February: a big month for mail

Clearly I have come in under par so far for my resolution to write more blog posts in 2015, but at least I have been spending my time actually writing mail. I hope that's a fair excuse for lagging behind in the practice of blogging about mail. January was a hugely productive writing month for me, and I enjoyed every letter and postcard.

And fans of mail have a fine month in February! There are two letter-a-day type challenges this month: A Month of Letters, aka "LetterMo," and International Correspondence Writing Month, aka "InCoWriMo." While I don't participate officially in either of these (I write as much as I can, all the time, and most months average more than one piece of mail per day anyway), I know lots of folks who really enjoy them, and I think they're a fine way to get anyone to engage more deeply with mail. If you tend to like shorter projects, or like to challenge yourself with daily goals, maybe one of these might be a fun thing to try. Also, if you're looking for pen pals, both of these are a great way to pick up new ones. There is even a page of addresses from letter-seekers on the InCoWriMo site.

Happy February mailing, everyone!

Meeting a pen pal + mobile Letterpress

So you may have seen my recent post about Alex Myers's reading in Brooklyn last Friday. It was a fantastic reading and a great trip, made even more special because I got to meet a pen pal ALL THE WAY FROM NEW ZEALAND! The lovely Erin Fae is in NYC for the summer to work on The Press Cycle Project: Letterpress on Three Wheels, an amazing traveling letterpress project to bring this special paperful joy to the masses.

Erin braved utterly torrential rain to make it to the reading - we were all half soaked, joking that we had swum there - and Alex took this photo of the two of us after the reading. I wish we had taken more, I wish I could have brought my awesome Letter Writers Alliance bag but I was afraid it would get soaked, I wish the photo of me were better... it is a testament of my love and appreciation for Erin that I post this photo in the first place, because I think she looks gorgeous and I am not so pleased with the photo of myself. BUT! Cross-continental pen pal meetings must be lauded as much as possible, and documented properly. So, voila!

I would also like to share with you Erin's fabulous Press Cycle Project, because even if you are not in NYC, you can still share the joy. (And if you ARE in NYC - may you encounter one of her magical spontaneous cycle-powered printings!) You can read more about it on her Kickstarter page, plus watch the cool studio, but here's the gist: she's building a mobile studio to teach people about letterpress printing, and will make prints on the go. I am a backer, and if you're a letterpress or paper lover (and really, if you're not - why are you reading this?), I'd encourage you to consider supporting her special endeavor... or at the very least, keep up to date on the project via @PressCycle on Twitter.

Her project only has 3 days left on Kickstarter, so don't wait - do it now!

XOJane's thoughts on how to find a pen pal, and why I haven't been blogging

I'm a little late on the uptake, but I just came across this lovely article on XOJane by Marianne Kirby: "To get a letter, send a letter: where to find a pen pal."

Some of the resources she lists are ones I've heard of and mentioned, but some are new to me, and she does a lovely job of explaining the ebb and flow of letters, and why she always comes back to them. Also, she gives out her PO Box address and offers to write a letter back to anyone who writes to her. Do check out her fine article.

In other news, I suppose it is good news to explain that the reason I haven't been blogging much lately is because I've been writing lots of letters. The 5-year-old son of my cousin is newly a mail devotee, and he writes me almost daily... I've been trying to keep up with him, and sending him letters and postcards almost daily, too! Whew. It's exhausting but exciting work to mentor the epistolary aficionados of the future. Also, his dad (my cousin) is writing letters to me, too (generally in the same envelope), and that brings back some great memories. His dad and I used to write each other pretty frequently, back in the days before email had overtaken the world, and it's delightful to take up that habit again with him. Oh, and I've been trying to keep up with all my other letters, too... though I've long since made my peace with the fact that I'll never really catch up. That's okay. I enjoy trying.

International Geek Girl Pen Pals Club

Remember my whole caveat about how I'm drowning in pen pals and can't take on any more? Yeah, that's still true. But since so many of my blog readers are still looking to connect with more pen pals, I wanted to share this new phenomenon, which has been a Twitter/Tumblr sensation since its launch just last week: International Geek Girl Pen Pal Club.

