Writing on the bus!

Today, I went out on the bus and had some ideas for a blog post. I got out my notebook and pen, proceeded to write but the bus journey was bumpier than I expected. I gave up after a few words and listened to a radio podcast instead.

What can you write about in letters?

One of the questions I have been asked by non-letter writers is, "What do you write about in letters?" My answer is almost anything and everything, although it depends on who it is you are writing to. Topics generally avoided are - Religion (faith can be personal, and may also be divisive), Politics (some politicians this year have said things I think are hurtful, racist, sexist or just plain silly), and Sex (yes please ;) - I actually have drafted this blog post on paper and drew the wink however my drawing looks evil). However, anything else is generally fine. Talk about roast turkey should be kept at a minimum with vegetarians, and should also avoid telling them about your child's dissection of a sheep's heart in science class at school (some brought in cooked or frozen hearts...). Make sure the letter is not all about you. This may be difficult for the first letter you send to a new penpal. 

Speaking of days, it doesn't matter if you can't finish a letter in a single sitting/day. I tend to write the new date when I continue on a different day, even if it is just after midnight. It is a good idea, especially if you write internationally, the name of the month and not its number - a date last week was 10/12/2015. In the UK, this means 10th December 2015, however it can be interpreted as 12th October 2015. 

You can talk about family - sometimes, they can be annoying. You can pick your friends, pick your nose but can't pick your family. Penpals can be great listeners - there's time to think and craft responses. Have we all, in speech, said something possibly hurtful without thinking? We may be able to offer advice and suggestions, or just provide a shoulder. It might not be good to keep things bottled up inside, however not every penpal would want to hear about your woes. There'll be close penpals, friendly penpals, acquaintances who are correspondents, akin to friendship in the 3D world (I didn't want to use "real world" because to me, penfriendship is still real friendship).

Some letters I've received have had me in fits of laughter. Laughter, after all, is the best medicine! You could admit to doing silly things - I once put sugar on my chips (fries) instead of into my cuppa (at least salt didn't go into the wrong place). Some people write diary letters but that's OK in moderation. What happens to you on a particular day can be of interest to your penpals but they don't need to know every detail of your day. The sometimes silly Five Questions.... challenge over on A World of Snail Mail can be cathartic, and maybe take you down memory lane. Now, which leg did I put in my trousers this morning?

Introducing....

I occasionally get updates from Royal Mail via e-mail, at least it didn't start with, "Dear Customer"

We're introducing a new Large Letter format for our international services. Measuring a generous 35.3cm x 25cm x 2.5 cm, it means you can now benefit from a lower letter rate when sending larger, flat items abroad with Royal Mail.

The Large Letter format for international mail has been around for more than 6 months and was mentioned in the postal rates for April 2015 onwards.  So, I was wondering what "introducing" means.

Bring (something, especially a product, measure, or concept) into use or operation for the first time

.. is a definition from the OED for to introduce.  7 months too late! I already knew about this and had picked up the postal prices leaflets sticking them up on the wall.

First Christmas Card + post boxes.

 Last week, I received my first Christmas Card for 2015 from Canada. The greeting is very apt. I will be sending out more Christmas cards soon (I have posted a few already) and to those who will not get one from me, I wish you all a peaceful Christmas and New Year, may your lives be full of joy and happiness.

Last month, I spent a few days in London. I also took my letter writing supplies and stamps. I did write some letters but I decided not to post them in this wide-mouthed post box by the steps up to Tower Bridge.

Instead, I went to the post office near the National Portrait Gallery and posted them inside. I was also low on airmail labels and some of the small value stamps so stocked up there. The postboxes outside though look very greedy. 

Another place I visited when in London was the Victoria & Albert Museum. I didn't see everything but I was a little disappointed not to see much about letter writing. There was a display of the Tom stamps from Finland but not much else in that theme. This bookcase has a table and I can just imagine myself sitting at it and referring to books to quote from in letters. 

The other week, I bought a book on Writing Antiques. The item in the top is a stationery box with a set of postal scales and weights! I currently use a set of digital scales meant for use in the kitchen.
The bottom item is a portable writing set. My current portable set consists of an Angry Birds Space pencil case full of pens, a plastic freezer bag with ~A5 writing pads in, and an A4 document box with A4 sized paper in. It does me well but doesn't quite have the romance about it compared to this set or a writing slope. 

3rd month of 5 Questions 5 Letters challenge

Over at A World of Snail Mail forum, there is a monthly challenge 5 Questions 5 Letters. The first two months have been great, with quite a few people taking part. November has some questions up already, but I'm still thinking of what to ask - any suggestions? Or better still, ask your own.

