Killing Time with Another TLWR Giveaway

I have had a really great post written and sitting in my drafts for several days now. Why? As I mentioned, I went on my 3rd field trip last Thursday and because it involves Canada Post, I felt it was only appropriate to send the draft to one of the powers-that-be to give his seal of approval before posting it online. Turns out, he is a very busy man so I am patiently waiting to receive an email from him to let me know that the information is accurate and represents Canada Post in a positive light. In the meantime, I am throwing up these silly posts in an attempt to kill time while I wait.

I came upon another blog, "I Love Letters", that I am enjoying. This blog comes out of rural Australia and is easy to read and follow and has a very warm "feel" to it. 'Kaz' posts her address and welcomes letters. She promises to write back so if you feel like sending a letter to Australia, she's the one to send it to. I also came upon"A Postcard A Day." In her words: "I'm one of those people who has led a nomadic existence, and so did my parents. My father started collecting postcards as a way to continue this life at least in spirit when his wandering days were over. I'm continuing the collection and posting at least one, chosen more or less at random, each day." It's like taking a mini virtual vacation to places and times you may never have visited had it not been for this blog. Not only can you visit exotic places all over the world, many of the postcards are from long ago and due to the research that goes into each post, you feel like a time traveller. This is especially great for those of us who are home bound due to careers, commitments and children.

So, while I wait, why not have another awesome GIVEAWAY? No matter where you are in the world, you can win this GIVEAWAY. This time, TLWR is giving away a  Letter Writing Kit. Not only will you receive a package with all things you need for letter writing but a part of the gift will be personalized stationery courtesy of Inky Design of Ottawa, ON, Canada. To be eligible, you must be a follower of The Letter Writing Revolution blog and then all you have to do is leave a comment below to enter. Comment once per day if you wish until Wednesday, October 20th when the winner will be randomly selected and announced. I recently received personalized stationery from Inky Design and it is beautiful and classy! The winner will email me their address and before long you will receive a gift of all things stationery! This GIVEAWAY will be mailed to you wherever you may be.

On a final note, I recently made a decision to take a sabbatical from Facebook. I have never been into Twitter but I have found Facebook has slowly started to take control over my time. Reminds me of the way I used to have the odd cigarette and before long I was a pack-a-day smoker. I created a profile on Facebook about three years ago and now it is a habit that I check into several times per day. Gotta know if Karen P. is happy/sad/constipated/hungover, etc.or whether or not Janet L. is eating a bagel/bored or on her way to work. Seriously. When I actually thought about it, I realized that aside from the cool links and photos, I really waste a heck of a lot of time on there. I know, I know, I really could control my urges more and only allow myself 30-minutes per day on Facebook but I am an all-or-nothing kind of a gal and so I decided to just have a leave of absence and go "cold turkey" just as I did with my smoking habit 12 years ago. So far, so good. It's been 48 hours and aside from a handful of panicked comments, I haven't received any FB messages and I feel free. I have also accomplished a lot in the last couple of days as I am not getting distracted and losing pockets of time on Facebook. My sister said something to the effect of, "It will be interesting to see who your "friends" are when you're not so easily accessible on Facebook."

Sorry...couldn't resist.

I guess it's the false sense of connection that I get from Facebook and the weirdness I feel when I run into someone who I haven't seen in two years and they ask me about something I did a month ago. When I look at them with that twisted/confused look, they reply, "Oh, I read it on Facebook." That creeps me out and I think I want to return to real connection like phone calls and handwritten letters. This cartoon  was posted in the comments at Good Mail Day. Made me laugh.

One last thing..........
The other day, I asked a friend (during a chat on, you guessed it,  Facebook) for his snail mail address as I wanted to send a birthday invitation to his son for our daughter's birthday. A few minutes later, I received an email from him with his email address in the body of the message. Huh? I replied and explained that I needed his street address and postal code as I wanted to mail an invitation. His reply, "Oh! Weird. Paper. I remember that. We'll have to find our mailbox!"

Yep, time for a revolution. A Letter Writing Revolution.

You Found a Pen Pal....Now What?

As mentioned in a previous post, I had about 12 pen pals when I was a kid. I had pen pals from all over the world. You didn't think twice about sending your exact mailing address, a photo of yourself and details about your life to an address found on the back page of an Archie Digest. When I was around 11 or so, I was matched up with a girl from the UK through Girl Guides of Canada. She became my most dedicated pen pal and we even met a couple of times first as teens and again when she travelled to Canada on her honeymoon. Although we still managed to send one another the odd Christmas card, we have reconnected on Facebook. I can still, to this day, recite her entire snail mail address from memory. That demonstrates just how many letters I wrote to her. Our letters contained the latest gossip on school, our families, our heart throbs and most importantly, the band Wham!

Since this is a revolution and I am working really hard to revitalize this lost art, I am handwriting letters each day. Now I could cheat and send out postcards or greeting cards but I am determined to write every single person who responded to TLWR Challenge with a letter written on sheets of paper. It seems more difficult to write a letter to a stranger now that I am no longer a child. I try to think of what might be interesting to someone else and then I am reminded that simply reading someone's thoughts, comments, observations might be interesting enough. "Christine" commented on my last post that perhaps part of the reluctance to write a letter is simply not knowing where to start or what to write. I get that. I am rarely at a loss for words in a conversation but I have been surprised at the pauses in writing that occur when writing to a new pen pal. But, and this is important, I have also discovered that the more letters I write, the easier the words flow and the less cramped my hand gets. We really don't write anymore.....letters or otherwise. The more you do it, the easier it gets.

Some of you are interested in pen pals and I have managed to create some pen pals between your children. I haven't quite figured out how I am going to match up some of my Followers who would like a pen pal. There are some interesting websites out there for pen pals like "Inmate Pen Pals" "Sexy African Pen Pals" and a few others that would not be appropriate for this blog. I don't recommend you share your mailing address online at one of these sites. You might get a whole lot more than a letter on your doorstep!

Sometimes a pen pal relationship can blossom with someone who you are acquainted with but maybe you really don't "know" that well......a distant relative, a childhood friend, someone you have met only once but 'clicked' with. I have become pen pals with a woman who was a childhood friend of my husband's mother. My husband's mother passed away 26 years ago but 'Joan' has always stayed in touch with their family. She and I have been writing back and forth recently and I love getting her letters. Think about who you can send a letter to and just see where it goes.

If you're really stuck, I present the following steps to help get you started. These were copied directly from the website eHow: How To Do Just About Everything when I typed in a search for "How To Write the First Letter to a Pen Pal":

Step 1
Share your information. Break the ice by telling your pen pal a little about yourself. Start with the basics: name, age, occupation. Write about what you like to do or what's on your mind that day. Sharing your information will encourage your pen pal to share his information with you and will begin to develop your friendship.

Step 2
Ask questions. Write questions for your pen pal to answer in her next letter. This will help you get to know her and probably get you a faster response. Weave your questions into the letter by telling her something you like to do and then asking if she's ever tried it.

Step 3
Solicit advice. You may share a situation with your pen pal and then ask what he might do in your situation. You don't have to take his advice, but it will give you some clues about his personality. Also, discussing real-world issues will further develop your friendship.

Step 4
Be consistent. Ultimately, it takes time to get to know someone. It takes even more time to get to know a pen pal because you only have the information she writes in her letters. Make a point of writing to your pen pal frequently. Over time, you can become great friends with this person you've never seen before.

Tomorrow's post will be updates and interesting tid bits of TLWR this week.