It appears to be a pen pal matching service that works in rounds, and it looks like the second round is closed already. The first round reached 1000 pen pallers in 3 days, and the second round reached 1000 correspondents in 26 hours. Wow!

As with any new pen pal matching endeavor, stay tuned to see how it goes. I really hope that all 2000 of those folks who signed up will genuinely exchange some great mail, and I hope the service continues, because it certainly looks fun.

Their blurb says "we are reviving the lost art of letter writing," and if you've been reading my blog for a while, you may be aware of how I get a bit touchy when someone asserts that letter writing is a "lost art." Maybe you lost it, folks, but it's been with me and lots of others, going strong! Still, as I always try to remind myself, any efforts to get anyone to write more letters are worthy and appreciated.

Did any of my readers make it in the first two rounds? Any thoughts on the experience?

The Elevated Envelope: a mail art exchange project

Blog reader Rosemary recently tipped me off to a new mail blog, The elevated envelope. Not only a blog to show and encourage pretty mail, it also seems to be a mail art exchange project: "a project where creative strangers from all over the world send each other artistic snail mail." It runs "every 6-8 weeks or so" and full details, including sign-ups, are on the elevated envelope blog. I'm not a participant myself, just passing along a tip about the site. If nothing else, it's worth a look for all the great mail photos!

Helping kids send mail: Scribble It! Postcards

I've blogged before about my favorite (and youngest) pen pals. They are still both writing me regularly, and their letters and postcards are among my most cherished mail. I always give them mail-themed gifts at birthdays and such - usually stationery. The two girls are great about sharing their stationery with each other, and one of the gifts I gave Scarlett for her 5th birthday was such a hit that I had to blog about it.



Scribble It! postcards by Taro Gomi, published by the fantastic Chronicle Books, are a magical way to encourage kids to send mail, even if they can't write yet. I thought the gimmick was cute so I sent it along with some other stationery, but being a foreigner to most interactions with young children (with a few exceptions, like these lovely young ladies), I hadn't realized what a hit it would be. Each postcard has a prompt on the front for artwork and such, and room on the back to write. Scarlett chose the "Her pet is so cool" postcard, and drew me a lovely cat... and captioned it "That is a cat." I'm glad she specified - now I know for certain! :-) She added one of the stickers I'd also sent her for her birthday into the artwork. So it's clearly mixed-media: crayon, marker, and sticker.



This was a 5th birthday gift for Scarlett, and she is in pre-kindergarten. She has previously dictated all her letters to her mom, and her mom handwrites them -- but this was the first item I've received from Scarlett that she wrote all by herself! I was so impressed. She and her sister both used stamps I sent them, made via Zazzle, featuring a photo of us last summer when I visited them and we all went to a petting zoo together.



Her older sister, Annalise, is 7 years old and in 2nd grade - she is my original pen pal and we've been writing for a couple of years now. She writes very well all by herself, though her mom sometimes helps with addressing envelopes and return addresses. She chose the caption "What an interesting hairstyle!" and created a fun hairstyle, with the addition of another sticker. I love the stripes in the background! I would never have had the artistic sense at that age to fill up the space like that.



She wrote a very colorful postcard, changing colors every line. Her thanks for keeping her letters was in response to a question she'd asked me about whether I kept the letters she sent, and I assured her that yes, I keep every one of them! Her handwriting is always so neat. I wish I could read all my pen pals' handwriting this easily.

Not only did I want to share these adorable postcards with you, my blog readers, but also to encourage those with children in their lives: start 'em young! My mother made me write thank-you notes as a child, as soon as I could write, and other adults in my life gave me gifts of very cute stationery to make that process fun. And so, my love of mail was born by the time I could write. If you're looking to encourage some kids to send mail, I highly recommend these Scribble It! postcards. I'm linking to Amazon instead of Chronicle Books here because Amazon lets you "look inside," and you can see a number of the cute prompt options. The postcards are large enough that there is room to fit some writing (even large writing from small hands) on the written side. They are over 4x6 so they require first-class letter rate postage and not postcard postage, but they're well worth it. This is now my favorite go-to gift for young children!

Looking for a pen pal? Here's a Twitter option...

