Category Archives: Fun Things

Blog/Journal, Fun Things

Collaborative Blog Posts

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Why do you write letters or postcards?

I love the exchange and meeting new people from around the world. 

Fabi

What stories have you seen / read / heard that include letter-writing as an essential part of the plot or style?

Perhaps one of my favorite books written in a letter writing style is the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Anne Barrows and Mary Anne Shaffer. It was a very pleasant book to read, although the topic was not so charming, the German occupation of the Island of Guernsey during World War II.

I understand it was made into a movie. To date, I have never seen the movie. Sometimes when a book is much enjoyed the movie does not always live up to the written word.

MaryKayFL

The Flower Letters

Toucan

weylyn42
Blog/Journal, Fun Things

Describe your ideal pen pal

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A Collaborative Blog Post

The ideal pen pal would be a great friend who gets as excited about receiving a letter as I do. They would be open and thoughtful and a joy to write back and forth with. 

catholicamanda

My ideal pen pal would share my love of fantasy stories and our letters would be a joined creation of a story and a universe, with everybody playing their character.

Toucan

My ideal pen pal is patient. I have a difficult time (especially lately) with making prompt replies. They would also have some interests that overlap with mine, and some that are different. Someone who likes sending and receiving inserts, found objects, tea, etc.

Christy S.

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Why do you write letters or postcards?

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How do you personalize your letters?

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A Collaborative Blog Post

I try to read the profile and each person gets a different letter – something I think they might be interested in. Then there’s sometimes washi tapes and wax seals

Toucan

I typically tend to use stationery I print myself, write with my fountain pen, and seal it with a wax seal. I’m not super artsy or creative so that tends to be the best I can get for crafty personalization. What I write depends on what was written to me. I don’t like to use form letters so I don’t.

catholicamanda

I try to personalize my letters with stickers, crafting paper and everything else I can think of. 

Fabi

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Describe your ideal pen pal.

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Blog/Journal, Fun Things

Tell us about a letter that you sent or received that has special meaning for you

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This might seem odd, but here we go:

I am big geek and as such I go to conventions in steampunk costumes. It is great fun to meet people there. And some steampunks take a liking to penmanship as well. So for a couple of years I had a pen pal in Sweden and we used to write each other in our steampunk persona. We talked about our adventures and made sure to include outdated vocabulary and old cards to keep up the façade of two ladies in the 1880s writing to each other. It was the best and I still think about it from time to time. 

Toucan
Steampunk style typewriter
David Copperfield's Hollywood Star

When I was about 10 we went to see David Copperfield perform magic at our local civic center. Afterwards I was waiting in line with my mom, clutching a purchased 8.5″ x 11″ head shot for him to sign. As we got closer to the magician himself, I realized he was signing things, and taking pictures with people, but he was not getting anything in return.

Dismayed, I asked my mom for a pen and paper, and being the woman she was, she was able to provide a small notebook and pen from her purse (a good habit I have taken up). I wrote a quick note to Mr. Copperfield, signing it with flourish.

Heart pounding, I waited while my glossy was signed, then handed him my note. I think I told him it was because he wasn’t getting anything. I no longer have the picture, but I do have a great story.

Christy S

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How do you personalize your letters?

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Where is your favorite place to write letters? To read letters?

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A Collaborative Blog Post

I usually write my letters at the very desk I work at ( I am working from home) for two very simple reasons – the light is the best and I have my washi tape and stamps right next to me.

It’s a whole different deal with reading: if it’s government letters or invoices, I read them directly in the staircase – and the same is true for postcards. Letter on my couch, with a hot beverage to really dive in.

Toucan

I love to write letters sitting at my desk or the kitchen counter. I write most often with my fountain pens, so I do need a flat surface and some space to set my things out.

As for reading letters, I’ll read letters anywhere but I love to sit down with a cup of tea and my cat purring in my lap when I open letters from new and old friends.

catholicamanda
Black and white image of woman sitting at writing desk, writing a letter

Hello, My favorite place to write letters is oddly enough at my kitchen table.


The reason being is I have a great view of my window to see all the birds at my feeders and boy do I get alot of birds! So i love sitting there at the table with my stickers, my stationery, or my plain ole notebook paper, my variety of pens, my cards, my washi tape and just write away! Very relaxing and peaceful and enjoyable! It’s just incredible to see all the birds at the feeders while I write.

If it’s night time…. and I am a night owl….I still love writing at the table but also will write on the couch with my stickers etc around me.

Alaina

I love to sit in an armchair with a cup of my favorite tea and read my letters with a direct view of the trees in front of my window. When writing I prefer my desk cause I can’t concentrate on the letter fully otherwise. Although in the last years I learnt how to write on trains cause I spent a damn lot time in trains thanks to a long distance relationship.

