Just over halfway

Half way into February and it feels like any other month. It shouldn’t as February is A Month of Letters & International Correspondence Writing Month. I have been doing both since year dot, yet this is the first time I am not shouting from the rooftops about these projects. Maybe I am burned out from having very little acknowledgement to all the surprise letters I have sent out through the February projects. Maybe also I am at my limit for the number of penpals I feel I can handle. I know Incowrimo and LetterMo aren’t necessarily about finding long-term correspondence, and there is joy to receiving great one-off missives however most of those seem to go unthanked. However, this year, there seems to be more people looking for penpal, but I’m not one of them, which makes a change as I’ve previously always hoped to find penfriends through these February projects.  I have written a few surprises though.

With the revamp of the LetterMo site, I’m having to remember who my friends are! I have stressed I’m not seeking new long-term penpals (but perhaps there can be exceptions), however have accepted a few perhaps one-off requests. Indeed have received a couple of letters I am very much looking forward tor replying. One of the letters received is a reconnect after a break of so many years, connection started way back during my first LetterMo of 2012! One reconnection this year through Incowrimo after a few years is due to illness/stuff.

So, I shall be heading up to my archives to look for the letters from these 2 "old" correspondents and putting those letters into my active letter storage.

I had been thinking about culling some of the early one-letter wonders; those received over 10 years ago, but haven’t led to anything. I know correspondence can peter out even after a few letters but there was something in them that kept it going a little while. I am not one to always follow up after months of expecting a reply to come. I know life/events get in the way and maybe a follow-up missive can put pressure on them/make them feel guilty about “being a bad penpal.”

It can feel somewhat odd: to connect not only via letters, but also to follow on social media, online groups/messageboards, and online live events possibly via Zoom! I keep missing (forgetting/not realising) the online letter socials. I do quite like seeing penpals’ posts on social media/messageboards, even if it is just to say that they are still kicking, or say something that would explain why they might be slower than usual in replying to letters.

Look what I bought!

I bought this for a £10 from a charity shop, but needed to be sanded and re-varnished. May spruce up the inside later.

I have changed the way I store letters... I was using A5 zip wallets but these get quite bulky and also the ends split. So, I decided to go for resealable food bags. These wallets/bags are for those I had yet to reply to.

I bought some ribbon to wrap them up. I don't have enough ribbon for them all. 

Today, I wrote a letter on this lined paper.... slightly smaller than A5, from Santoro. I decided to write on both sides, although the back of the lined paper is plain.... sometimes it seems such a waste to leave the back side blank (but I do not always write on the blank side). 

Last week, I received a letter on this A4 card, folded into quarters and the top edge cut. There were 8 panes, the first side as a nice handmade card design, and my penfriend wrote on the other 7 panes. I like this idea, sometimes writing on A4 leaves gaps and spaces on the right hand side and could be perceived as such a waste of space (some creative arty types might fill those voids with doodles), but using A5 might be more efficient. 

More on storage

I am going to be needing a new storage box.... This one is bursting at the seams (does a box have seams?)

with plastic zip wallets filled with letters. I think one correspondence has lasted more than 4 years, perhaps I could archive some of the early letters into a new zip folder to store elsewhere (perhaps I could scan them in as well). I'll also need to sort through my "failed" correspondence box, perhaps scan these in and bundle up to store less handily. 

Letter storage

I am currently out of letters to reply to, and none came today (no post whatsoever for me, although I did feed a postbox with 10 postcards for Postcrossing). Anyway, I thought I would blog about letter storage. 

Currently, I store letters in little A5 zip folders, one for each penpal, but the folders for some penpals are getting rather fat! Perhaps I'll just use a second folder for those penpals.... I keep the letters, where possible, in their original envelopes, and number them with a little circle sticker. One penpal, I have replied to her 50th letter!

Is there a better way to store letters? Plastic doesn't seem all that romantic, and I would prefer a nicer way to store the letters. Perhaps I will scan them in at some point, to have a digital copy available...