Postal Service is Public Service

So sorry to have been absent, dear blog readers... as before, I've been writing letters and living life (and exploring my great new city of Washington, DC!). I've been meaning to blog, and today's Postcrossing haul convinced me I simply had to blog right away!

Above, I received IN-65026, showing a "postman bike" from India. The caption reads "Prototype of a postman bike bearing the new logo of India Post and its slogan in Hindi: 'Dak Seva, Jan Seva' meaning Postal Service is Public Service." Hooray!



I also received the fabulous GB-456219, showing a wonderful Postman book cover. The sender was so enthusiastic that she sent me TWO postcards, and she's been a customer in the past in my etsy shop. Small world, eh? Certainly a small world of mail aficionados!



Finally, on a postcard from the Czech Republic, I received this wonderful postage stamp showing the work of Alphonse Mucha.

Happy mailing, everyone!

Writing, not blogging

Settling into a new life is busy, yes, but I've been taking time to write instead of to blog. My apologies to blog readers for neglecting my beloved blog, but here are some photos of the fruits of all my letter-writing last weekend. My beloved and I were both feeling a little under the weather, so we just hunkered down at home and I wrote mail for much of the day on Saturday and Sunday. It was lovely. And now this week I've had a lot more mail to show for it!



I always like to add photos with blog posts whenever possible, but I have to confess that after having been a loyal and devoted Flickr user since 2005, I utterly loathe what Flickr has become with this latest redesign. I've been avoiding it because it leaves an icky taste in my mouth now. So that makes me want to avoid blogging with photos, which is no good, either. I am seriously considering leaving Flickr, even though I have thousands upon thousands of photos there. Are there any other Flickr users who have felt compelled to do so, and have found a decent photo site alternative?

How did it get to be July?!?

Wow, July snuck up on me! June was a whirlwind with moving and starting a new life in a new city, but I'm feeling settled now. My apologies to all my lovely blog readers -- I confess I've been neglecting this blog. I've been out doing moving-in stuff, exploring DC, and, yes, I've been writing letters! In the difficult calculus of free time, I've opted to write letters instead of blog about writing letters. I've gotten some fun mail recently, though, so I do hope to blog about that soon... and maybe show my new writing desk setup.

I hope everyone is out there having a great summer, and enjoying many good mail days!

I'm all moved!

Greetings from Washington, DC! We are all safely moved, and if not completely settled, we are happily settling in. My stationery is (mostly) unpacked, and my writing desk is nearly set up, and my etsy shop is once again open for business.

There are a lot of things to do and to learn with a move - where is the best grocery store? Gotta get that new driver's license, etc - so I'm still pretty busy, but I hope to be more of a presence and back into more regular blogging (and letter-writing!) soon. If anyone has any recommendations for interesting activities for letter-writers in Washington, DC, do let me know!

In other news, I just had my 1000th Postcrossing postcard registered - it was US-2259464 to Germany - so I'm pretty excited about that big milestone, too.

Time to move!

My stationery is packed, my inks are packed (oh my goodness, packing fountain pen inks for a long-distance move is NOT fun), and now my favorite travel fountain pens are getting packed away for the move... our moving van comes tomorrow and I will be in Washington, DC on Sunday.

I'm sending out cards with my new address to regular pen pals. If we already write to each other, and you are eager and want my new address before then, please send me an email. I will not be posting my new address on this blog for privacy reasons, and I thank you in advance for respecting that.

In the meantime, I've gotta get back to packing!! Wish me luck on the move!

Missive Maven on etsy is moving, too

Pictured: Zesty French Postman notecards

Along with my move to a new city, my etsy shop inventory must move, too. From June 1 to somewhere in the middle of June - June 15, let's hope? - MissiveMaven.etsy.com will go on vacation. All my wares currently in the shop will reappear once I'm resettled in DC (if I don't sell out beforehand, that is!), but if there's anything you're wanting, do make that purchase before June 1, or it will need to wait until later in June when I am unpacked and can re-open the shop.

Packing... ugh. I'd rather be writing letters.

Moving is not conducive to letter-writing (or blogging)

Hello, dears - I am still here... sort of, anyway. I am now deep in moving hell. Lots of cardboard boxes. I move to Washington, DC in less than a month. Things are progressing as nicely as can be expected, really -- I have an apartment and a job, hooray! -- but it is just as busy as busy can be around my humble (increasingly boxed) abode. The cats are nervous, I am stressed, and... well, you know how it goes.