I just saw that one of my fine tweeps (that's Twitter users I follow, for those unfamiliar with that lingo), @LetterSets of lettersets.com has offered to help with pen pal searches on Twitter. If you tweet that you're looking for a pen pal, they'll retweet it to all their followers for you.

Seems rather instantaneous, but for all those people who are looking for a pen pal RIGHT NOW, it could be a fun option.

If you've read this blog for a while, you know that the last thing I am seeking is more pen pals... but I do know a lot of folks who land here are looking for more pen pals and letter writers, so I hope this is useful to someone.

Letter to Crane & Co., as per their pen pal request

Remember the notice that Crane & Co. wants pen pals? Of course I did write in a letter, though we all know I don't need any more pen pals... I somehow doubt the lovely marketing lady really intends to correspond long-term with anyone, but it's a nice thought and I wanted to send a supportive gesture. And hey, the possibility of winning some goods from Crane & Co. paper was a nice incentive, too. So I had to make my letter nice and pretty, since I'm sure she's getting quite a deluge of pulchritudinous post. I used some washi tape, Japanese decorative masking tape, and my own Missive Maven-designed stamps and stickers, with white ink on a red envelope.



That's my dandy new return address sticker (a la moo.com) on the back.

I know of one person who said she'd heard back from the official pen pallers at Crane. I know a lot of us have written - anyone else heard back? I have a feeling that they didn't quite know what they were getting into when they asked for handwritten mail on the Crane blog, but I hope they are enjoying the letters that are coming their way. Read the details of their offer here.

Crane & Co. wants pen pals

The Crane Insider, the blog of the venerable Crane & Co. paper company is looking for pen pals. Check out their blog post, Pen pals wanted, for the full details. They offer to write a letter back to anyone who writes them.

I would caution them about that promise, since I do not even make it myself anymore, but I am but one gal and not a company that employs quite a lot of people, and makes paper, to boot.

Oh yes, and the icing on the cake is that "every pen pal will be entered in a contest to win an assortment of Crane & Co. paper goodies." Hmm... I certainly don't need more pen pals, but I will most likely send a letter for that entry!

Pictured at the top of this post is some of my favorite Crane stationery, Snail mail correspondence cards, made in their Kate Spade line. I did a blog review of these cards way back in 2008.

My new favorite pen pals are 6 and 4 years old

I keep in touch with my best friend from high school. She still lives in the same town where we grew up, and I've moved all over the place. We used to write each other, back in college and shortly thereafter, but now email is her medium. She keeps me up to date with regular email and photos of her awesome daughters.

I recently started writing to her oldest daughter, who is now 6 years old and a really bright kid. (Yes, I'm biased. But her kids are all great, really.) Annalise has become one of my best pen pals - she writes to me almost every week. She is clearly into it, and I've encouraged her with multiple gifts of cards and stationery, and of course I enclose stickers and fun pens and such. I recall that I got into writing at a similar age, urged on by stationery and pen gifts from one of my mom's friends (who is also, coincidentally, child-free).

Annalise is the oldest of three girls; Scarlett just turned 4 and Noelle is a little under 2. Apparently Scarlett was getting jealous of Annalise's mail from me (of course I decorate it and make it pretty darn cute, if I do say so myself), and recently she started crying when one of my letters arrived for Annalise, because she felt left out. So big sister Annalise saved the day, and told Scarlett to pick any of the cards I had sent to use for letter-writing, and Annalise would write down the letter that Scarlett dictated to me.

So now I write to both Annalise and Scarlett. Annalise writes her own letters, and has recently even started addressing the envelopes herself; Scarlett's letters are dictated either to Annalise or to her mom, but she signs her name herself.

Needless to say, their letters make my day; recognizing how long a wait of 5 or 6 days for a letter may be to a tot that wee, I make a point of writing them back immediately. It doesn't take long to write a bite-sized letter to a child, and they always write me back within a week. It just warms my heart to have brought such young letter-writers into the fold, and to have an opportunity to get to know these little girls who I'd otherwise only see once a year or so. And their mom tells me that it's great writing practice for them; certainly I can see the improvement in Annalise's handwriting as she goes along.



And of course I have a lot of fun finding cute stationery to encourage them! I've given them the Sukie Animals on Parade notecard set, Masha and Friends: 15 Matryoshka Notecards, and most recently, personalized stationery from Owl and Branch notecard set and Hibiscus personalized notecard set from JoseJeanDesign on etsy (shown in photo above).

