t like seeing old traditions die off but we are also losing the art of letter writing, keeping in touch with more than a one line email. When did you last write a real letter to anyone? I haven’t for a long time though I used to write to all my Grandparents regularly, until they were all gone.

Back to postcards though. I have seen a few really neat groups at Flickr for those who exchange or collect postcards. Exchanging means you do have to give out a mailing address of some kind. Consider renting a post box or just have them sent to where you work, attention to you, if you’re nervous about giving out your home address. Collecting is taking the exchange seriously and likely finding a way to store your postcards in a way they won’t yellow or get wet. The best thing about postcards from other people in other places is seeing something you couldn’t just walk to yourself. When I wrote pen pal letters we used to exchange other things along with postcards: newspaper clippings, local money, friendship books (kind of a girly thing), travel brochures, pretty much anything we could fit into an envelope without paying a fortune to mail.