Fabi

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Tell us about a letter you received / sent that has special meaning to you.

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Tell us about the pen pal who is farthest away from you, geographically

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Collaborative Blog Post

My pen pal who is the farthest away from me? Mhm…I guess from Germany it would be Uruguay that is the furthest away. And we just started writing like a year ago, so not too much to tell. It is interesting to see the different kinds of cultures though.

Fabi
Globe with paper airplanes circling around them - Created by verry poemomo from Noun Project

From Florida, the pen pal who is furthest away from me is from Australia. I met her here, through the LetterMo.com site. I find it interesting to realize that when I’m suffering from a cold winter, she is deep in summer, and vice versa.

Christy S.

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Where is your favorite place to write letters? To read them?

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Cursive, Print or Typed? Why?

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I have been told that my handwriting can be impossible to read, so I TRY to write legibly which means s-l-o-w-l-y. When I speed up and my thoughts to express are flying to fast for my hand to keep up, it gets messy. (I can still read it but, yeah, I get it!) Fountain pens help me to write pretty and also help slow me down, and if I have been told that it is hard to read my script, I will type. I wonder sometimes what a handwriting expert would say about my personality — I tend to lean left AND write and switch up my cursive with print, even in the same sentence.

Carrie H.

I prefer to write in cursive, cause it is faster for me. I like to read all kinds of different hand writings.

Fabi

Hello I prefer cursive writing because it just feels more natural more connected to my pen pal. I love the feel of pen on paper. I have used my computer tho when I’m behind on writing and want to catch up or I have access to the computer and can ‘write’ several letters quickly. However I much prefer pen on paper …. different color pens and themed stationery when possible.

Alaina

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Tell us about the pen pal who is farthest away from you, geographically.

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Tell us about your first pen pal

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Olga, from NSW Australia, was my first pen friend. I met her through the pen pal exchange at the New York World’s Fair in
1964, and we corresponded for a few years, both of us using aerogrammes. As I recall, we both loved dogs, and would write
about our own and others we knew. Our main bond, though, was Peter O’Toole, courtesy of “Lawrence of Arabia.” Those blue
eyes! That intelligence! That story(which I know now was highly … shaded …)! I’m sorry we lost touch after 3 years or so, but I
think of her often.


(2nd pen pal, not as much, because all she ever seemed to write was “it’s raining in Tavistock” … )

Melanie W

My first pen pal was a friend I met on a holiday trip. We were crying so hard on our last day that our parents exchanged addresses and we started writing each other for 10 years.
I still think of her sometimes.

Fabi
Girl writing a letter

It was in first or second grade when our class had a partner class (like a sister-city) in the UK. I am a bit fuzzy on the details, honestly. We each received a letter from a student at that school, distributed from our teacher. All them them had a generic “hello” since pairs weren’t assigned until the letters arrived to Florida. I wrote back the boy who was assigned to me.

And yeah, that’s it. I guess my first real exchange of letters beyond that first awkward “Hi, this is who I am” was in High School, when a friend who attended a different school told me about a boy she thought I’d like. She acted as a go-between and we passed notes across town to each other that way. I have a few gifts from when he went on vacation in Europe. I never actually met him, despite living in the same city, but I have fond memories.

Christy S.

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Blog/Journal, Fun Things

Reasons to Write – 2023

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Need a reason to write? Check out these official and unofficial observances:

January

Jan 3 — National Write to Congress Day

Jan 8-14 — Universal Letter Writing Week

Jan 8 — World Typing Day

Jan 23 — National Handwriting Day

February

Month of Letters / InCoWriMo

Feb 4 — National Thank a Mail Carrier Day

Feb 7 — National Send a Card to a Friend Day

Feb 26 — Letter to an Elder Day

March

Mar 1-7 — National Write a Letter of Appreciation Week

Mar 5-11 — Words Matter Week

April

National Card and Letter Writing Month

Apr 1 — National Handmade Day

Apr 26 — World Stationary Day

May

May 1-7 — National Postcard Week

May 14 — Mother’s Day

June

June 1 — National Penpal Day

June 8 — National Best Friends Day

June 18 — Father’s Day

July

July 1 — National Postal Workers Day

July 1 — National U.S. Postage Stamp Day

July 26 — National Aunt & Uncle’s Day

August

Aug 7 — National Friendship Day

Aug 16 — World Calligraphy Day

September

Sept 1 — World Letter Writing Day

Sept 10 —- Grandparents’ Day

October

Oct 1-7 — International Postcard Week

Oct 1 — World Postcard Day

Oct 9 — World Post Day

Oct 21 — Everyone Writes Day, UK

November

Nov 3 — Fountain Pen Day

Nov 5-11 — Dear Santa Letter Week

December

Dec 7 — National Letter Writing Day

Dec 26 — National Thank-You Note Day