Bad Ideas for PenPals

I found a list of “Things You Should Not Send Your Penpal” at CityMity Penpals Blog. It was a good, sensible list.

Not many people are writing letters which are mailed though the postal system these days. I did, years ago and I started thinking to do so again. If I find someone I’d enjoy writing with. We used to exchange more than letters, stamps or postcards. There were friendship books, mail art and anything else you could fit into an envelope without too much of it sticking up from the flatness of the envelope.

One thing which is risky to exchange, seeds, or anything plant based. Very sad. Some plant things are ok, usually something which has been processed. I think you can send tea bags, but not loose tea. So, you could exchange seeds if they came from a seed company, but not seeds you collected from your own garden, or seeds you found on a road trip, in the neighbourhood, etc.

Currency is ok if it is very small in value. Very small, being less than a few dollars. I used to like seeing what change/ coins looked like from other countries. I still have some of the coins I collected from penpals.

As a teenager with a tiny budget, my biggest expense for letter writing (other than postage) was stationery. I would shop for boxes of stationery and especially if it came in its own pretty box I could keep long after I had mailed the last of the writing paper and envelopes away. You can still find beautiful or customized/ unique paper and envelopes online but a lot of it seems too girly for me now. I may end up sticking with postcards for awhile.

How to Write a Romantic Valentine

Make a list of things you like about your Valentine. Think of complimentary things to say. What do they like about themselves? Did they do something you really like lately? Does your Valentine have a smile that lights up the room? Does your Valentine make you feel happy just to see him or her? Compliments don’t have to be complicated. Just write about how your Valentine makes you feel.

How will you write the Valentine? Poetry or letter style? There are many types of poetry to choose from: rhymes, haiku, limericks and others. You could even turn it into a short story with a “Once upon a time” and a “Happlily ever after”.

Suggest a romantic encounter for Valentines Day. Or remember a past day you had together and suggest a repeat or something similar.

Hand write your Valentine. Use your best penmanship, maybe coloured pens. Draw hearts and other romantic images with pencil crayons. Choose fancy stationery or a store bought card with lots of room to write inside.

End your Valentine with “Happy Valentines Day” or something more inspired. Sign your name. Add some hugs and kisses with x’s and o’s.

Think of little extras like your cologne or perfume (just a touch, don’t drench it), maybe some Valentine stickers, tape some artificial flowers to the envelope once you seal the note inside. You could add a gift certificate to somewhere you both enjoy as a suggestion to meet there on Valentines Day. Add a photo of the two of you together if you have one.

How will you deliver the Valentine? Left on the doorstep (in a plastic baggie so the snow doesn’t get it wet)? Delivered yourself with a kiss, a hug or a sexy smile? Included in flowers or chocolates or some other special gift? Maybe something more exotic involving freshly washed sheets or luxurious bath bubbles?

Letter Writing Fading to Black

When did you last write someone a real letter?

This is what my nephew, Zack, asked me last week. One of his friends said she would really love to get a letter in the mail. So Zack wrote her a letter and sent it to her through the mail. It will be a very nice surprise for her one day this week.

I used to write letters to my older relatives, the Grandmothers and their sisters (my Great-Aunts). The last of them have been gone for years and it’s been about that long ago that I wrote a letter. Unless letters sent with Christmas cards count, I haven’t written a letter just for the sake of writing a letter in seven years I’m guessing. Kind of sad.

I know my nephew and nieces would love to have a letter arrive in the mail, kids always do. But I probably won’t write one. Email is so much easier, takes less time and doesn’t require postage or stationery.

The loss of letter writing is something we shouldn’t take too lightly. If you think about it, when was the last time you wrote anything by hand? A list doesn’t count. I wonder if someday penmanship, cursive writing and just plain handwriting will become something no longer taught in schools, no longer thought of as mainstream or of much importance at all. We type things far more than we write them out in long hand. This is good for some things, it is more accurate, less likely to be misread. It’s faster too.

People talk about print becoming something in the past. But, I take it a step in another direction and I can see handwriting becoming a lost art, a forgotten skill.

By the way… do you know which is which between stationary and stationery? Stationery, with an E, is the one for letters and envelopes which tend to come in pretty patterns in a pretty pattern box. Just think of the E which is also in letters and envelopes. Stationary with an A is about staying still.

I like this quote from The Art of Manliness, about letter writing:

The writing and reception of letters will always offer an experience that modern technology cannot touch. Twitter is effective for broadcasting what you’re eating for lunch, and email is fantastic for quick exchanges on the most pertinent pieces of information. But when it comes to sharing one’s true thoughts, sincere sympathies, ardent love, and deepest gratitude, words traveling along an invisible superhighway will never suffice. Why? Because sending a letter is the next best thing to showing up personally at someone’s door.

Extra Resources:

365 Letters – A blog about letter writing, mail art and postcards. Carla says: I’m a writer who has taken on the ambitious project of writing a letter every day in 2009 as a way to keep in touch with all of my friends and family.

Letter Writers Alliance – An organization dedicated to keeping the art of letter writing alive. World wide membership.

The Modern Letter Project – “It is our hope that, at end of the year each participant in the project will have a network of new pen pals, friends, and a collection of letters to treasure, and as a group, the art of letter-writing will explore new intersections between letter-writing with art and technology.”

Flickr: The Art of Letter Writing

Flickr: Letter Lovers

Just a Bit of Pen Envy

I miss writing with a pen. I miss penmanship too. My penmanship has suffered from lack of use. However, my keyboarding skills are pretty fast and accurate – as long as I am typing my own words right out of my head.

I still like to look at pens. I seldom fail to go down the office supplies aisle in stores. There are so many nice pens, some with thick nibs, some thin. Some with the perfect black ink. Now there are gel pens with multi colour inks, unlimited ranges of colours. Then there are the old style fountain pens, like a calligraphy pen used to write invitations in a fancy script.

I still remember my favourite pen from school days. I still have an assortment of pens on my desk, close at hand. I seldom use them and that is kind of sad. Yes, I’m a bit of a history geek. Sort of a traditionalist in the leave no man behind way. But, that doesn’t mean I am going to go back to writing long hand. It just means I feel the loss of the pen in my hand, the writing flowing from my pen in cursive style.

One thing I do not miss is the old typewriter. Word processing on the computer is far too good for me to want to return to the old manual typewriter.

Do you ever miss writing with pen and ink? Do you also have a growing collection of pens, seldom used?

Packaging a Presentation

What’s in your package?

Do you have:

business cards

stationery

brochure

media kit

website

professional clothes

and

an office?

Plus, of course, your work itself. All organized in clips, articles, or the books themselves (depending on which medium you use).

Do you have a package?

Of course, we all have a package to present to the world. But, have you done much with yours? Have you put effort into making it professional and available?

You can have a home office. Something simple, organized and some kind of oasis where you keep clutter to a minimum and your writing time separate from your business time. Yes, you do need some time for the business of writing.

Business cards and stationery are part of an office set up. They don’t cost an entire arm and a leg. You know you can go for good paper stock and save bucks on less fruity fonts. Just keep it simple and very easy to read.

Business cards and stationery can be mini-brochures. Space is strictly limited (especially on cards) but you can give out the basics: name, address, website, email, phone number, a logo or illustration from something you have done, office/ contact hours, sales or prizes worth bragging about, your upcoming project, quote from a great review, professional degrees or memberships in professional organizations, the name of your business and the year you started. Eliminate some and add others depending on your niche and your special talents and ambitions. But, on the business card you really want to keep it to a minimum – it’s a card, not a book. Save your long winded guns for the brochure itself.

Of course the website is a brochure too.