how to confess your undying love while you’re dying and other letter-writing pursuits
i’ve been fond of pen and paper and what the combination can do since i was nine. there is something delicious about a foreign stamp, an APO address, crepe paper, fragrant ink, and the husky envelope awaiting to be opened with my teeth. i’d shiver watching the confetti, the glitter, the Lisa Frank and Ms. Grossman stickers flutter out.
as i work on a lot of category and practical non fiction, it’s rare that i’m taken hostage by a book and, quite honestly, ever since i received Samara O’Shea’s galley, i’ve been smitten.
over the past few weeks, I’ve witnessed some truly disturbing things on the web: threats of violence on a prominent blogger and all the minions who buzz about saying: toughen up, be a man, little girl, death threats aren’t such a big deal - this is, you know, only the web, vitriolic posts penned by people with swelled egos and clipped emails shot back (with those dreaded abbreviations, for which i too have been guilty of using) and forth at a such a rate that it makes me dizzy.
i’m starting to realize that i rarely write long-hand. my once fine penmanship has gone to pot and i miss the hours it takes to craft a thoughtful letter. and this is why i fell for For the Love of Letters and this is why i’m hoping you all might take part in a fun project, which might ignite that long lost love of putting a stamp on an envelope that isn’t a bill.
so I’m taking the good fight to the street – the virtual street that is. i’m proposing that for the next month (you heard me, party people) we write a letter, many letters, send a note, send an invitation rather than using evite. and i know this sniffs of all sorts of eco-unfriendly-ness, but bear with me. let’s use our gadgets less and our pens more. gather your friends’ addresses – do you know where they actually live (no stalking, please)? send a long distance friend a long letter instead of a distracted, multi-tasked email. send a thank-you note. find a blogger who you’ve admired for quite some time and if they have an address on their site, write them a fan note. write your mom, your pop, your loved one. write an angry letter to yourself just to get all the anger that’s inside, out, and save the note or tear it up or piece it back together again. or maybe dig up those old high school love letters and snark notes and share them with your friends or muse quietly, alone.
just write. just read, off-screen. but then i invite you to share, on-screen (and hey, if you don’t want to, go it alone and do it for the sake of getting away from the computer and back into loving stationery).
for the next month (and i’ll ensure this post is prominent on my blog each week) use this comments space to share your letter-writing efforts, links to old letters you’ve written or received, posted online, or perhaps share with us a letter you’ve written or are in the process of writing, now, or perhaps join diane at craftypod who took her love of the book and writing one step further and turned it into a craft project. how can you make letter-writing your own experience? your art. you can leave your thoughts here or post it/letters, etc on your own blog and leave a link here.
at the end of the month, i’ll determine the top most inspiring projects and posts (always a toughie) and you’ll win an assortment of stationery from dear dahlia and a signed copy of samara o’shea’s book.
but again, if you don’t want to participate publicly, i urge that you do so quietly. get off the computer and sit outside and write, and write, and write.
March 29th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
what an excellent idea felicia.
i’m in!
let the letter writing commence.
k.
March 29th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Super fun project! Cant wait to see the results!
March 29th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Great idea! I’m in!
OMG…Lisa Frank and Ms, Grossman! Those made me giggle from the memories. =)
March 29th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
[...] e written. And they’re saved. Cherished, even. (Incidentally, you might want to join Felicia’s letter-writing challenge and possibly win a copy of the book, and some tasty stationery.) . . [...]
April 2nd, 2007 at 9:00 am
[...] et it and move on. it’s been a decade and i wonder how much i’ve moved on. *part of my month-long letters project. Tag Me:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can s [...]
April 2nd, 2007 at 12:47 pm
[...] nd hopefully making some connections in the process. because of my newfound obsession with samara o’shea’s new book, for the love of letters, and letter-writing in general, i’m in a fr [...]
April 4th, 2007 at 1:40 am
Someone and I were once very deeply in love. He moved very far away, while I remained here. Our lives split us for a time. I began filling notebooks with letters to him- I felt that I might notice the hit to my wallet of 4 or 5 letters a day. Sure, a stamp is cheap… anyway, I felt that receiving a notebook full of my day-to-day (or hour-to-hour) thoughts might please him.
Then we split up. The reasons are many, but few. They mostly culminated in how painful it was to be apart.
The letters stopped.
Then one day, they began again. This time with the occasional package. Me sending him reminders of home and him sending me tidbits of his new home. We both deny our love for one another, but we both know it is still there.
Will it ever return? I don’t know.
What I do know is that everyday when I check my mail, I hope there’s something new in there from him and I like to imagine that he does the same.
April 4th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Hi, have you read Venus Envy by Rita Mae Brown about the events sparked by frank letters from the main character when she thought she was dying? One of my favorites!
Karin
April 4th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Wonderful idea!
Now I have an excuse to go out and purchase gorgeous stationery (without having to feel guilty for spending the $$)
On a related note to your entry, I once wrote an angry letter, tore it into tiny pieces, and eventually shaped the pieces into a heart…’twas therapeutic, indeed.
Thank you for reminding me of that!
April 4th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
thanks, readsy for popping in!! Ah, how those rage letters can be so necessary!!
April 4th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
I’ve been writing letters since I was about 9 or 10– when my family moved from Seattle to Texas. Over the years I’ve gained and lost a lot of pen pals, but a few have remained constant. Strangely, I find that some of my pen pals are my best friends. Letter writing is a wonderfully non-judgemental and non-frightnening way to share yourself with someone. I recently attended a pen-pal’s wedding and met all the “characters” from her life.
Currently, my best pen pal is a young man I met in LA two years ago for less than 24 hours. We’ve exchanged just under one letter a month, and the friendship is real and wonderful.
I’ve recently started organizing my mail and documenting my Mail Art projects on Flickr– you can seem them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bowena/sets/72157600048211131/
Thank you so much for starting this project, it will help keep me honest about really writing letters!
April 5th, 2007 at 3:16 am
What a lovely idea. I recently discovered http://www.postcardx.net and have been sending some of my interesting postcards to various people around the world. While I was at it, I also sent them to old friends – what an easy way to stay in touch. The amazing thing is that after a while, a postcard is too small, and it inspires writing longer letters. Thanks for a great project!
April 8th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Over at Swap-Bot there is a “swap” that involves a bit of letter writing, http://www.swap-bot.com/swap/show/2517 and that has led to me deciding to stop talking about writing to political and community leaders about fostering local businesses, and actually doing the writing. I am journaling my campaign on a group blog that some of the swap participants have joined.
And I am a huge fan of postcardx.net, too. And The Letter Exchange, http://letter-exchange.com/ And International Pen Friends, http://www.ipfusa.com/index.html (where there is also a letter writing contest, though you have to subscribe).
July 20th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
I’m sure you know about the great little book by Margaret Shephard, The Art of The Handwritten Note. The book is most obviously about note-writing, but it also speaks of just generally slowing down and taking the time to really enjoy the precious things of life-like a letter from an old friend, or a letter from your sister. I bought 8 copies of this book, 1 for me, and 7 for gifts. I have always saved every letter I ever recieved, which turned out to be a great thing when I heard about a high school friend of mine having cancer, and I was able to find a nice letter she had written me 17 years earlier. We have since been faithfully exchanging letters. (She was one of the recipients of Margaret Shepherd’s book on note-writing.) Writing to her has challenged me to find exceptional stationary, and even experiment with paper and plastic bags, and permanent pens.