Penultimate Day

February is almost over for another year and InCoWriMo / LetterMo draws to a close. Apart from having flu early in the month, I have enjoyed writing missives to strangers. I have written some responses as well - but March is looking like a month full of replies.

One question that could be asked of me - why write to new people when you have plenty of penpals already? My response would be that I see this month as bringing the joy of letters to new people, perhaps trying letter writing for the first time or  since childhood. Making new connections also makes the world a smaller place.

Although it would be nice to have a reply, or at the very least a thanks either by snail mail or by electronic means, I am in part glad that not every InCoWriMo / LetterMo letter sent will not  yield long term correspondence. I know I cannot write to everyone. I respond to almost all InCoWriMo / LetterMo letters via snail mail. It may take time. I think I will be kept busy if I want to reply within a month of receipt.

Some letters do not have a hook to catch a reply. Some letters can be boring, or phrased politely and infer no response is required.

Apart from flu wiping me out for a week and no letters were written then, averaged over the course of the month, I have definitely written more than one letter a day. I am not disappointed, although I did start the month expecting to be able to write daily. I did also fail the Challenge A Day with the writing prompts. On days I could write, I didn't always use the prompt. Do writing prompts help?

Overall, I think it has been a good InCoWriMo/LetterMo. I hope everyone received at least one surprise (or first) missive. I also hope the person behind the alternate InCoWriMo site (the one with the year in the URL), will be OK, and my thoughts are with him.

End of the first week in February

I have to admit "defeat" this year for InCoWriMo & LetterMo. Am I a bit disappointed? NO, because my body said no. I was hit heavily by one of the winter bugs going around earlier this week and struggled even mentally to open letters, not alone reply. This bug has sapped energy out of me, more than any other bugs for quite a while. I recovered somewhat today, but still feel lousy and I have lost my voice. OK, I don't need a voice to write letters, but I do need to have the energy. I wonder if I am starting to have InCoWriMo/LetterMo fatigue as this is my 9th year taking part in the one, and 7th in the other. Or whether the shortest month is not the best month for the daily letter-writing projects because of flu and colds going around. At least with February Letters, there is no pressure. Letter writing to penfriends is supposed to be enjoyable, not a chore.

It sounds so simple, to write a letter/postcard a day. And it can be, but not when you are severely under the weather. I couldn't even pick up a pen on Wednesday. All I wanted to do was sleep. Some days, can write more than a couple of missives, and on average, should be able to make it a letter-a-day.

Some of the comments (some have already been deleted) across social media about the lack of the address list at InCoWriMo-2020, do not take into account the series of unfortunate events beholden that site's owner. I know he enjoys writing letters, and while he was seeking to delegate for 2021, I don't think anything can be done this month for this year, although in early January, I did believe there was hope. A tinge of sadness for the site, and even more thoughts for him. I hope things will be OK for him.

I hope to be back letter-writing this weekend. Stormy weather is forecast. So, I intend to either be snug as a bug in a rug, in bed, or wrapped up warm in my chair at my writing desk.

1st February 2020

I won't have time to do a daily blog, but should have time to write at least one letter a day! I am doing InCoWriMo. Am I doing LetterMo too? Well, some of my existing penpals come from the latter and have some of their letters in my to-reply-to pile. Letters written this weekend will have to wait until Monday for posting - missed the Saturday collection and no collection on a Sunday - we don't want those letters to be all cold in the postbox, do we now? 

I wrote just the one letter today, although there are just under 3 hours left so there is time to write another. I did manage to write duck in my letter. Well, I used the plural form, but still, needed to write duck before the s! Tomorrow is "write a sentence backwards" well, I'll make it a short sentence! 

How are you all getting on? I notice on the address exchange thread, some people replying to someone's address post with "I'll write to you" - but does that spoil things, the surprise? If someone has received a lot of replies with, "You are on my list," would that put you off writing to them because you might think that they'd be overwhelmed? I'm sure in past years, at least a few people, sadly, have not received any surprise letters.

February Letters 2020

[edit 1st Feb. 2020]  incowrimo.org has been updated [/edit]

[edit 23rd March 2022]  incowrimo-2020 link no longer works [/edit]

With February nearly upon us and neither incowrimo.org nor incowrimo-2020.org updated for 2020 as I write this (but LetterMo has), some of the momentum has been lost by people who were eager to start something new, to try snail mail or to catch up on correspondence neglected over the months due to life/circumstance. Those projects want a letter (or postcard) a day (or postal day), and this can seem daunting. If you add up the cost for postage, then it can be quite a bit if you are also sending internationally.. Time constraints could rush a letter in order to get it finished on the day. 