My favorite line from a recent letter is from Scarlett, dictated to her mom: "I'm gonna be a grown-up like my mommy someday."

Epistolary persona

This postcard came from one of my favorite pen pals, who often sends me excellent food for thought. This quote has kept me musing for a while.

A correspondence is a kind of love affair...
It is with our own epistolary persona that we fall in love,
rather than with that of our pen pal.
-Janet Malcolm

Thoughts?

A little more on Letternet

I have posted a few times before about Letternet, Deutsche Post's (Germany's postal service) pen pal website. (See Deutsche Post's Letternet, Letternet Update, and More on the Letternet Saga for past commentary.) I just wanted to share with my readers that I have received many, many fun letters from Germany this way. For all the details about it, please read my previous posts linked above and visit the Letternet website (I think I linked the English version there), but I can heartily say that you are pretty likely to get quite a few pen pals from this service if you are patient. People in Germany can request pen pals from anywhere, but anyone from other countries can only be matched with writers in Germany. This makes sense, being sponsored by the German postal service - what's in it for them if they link me, in the USA, up with someone in France? Anyway, I've only written first to one or two people, and I have approved countless other address requests from other people, and I admit I haven't kept an exact count, but I think I've probably received Letternet letters from at least 15 people by now. So I give Letternet my full endorsement for anyone who's looking for a way to find a pen pal in Germany. Incidentally, a few of the letter-writers had some degree of trouble with English, but most of them wrote in English most impressively. (Don't ask me to write in German!)

I'd love to hear feedback from anyone else who's tried Letternet - so far I've only heard positive things.

Looking for a pen pal?

I often get questions from blog readers about where they can find more pen pals. Let me call your attention to one of my handy little sidebar link sets, practically titled "How to find people who might write you back." It's just under the old-school USPS logo (that came from a photograph of one of my grandfather's old patches... he worked for the Postal Service for most of his life).

All those links can hook you up with people, addresses, etc. Caveat: I have not used all of them myself, but some I list as a convenience for those who are searching. As I've said before, I've got more letters and pen pals than I think I can keep up with, but it was not always thus, and I appreciate all the tips from others I got along the way.

That being said, there are two fine blogs that are currently doing a sort of ad-hoc pen pal thang.

From the Good Mail Day blog (yes indeed, one of the very fabulous mail art pros behind the very fabulous Good Mail Day book!), there is a "call for scribblers, mail artists, and pen friends." It's very informal and ad-hoc, but people list their addresses and interests right there.

Second, Megan of the fine Australian Time after Tea has started a Penpal mailing list. It's brand-new, but it seems there will be profiles with an email option - so that might be more of interest to those folks who don't want to give out their address publicly. (To quote the abovementioned Good Mail Day Carolee, "may I just say that a post office box goes a long way towards achieving privacy peace of mind." I myself have a box at a UPS store, which has different perks and drawbacks than a PO Box, but affords the same sort of privacy... hence my willingness to post my address on this here blog for all the world to see.) There should be more details on Time after tea soon, but I am excited to see how it develops. It seems I tend to find out about these pen pal things after they're done and closed, so I'm glad to be able to share this info while it's still good and hoppin'.

Go write a letter! It's late and past my bedtime now, but I'm a little overly proud of myself that it's only July 2 (well, okay, as per the post-midnight clock, it's July 3, but it's July 2 to me until I go to sleep and wake up the next morning) and I've got 14 outgoing items this month already. That will maybe give me a head start on making up for my week of vacation off in the woods later this month...

More on the Letternet saga

I don't have any fancy photos at the moment, but I just wanted to update my faithful readers on the continuing Letternet saga. In my original post, I mentioned the penpal service of the German postal service (Deutsche Post) called Letternet. You can read my previous posts - oh-so-handily linked right here for your convenience - to catch up on the saga, but I do have a couple of recent developments.

