The thing about the Month of Letters Challenge is that it shows you what different forms of communication are good for. Letters allow you to slow down and think about just one person at a time. The internet allows you to communicate instantly with vast numbers of people. There are times when that is a darn useful thing. So… I’ve started a Google Plus community for The Month of Letters Challenge.
It’s another way to try to connect with people who are excited about writing letters. Let me know how it works for you.
Last year, I did not expect the enthusiasm we got with the inaugural Month of Letters Challenge. I put the site together in a blinding hurry and it got us though the first challenge. For 2013, I want to have a more robust site for you to play with. So… that means I’m working on getting upgraded Forums and making the site more robust in general. For the moment, that means the forums are offline.
If you are new, you can still register and so you can be ready for the 2013 challenge.
Here we are in mid-November with only two months until the 2013 Month of Letters Challenge begins. Why not write a warm-up letter this month? In the US, Thanksgiving is next week.
Think of someone who has made a difference in your life and send them a spontaneous “thank you” timed to arrive for Thanksgiving next week.
Now what? Yesterday, the Month of Letters Challenge ended. There are still letters flying to and fro which you’ll get today, tomorrow or next week. It’s nice to know that some of this letter writing has planted seeds and turned into actual correspondence.
Some people have asked me if they can keep doing this all year. Yes! Of course. There’s a neat challenge called 52 Weeks of Mail that challenges you to mail something once a week. After what you did in February, that ought to be a snap.
As for me, I plan to continue writing to people but at a more leisurely pace. The habit has been formed.
It’s been fun this month.
Now…What I want really to know is: what do you want for next year?
I’m definitely planning on issuing the challenge again next February. So what is your wish list for the Month of Letters Challenge 2013?
It’s the last day of the Month of Letters Challenge. Congratulations! You mailed at least 24 things.
I have been amazed by how many people dived into this challenge. So many people said that this was the first time they’ve written a letter in years. What made you want to join in? Has it been satisfying?
For me, it has been amazing. I’ve connected with friends that I don’t see often enough. I’ve started correspondences with new people. And I’ve carved out a tiny spot of calm in every day where I focus on just one thing at a time. It has been wonderful.
I’m planning on carrying on writing letters all year. And next February? We’ll do this again. Oh, yes we will.
And now, let me close by quoting Emily Post on How to End a Letter.
ENDING A LETTER
Just as the beginning of a letter should give the reader an impression of greeting, so should the end express friendly or affectionate leave-taking. Nothing can be worse than to seem to scratch helplessly around in the air for an idea that will effect your escape. 19
“Well, I guess I must stop now,” “Well, I must close,” or, “You are probably bored with this long epistle, so I had better close.” 20
All of these are as bad as they can be, and suggest the untutored man who stands first on one foot and then on the other, running his finger around the brim of his hat, or the country girl twisting the corner of her apron. 21
HOW TO END A LETTER
An intimate letter has no end at all. When you leave the house of a member of your family, you don’t have to think up an especial sentence in order to say good-by. Leave-taking in a letter is the same:
“Good-by, dearest, for to-day
It’s the penultimate day of the Month of Letters Challenge. At this point, you should have sent a minimum of 23 letters. How are you doing?
Personally, I’ve found that sending letters every day has become habit forming. Will I send them every day from here on out? Probably not daily, because life does happen. My husband and I are moving in April, for instance. But given how comforting I’ve found it to sit down with pen and paper, I can’t imagine that I’ll miss many days.
I’ve seen a lot of people online saying that they wished this challenge ran all year long. You know what? There’s something called 52 Weeks of Mail, which challenges you to send at least one piece of mail per week. You guys have that down pat.
And you? As we sit here with one day left in the challenge, what habits have you developed?
In the U.S. we’ve just had the President’s Day holiday which meant two whole days without the mail running. That should have given you a chance to catch up or even get ahead on your mail. At this point, you should have sent out seventeen missives.
I found that,even though I knew the mail would not run yesterday, or the day before, that I wanted to write some letters anyway. Having the moment in my day when I sit down and focus on only one thing, is soothing. Having that point of focus be someone else, seems to help get me out of my own head and make a little space of clarity, even if I am sending only a postcard.
