Book giveaway: "Revolutionary"

I have shared before how excited I am about my beloved's debut novel, "Revolutionary" by Alex Myers, due out from Simon & Schuster on January 14, 2014. (Eeek! That's just two months away!!) Now, at last, there is a real opportunity for others to read it! If you are one of the amazing, gung-ho folks who have already pre-ordered the novel, you are incredibly awesome. But if not, you have a chance to win your very own copy in a Goodreads giveaway. My caveat to you is that I am not a Goodreads member, I know nothing about the rules and requirements (I'm a loyal LibraryThing gal myself), but I know a lot of my blog readers use that service and I believe it's pretty easy to join. This particular giveaway is being offered in the USA only.



Of course the novel has an epistolary element, so that should definitely be of interest to my friendly blog readers. They are giving away 4 copies, and you can enter any time between now and November 22.

Enter to win "Revolutionary" on Goodreads - good luck!

And if you're hungry for more of Alex's writing, you can also check out his blog at alexmyerswriting.blogspot.com or his Facebook author page.

A redesign was long overdue...

Welcome to my new look! I was so sick of the old design I barely even wanted to look at it. A lot of my wonderful blog readers gave me excellent comments in the past when I mused on the idea of re-designing my blog. What I'm doing today is by no means the finished product, and I'm still very much playing with it, but I hope this design is a little more up-to-date and friendly with more current platforms.

Unfortunately a lot of the elements from all the previous posts - such as photo sizes - were set for the old design, but we'll just have to live with that. Moving forward, I hope to play a lot more with the look. I'd love your feedback - I'm always interested in what my readers have to say!

It's Fountain Pen Day!

Happy Fountain Pen Day! I had no idea it was Fountain Pen Day until I saw this blog post (which you should really check out because it has some great links and giveaways) - thanks for letting us know, Julie! I'm all for celebrating the fine fountain pen, especially as it is employed in writing letters.

Happy Halloween 2013!

Happy Halloween!! I have gotten much fine bat mail so far, but I have not photographed it yet, so today's image is a Vintage Halloween postcard courtesy of The Graphics Fairy. You can go there to download the graphic, too.

Watch out for ghosties and ghoulies in your mailbox!

A desk of one's own

Some of my postcards were recently featured in a lovely blog post called A desk of one's own from Little Yellow Couch. It talks about setting up a dedicated writing space, with all kinds of fine accessories, and has lovely photographs with engaging text. Specifically, she featured my Swallow's Air Mail Garden postcard set, and I'm so pleased with the way they look on her lovely desk! For a great post with some writing desk eye candy, do check it out. You can also follow her on Twitter.

It's so important to have a desk of one's own!

Bats cheer me up

This week I got a lovely letter from S., a pen pal in Germany, and she drew this fantastic bat on the back of the envelope! I love how the bat is holding her return address label (which also has a bat on it). What a treat! This really cheered me up. S., I still need to write you back...

Thank you all for the good wishes on my broken thumb. I wish I could bring good news, but in fact it is healing very badly, so I am having surgery on it tomorrow in hopes that I can regain mobility in the joint. I had hoped the healing process would be well underway, but now with the upcoming surgery, I am looking at another two months in some kind of cast or splint, and a lot more fresh pain tomorrow. So please forgive me if I continue to lay low here, and on Twitter... I've got my hands full just trying to deal with this injury. Thank you all for your good wishes.

Meanwhile, everyone enjoy autumn (at least those of us in the northern hemisphere), and may you all get wonderful mail in general, and especially Halloween mail.

An injured update

When even my father - who is not a mail enthusiast but who reads this blog occasionally - comments that it's been a long time since I've blogged, I know I'm behind.

So here's the non-mail-related personal update. It's been a rough couple of months. I've still been happily sending a lot of mail, but my body has had a difficult adjustment to my new job. I like the job itself, but I am back sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day, and am having a resurgence of some repetitive strain injuries I've had in the past, which has caused a lot of pain in my shoulders, arms, and hands. My workplace is being very accommodating and we're slowly changing my setup to try to ameliorate my pain, but the end result is that once I get home, I do not relish the thought of typing or being on the computer. So I've been minimizing the laptop time in my leisure hours.

As if that weren't enough, this week I had a major setback. I tripped and fell at work, and caught myself wrong as I hit the ground... along with terribly bruising both my knees (I fell hard onto concrete), I broke my left thumb. I'd not broken a bone ever in my life before, but my left thumb is very broken at the smaller top joint, and the break is a bad one. (That's a funny thought, no? Like, what is a "good" break? Well, a good break is one that is likely to heal cleanly and easily.) I have been in a lot of pain, and am more than a little bit down. Typing is a great challenge now, and I have to type all day at work, so please forgive me if I lay low from the blog for a while.

Fortunately, I am right-handed. Learning how to do things like dressing and grooming with only one usable thumb is a challenge, but at least I can hand-write mail without too much trouble. So I'll leave my computer for now, beg your pardon for all the time away from the blog and all the weeks to come that may be quiet, too... and go pick up my fountain pens and write some letters.

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!