So far I've received two letters from Letternet. I wrote one letter to the only pen pal I requested who approved my address request, and she wrote back very swiftly. Her English is probably the worst I've seen from a German... don't get me wrong, her English is a hell of a lot better than my German, but maybe she just wants practice. In any case her letter was very sincere and I shall definitely write her back, though there may be a bit of a language barrier. The second letter arrived today (postmarked March 4 - yay Deutsche Post/US Postal service for 4-day delivery from Germany!), from a fine gal who writes much better English. She requested my address and I approved that request, and she must have written me really soon after that, and she included a photo of herself. I confess that I cannot really explain why, but I get a little skeezed out when people send pictures in the first letter (well, okay, I did get a couple of really creepy photos like that from The Letter Exchange, but we'll write those off as the inevitable weirdos), but maybe including photos is more of a European cultural thing to do... I mean, I know what a lot of my pen pals look like because they have blogs and they post photos of themselves there. Anyhoo, this German gal's photo was not skeezy at all, just a nice-looking German lady about my age, standing by a pretty mountain with her cute dog. Totally a lovely letter, descriptive and warm. I will definitely write her back and enjoy doing so.

So - for anyone interested in finding pen pals from Germany, I do recommend Letternet. It has its limitations - you cannot write anything in a personal profile, can't list a blog, can't add a photo, and if you're in the USA, you can only search for people in Germany (clearly Germans can search for folks in the USA, though, because at least one ended up with me), but since I've gotten two nice letters from there already in 3 weeks of membership, I'd say that's a pretty good track record. Quite a few other folks have requested my address, too, and I've approved those, but at this point I'm just waiting to see if they'll write first, since they were the ones who made the request.

Happy writing, folks!

Letternet update

If you recall my original blog entry about Deutsche Post Letternet, I promised to keep you updated about the arrival of my address code.

I initially joined up and requested an address code on Sunday, February 14 - and today I received that address code from Germany via snail mail - or rather, via Luftpost. The letter is dated February 16, and though it doesn't have a postmark date (go figure), that still seems right speedy to have arrived in less than a week.

So I entered by address code and am now a "full member." The searching for pen pals system seems pretty darn random and you don't have a lot of search options (nor can you write your own profile, it seems), but I've requested at least one address so far, just for the heck of testing it out, and we'll see what happens.

UPDATE 23 Feb 2010: Thanks to a very helpful comment from tanuki below, I discovered a little more about the methods. No, you don't get notification when someone approves an address request - they just show up in your pen pals list. So I logged in just now, and found that someone had requested my address! I approved it, but now I just see a very minimal profile and an address for her. Does she write first, since she requested? Or do I? There is really no way to message each other or communicate about that. Maybe I'll send her a postcard.

Yet another penpal project

Although it seems that penpal projects started by individual bloggers come and go like dust in the wind (in my jaded long-term letter-writing mindset - remember, I've been doing this consistently since I knew how to hold a pencil as a little girl, and I'm in my mid-30s now - I tend to think it's because people get really enthusiastic, and then find out how much work it is to keep it up, and then quit - R.I.P Penpal Party, which I never even got a chance to join), I have enough blog readers and pen pals who ask me how to find more pen pals that I feel like I should mention something that sounds interesting - BIG CAVEAT - even when I don't really think I'll try it out myself. (I have enough of you blog readers who are still waiting for a letter back from me, oui?)

So, I just learned about The Indiefixx Pen Pal Project from the intrepid PostMuse (or is it Postmuse? She's still deciding and she's open to feedback, but however you capitalize it, her blog rocks).

Goodness, I am deeply parenthetical tonight, aren't I? Blame it on overwork. (I am doing 7 days a week from Feb. 15 - March 7. Don't ask.)

Anyhoo, this Penpal Project seems enthusiastic. If you're looking for more pen pals, it is a potential resource for you. If you sign up and participate, do let me know how it goes.

Deutsche Post Letternet

Through the Penpalling and Letters blog which I just discovered recently, I learned of Deutsche Post's Letternet. (Deutsche Post is Germany's postal service.) I've linked the English version of the site, but the original language is, of course, German. It appears to be a pen pal service - free - for anyone in the world. Goodness knows I don't need any more pen pals, but I did sign up out of curiosity. I found it a little unsettling that I had to agree to Terms of Service that are available only in German, so I couldn't really read them, but oh well.