So how is it going for you as we enter the final week of Month of Letters Challenge?
Participant Anne Gray went into her local post office and mentioned our challenge. Not only were they tickled by it, they asked if there was a flyer they could post. Anne made one, which she is now offering to you.
You can use it to spread the word at your local post office, coffee shop, or stationery store.
Several people have mentioned running out of people to write to and are having trouble finding more addresses. First, let me remind you that you can write to the same person twice and that any mail you answer can count as your sent item for the day.
Now… on to the fun stuff.
Allow me to introduce you to Postcrossing.com. It is an amazing website that allows people to exchange postcards across the globe. They just had their 10 millionth card sent. And people say the post is dead… When you sign up, you can put in your profile that you are a Month of Letters participant and welcome other people also in the challenge. Or, you can just play the way the site normally works.
The goal of this project is to allow people to receive postcards from all over the world, for free. Well, almost free! The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you will receive at least one back from a random Postcrosser from somewhere in the world.
I’ve sent a number of cards this way and it is oddly fun to write to a stranger. When you are ready to send a card, the site gives you the person’s name, address, and a brief bio about them. Each card you send makes you eligible to receive one. If you want, you can write back to the person who wrote to you but that’s not required by postcrossing.com.
It is sort of like having a penpal, but without any pressure because it is just post cards. The time commitment is tiny and you get mail. Real mail! With pretty pictures.
If you are looking for additional people to write to, definitely sign up for postcrossing.com. I highly recommend it.
It’s Sunday. For most of the world, the mail does not run today, which means you don’t have to mail anything. On the first day off from the Month of Letters Challenge, I thought I would report in on how it was going for me. So far I think it is going really, really well. I should pause here to say that I did not expect this to go viral but, lo, it has. I have no idea how many people are participating at this point beyond suspecting that it is way more than the number of people registered at the website.
The Month of Letters Challenge has been covered by The Guardian, the New York Times, The Spectator, GalleyCat, and blogs in languages ranging from English to Hebrew. I had no idea — NO idea that it would take off like this. I think it has because I’m not the only one for whom the computer has become a place of work. Other people also want to step back a little and letter writing allows you to do that without pretending that you don’t also love the internet.
I have, at this point, answered seventy-seven letters or postcards and that only takes us through Day Four. Yes. That is a lot of correspondence. But I am loving it. I’m hearing from people that I would never get to talk to otherwise. Housewives from Lousiana, fountain pen enthusiasts from Minnesota, artists from Estonia… It’s amazing.
As much as that, I’m also loving sending out mail to my friends. Before the month started, I used the Month of Letters Calendar to decide who I would write to each day. Even with the volume of mail that has been coming in, I’m still mailing something to one of my friends every day, knowing that they probably won’t write back.
That’s okay. They don’t have to. What’s satisfying is taking the time to think about them and — weirdly — to complete a task. Jackie Gamble pointed this out to me and, by gum, she’s right.
Apart from the magic, which is undeniable, I’m enjoying the sense of accomplishment. It only takes a few minutes to write, seal, stamp, and walk down to my mailbox. As soon as I flip up the flag, I’m done. I’ve accomplished what I set out to do. If only all goals were as easily met! That’s magic, too, I think.
Having a goal of mailing one thing a day is a simple, achievable task. It means that there is at least one thing every day that I can complete and feel good about. You know? So many things that I need to do are open ended.
Yes, I’ve finished writing Without a Summer, but it’s just a second draft. Yes, I’ve finished proofing Glamour in Glass, but I have to plan the launch party. Yes, I’ve finished carving the Fuzzy’s toes, but I still have to ship him. There’s almost always one more step, even after finishing something. Not so with a letter. Once it is in the mail, you have completed your task. All that remains is the potential that someone might write back.
So, yes. Having a passel of people to write back to is terrifying, but awesome.
Are you participating? If so, how’s it going for you?
, but I have to plan the launch party. Yes, I’ve finished carving the