There is a thread on the board about laconic penpals, those who barely say anything of consequence or personal - I don't think the ones I've received from knew what to write. What can you write about in letters? Almost anything within reason, for example - the weather, what you've been up to, books read, music listened to, television / films watched, gone somewhere nice, food (although try to be considerate if your penpal is a vegetarian or vegan) or perhaps, mentioning overhearing on the bus a conversation about dunking biscuits - to dunk or not to dunk...

Five Questions Five Letters - October

I was pleased the Five Questions Five Letters Challenge had participants in its first month. This month, still not over, has some new forum members taking part in this challenge. The questions perhaps are better, more varied, mostly light-hearted, with some needing to be thought about. Last month, I still had to think about which leg I put in my trousers first! These ice-breakers have given first letters more life and excitement.

To Dunk or Not to Dunk, that is the question!
Is it nobler to have a softened biscuit
Flavoured with coffee, tea or chocolate
Or to have it full of crunchy integrity..........?

There is still plenty of time to sign up and take part http://s-mail.proboards.com/ this month, or perhaps wait for the next...

How do you find penpals? - updated.

Back in 2012, I wrote a blog post called How do you find penpals? Although the details there are still valid, I would like to add a few more details. I'll repeat most of that post here.

So, how did I find penpals?

Well, in school, I filled out a form for a youth penpal service, though I can't remember which organisation it was. I paid for some penpals and received some letters. However, as a teenager, I found myself busy with other things, such as homework and being with friends. So, unfortunately, penfriendship dwindled.

Then, as after leaving university, I wanted penpals again. I bought a free ads paper and saw that there was a form to place an ad internationally through their sister papers. I placed an ad in 10 international papers and received some letters. I still write to one of them.

Then, when I got my first computer, I wanted some penpals, but only found people who wanted email friendship. One even got worried if I did not write daily. I gave up for a few years.

Then, in 2008, I decided to try again for snailmail penpals. First port of call was PenPal International and had  found a few people to write to. However, the letters stopped (maybe lost in the post, or they stopped writing). I also tried Interpals and found more people that way. However, it was the same old story, the letters stopped. Also, some who said they would write the first letter, never did (or it was lost in the mail). One thing good about Interpals was that I discovered Postcrossing and this satisfied my hunger for nice mail, with postcards to and from all over the world. I discovered their forums (fora?) and found penpals through that, although not everyone continued their correspondence with me. I have tried other penpal websites but ...

Some penfriends started sending me Friendship Books (FBs). These are little booklets, sent with letters for people to write their name and address in, perhaps a bit about themselves and abbreviations such as NPW (new penpals welcome), NNSP (no new swap pals). I haven't received any letters via this route. I had started to make my own, first sending them around Spring 2009, but none have made their way back home, even 6 years later.

These are a few I have made. I sew the paper into the cover, rather than using staples. I haven't sent many new ones recently. Comments received on the original post had concerns of where these friendship books go, some could be sent to prisoners, or to those who are not really interested in letters.

Another site I found for penpalling, well, is mainly a craft and swap site called Swap-Bot. Almost anyone, over the age of 18, can create a swap, people then join and when the deadline for joining is over, the host of the swap checks through the profiles of the people, and if all is well, tells the computer to assign partners. I have joined postcard, letter and Christmas card swaps. I haven't hosted my own swap (I would automatically join the swap). As I write this blog entry, popular swaps include various ones for Artistic Trading Cards (ATC), postcard swaps and pocket letters (in a 9-section trading card sleeve).

In 2012, there was The Month of Letters Challenge (LetterMo) for the month of February. The challenge was to send an item of post (postcard, letter, ...) every "postal" day, so this was 24 days for USA. I had mail ready to go out every day, but missed the last postal collection on one Saturday, so instead of letting the item be lonely in the postbox, I kept it at home until Monday. I wrote to new people who were doing this challenge, and have developed a penfriendship with some of them. I also took part in 2013. However, outside of just before February and a couple of weeks after, the site's forum was neglected. 

In 2014, I joined my first InCoWriMo (International Correspondence Writing Month) signing up on the fpgeeks forum. This is similar to the LetterMo challenge and I wrote/received letters to/from a range of different people. I might not have written to them if they had instead a profile up on Interpals. It was quite a freeing experience, not constrained by gender, age, preconceptions - just correspondence. I am still writing to some people from the 2014 InCoWriMo. I signed up again in 2015 but didn't take part in LetterMo. 

I have also found friendship via SendSomething. There are other sites available, e.g.  The Letter Exchange  (something I haven't tried yet, but they have a magazine, and is a subscription service), and Letter Writers Alliance (I am a member).  Instagram and Tumblr are other sites becoming popular to find penpals. You can get ideas there too about snailmail. There are groups on Facebook but caution is needed there too (I recognise some names from other sites where they haven't been reliable senders)

New up though is a forum and monthly project Five Questions 5 Letters. I have some new correspondence from that and it is looking promising.