Letternet, which calls itself the "largest pen pal club in the world," has a weird questionnaire that involves asking questions with picture associations: four pictures for "this is what friendship feels like," "this is what stress feels like," etc. It seems geared to younger people, but of course I am supportive of any endeavor to encourage good clean letter-writing. The site is in beta form, and I suspect some things may be clearer in German than in the English translation. For example, my address is listed in my profile as "not confirmed." To confirm it, I need a confirmation code. How do I get this code? I don't know. I couldn't figure that out. I used the contact form to ask, but haven't heard back. From the post about it on the Penpalling and Letters blog, I think I might need to wait for a snail-mail envelope or package from them - fine and dandy, that seems a lovely way to confirm my address, although it would be nice to learn that from the Letternet site itself.

EDIT: Actually, I poked around a little further, and in fact the info is on the site, on the How you can participate page. There it says: "As soon as you have created your profile we check your address so that you can make pen-friends. We shall send you a letter containing your personal registration code, which you need to enter in "My Data/Confirm your Adress". You are then a full member and can search for pen-friends all over the world." OK. All good. I'll wait for the letter in the mail.]

Also, when I entered my mailing address as part of the registration process, the required fields were pretty specific to a German address format (makes sense, after all - it IS a German service), and I had to enter my own address in a weird way - I hope their fields will align with the US mail fields such that mail will reach me successfully. I'll find out, I suppose, and I'll keep you posted, but anyone who is brave that wants to try it out, go for it... the site seems very legit and is clearly part of the Deutsche Post larger website system.

I have a few German pen pals, and my experience with Deutsche Post overall is that the service is fast and reliable, and the stamps are really cool... so I joined up without hearing other reports first.

If anyone else out there who reads this blog has used or is using Letternet, I'd love to hear about your experience with it.

On another note, Happy Valentine's Day! I might do a V-Day posting later, and I might not. Truth be told, it's not a very big deal to me, but I didn't feel like I could make a post on February 14 without mentioning it.

Penpal Party, anyone?

Thanks to a hot tip from Goodnight Little Spoon, I just found out about the very groovy-looking Penpal Party. It is billed as "a letter-writing exchange... for stationery and letter-writing enthusiasts."

NO, I'm not going to join - I have too many other letters of me own that need responses, and I'm very happy with all the letters I write and receive.

But for those of you who are looking for a few more pen pals, or anyone who will write back, really, it looks like a great idea and a great place to start.

The gal who founded it is a designer, and her designs are reeeeeeeeally cute. You can see 'em here, but of course she did the way cute design on Penpal Party, too.

You can even see some fun Penpal Party photos here, too.

If you decide to sign up, let me know how it goes!

UPDATE: This project has been discontinued. You can read the full comments for info.

We Love Snail Mail: another source for pen pals

There's another letter-writing website out there, but it exists specifically to connect other letter writers and provide pen pal connections. I already correspond with a number of members, and although I proceed with caution with anything really new and anything free, if you're looking for more pen pals yourself, you should check it out.

We Love Snail Mail

I just joined up in order to have a look around (heaven knows I don't need more pen pals!!) and it seems pretty cool. I've already complained vociferously to its powers that be about the required entry of your birthdate in order to join - but I've been told it's a required element of the pre-packaged software, so there's no way around it. I just lied about mine.

I haven't explored it much, but again, I'm not really seeking. If you're itching for more letters to write, I can vouch for quite a few of the existing members there that they are already loyal and dedicated pen pals, so go have a look. It's free!

Sincerely, John Hughes

While perusing the lovely Goodnight, Little Spoon this morning, I came across a really beautiful letter-writing story that I just had to share. Sincerely, John Hughes is a blog post about a woman who corresponded with John Hughes for 2 years when she was younger, in the mid-80s. Yes, they wrote letters. It's a lovely story and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did. (And yeah, I am a child of the 70s and 80s, so I'm a big John Hughes fan anyway.)

In other news, I have three (3!!) sets of houseguests over the next 7 days. I may not be posting every day (I'll try, no promises) and I may not be writing all that many letters (I'll try, no promises). So yeah, the letter pile is gonna get even bigger and I'm gonna get even more behind. *le sigh* Don't take it personally, I'd rather be writing letters...