The priority is getting everything ready for the move, and of course finishing out the job I have now... so I haven't had much time to do mail, and even less time to blog about it. Apologies for disappearing. I hope to give a more detailed update soon, but I was just fairly aghast when I looked at my blog for the first time in over a week, and realized it had been weeks since I posted, hence this brief update.

Now, back to packing...

Announcing "Revolutionary:" January 2014

I have never been more excited for a book release in my life. I am ridiculously excited even to be blogging about it.

Announcing... "Revolutionary" by Alex Myers.

Due out from Simon & Schuster on January 14, 2014, it is now available for pre-order on Amazon.

Why am I so excited about this? Well, "Revolutionary" is pretty darn fabulous - "A fascinating retelling of the story of America’s first female soldier, Deborah Sampson Gannett, who ran away from home in 1782, successfully disguised herself as a man, and fought valiantly in the Revolutionary War." It is a book I would love to read anyway, and I know that because I have already read it. How am I so lucky to be an advance reader of this fine novel? Its talented (and, may I say, dashingly handsome) author happens to be my best beloved husband.

How does this book tie into the letter-writing theme of this blog? The novel does have a significant epistolary element - a lot of important information is conveyed in letters, and the reader gets a fine sense of the writing practices (and equipment, all well-researched) from the Revolutionary War era. In fact, in discussing my blog-post-in-progress with Alex, he said that its subject, Deborah Sampson Gannett (of whom Alex is a distant descendent), actually wrote a letter to Paul Revere, which is well-documented and preserved. He promises to write about that Deborah Sampson/Paul Revere letter on his own blog sometime in the future.

If you are wondering why I am suddenly talking about my husband and my personal life when I so rarely do that on this blog, well... I am not only indescribably excited about this book, but I think it is a book that will interest my blog readers as well. There is a clear correlation between reading and letter-writing, and the vast majority of my correspondents and blog readers are also passionate readers of fiction. This book will appeal to lovers of historical fiction and literary fiction alike, including a fascinating examination of the role of gender and how it forms identity.

On his own blog at AlexMyersWriting.blogspot.com, Alex did a great post about the book cover and his thoughts on it. It's a great look at how the themes of the book tie into the cover design (with which he is quite pleased).



This past summer Alex and I did a little road trip to various New England sites where Deborah Sampson has ties; above you can see Alex posing with the statue of Deborah Sampson Gannett (Gannett is her married name) outside the public library in Sharon, Massachusetts, where Deborah lived after the Revolutionary War. Don't ask me if that actually looks like Deborah Sampson or not, because I have no idea, but Alex said the equipment she's holding looks pretty historically accurate.



He would know - he did extensive research on this subject! Photo above shows Alex in 2010, while he was still writing the book, examining Revolutionary War-era equipment at the New Windsor Cantonment in New Windsor, NY - a spot where Deborah (disguised as the soldier Robert) actually spent the winter of 1782-1783 encamped with her fellow soldiers. There is now a handy museum there, with some of the original structure sites and a lot of excellent models of various munitions, uniforms, and other aspects of Revolutionary War life.



Deborah Sampson is a famous enough historical figure to have statues and streets named after her - above you see Alex posing last August with the "Deb Sampson" street sign - and Alex's book is a fictionalized retelling of her days fighting in the Revolutionary War. I am obviously very biased, and I have given up any pretense of objectivity, since I am madly in love with its author and have read many drafts of the book prior to the final version for publication, but I think it is an amazing story and I expect I will not shut up about it anytime soon.

Alex has many published short stories and essays, and one of his essays was adapted for NPR's "This I believe" Rhode Island and aired in July 2012 - you can listen to him reading his "identity" piece on the Rhode Island NPR archives here - and his blog at AlexMyersWriting.blogspot.com is the place to go to read many of Alex's other stories, essays, and some fabulous background information on his research for this historical novel, read a more extensive bio and fascinating personal information about him, plus some great info on his writing process and writing in general, including getting an agent and the publishing process. Good stuff there.

To recap: check out more about Revolutionary on Amazon, and if you're that interested, go ahead and pre-order!

January 14, 2014 is less than 9 months away...