So, a little less demanding is February Letters. InCoWriMo & LetterMo can forge new penfriendships, so with that in mind, February Letters suggests you reach out to a few new people to write to. No demands/requirements, other than at least one letter! Try for at least one letter a week to someone new! You can sign up on https://s-mail.proboards.com/

Many also see February as a time to catch up on replies. So, instead of writing to new people (one picture on Instagram lists types of people to write to each day for InCoWriMo - parents, elderly relatives, someone in armed forces, your pet, and their vet, a fictional character...) how about A Challenge a Day to include a specific word, a drawing, answer to a question,... to be included in a letter you write. The letters don't have to be finished on the same day. Grab a moment of calm, a cuppa, sit down, and write a letter. 

Never use "I" in the first sentence - further thoughts on letters

I was surfing the web last night, looking to see if I could find some more letter / penpal blogs. A shame many do not get updated that often these days, with the world in general on short attentions spans swiping down / across picture posts instead.

The posts I have read about first letters can be separated into two camps:

• The CV-style letter applying for the position of your penpal - the "I am ..." and "I have..." and a thousand more "I" - and more or less the same first letter sent to everybody.
• The personal touch where "I" is not used in the first sentence of the missive, and the universe does not revolve around the writer of the letter. Each first letter written is different.

I know which I'd prefer, but there can be great first letters via either style.

February is a month of letters, international correspondence writing month, a handwritten letter every day. Many participants only see the letter as a one-off, so receiving a CV-style letter may well be a disappointment. The personal touch may persuade the recipient to continue with letter writing throughout the year, whether with that sender or with others.

Carried away

A delivery of wax seal heads came yesterday. I set them out with some of my other wax seals and it suddenly dawned on me that I had gone overboard. I don't think I will cancel the order of more different seals made this morning, but I think I should restrain myself. After all, for snail mail, it is the letter itself that counts. The words matter more than the oodles of washi tape, stickers, fancy writing papers, fancy pens, fancy inks, fancy wax seals, fancy postage stamps. But I do like to use them, they bring me joy, and relaxation choosing how to decorate the letter/envelope, how to show postage paid. Maybe just as colouring-in books for adults have taken off and promote mindfulness, maybe the adornment of snail mail is mindful for me.

With February coming soon, and international correspondence writing month / a handwritten letter every day / a month of letters, I shall enjoy using the new stationery purchases, as well as old. Still no news on any of the main websites for the project, but there is some activity on A World of Snail Mail - the forum, and Facebook group. I'm sure there are other websites out there for their own mini versions of the project. 

19th January 2020 edit - LetterMo has been updated. 

InCoWriMo-2020 preparation

I have been thinking about International Correspondence Writing Month, where I will be writing at least one handwritten every day, and it will be a month of letters. However, none of the usual sites are ready. incowrimo.org has not been updated. incowrimo-2020.org looks to be delayed (but is in progress), and lettermo.com has technical difficulties. So, where else can I get my fix for that month? At the moment, one forum has been getting ready for the missive madness, and that is A World of Snail Mail and many of the members have participated in the February letter writing projects before.

Myself, I'm preparing by making sure I have plenty of letter writing paper. I have a lot but some is stored away. Maybe I need to bring some of that into rotation, from bright/colourful/cheerful designs to plainer but still nice papers.

Stickers, yes, need them, they can be used to brighten up some plain papers. Some of the stickers can illustrate better than what I can draw!

Envelopes - some of the postcards I might want to enclose will not fit in the standard C6 envelopes, so I will need either to buy some (there is a crafting shop I've bought 5 x 7 inch envelopes before), or make some (maybe with my We R Memory Keepers board).

I had to clean out some fountain pens, and filled them up, but may have to do this again towards the end of the month as I am still writing letters. The two pens below look to both have orange-ish inks in but only one of them does, the other ink is pink.

Also this month, there's a new issue of postage stamps, celebrating the UK's part in video games, so last century. Worms and Lemmings are to name 2. I shall probably get some, but I'd best get there first thing on the day as that post office won't get that many in.

I do like to use the nice postage stamps where possible. They cost the same as postage labels and Machin stamps so why not go for something that would also bring a smile to the recipient's face (as well as the enclosed nice letter...). If the recipient doesn't want to keep the stamps, then many charities accept the used ones as a means of raising money (and they would possibly get more money for the commemorative stamps than ordinary definitive ones). 

I do like finishing off the envelope with a wax seal. There are so many designs you can have, not just initials (I use the initial for my first name, not surname).