I feel like this is the little challenge that could. I had thought that I was going to issue a challenge to my readers and that it might spread a little beyond that. To say that I am stunned by the reception that my Month of Letters Challenge has received would be to understate it quite a bit.
Something in the neighborhood of 20,000 people have at least read the challenge. I’m not certain how many of them are participating but it has certainly spread far beyond my expectations.
I started a website for it, where I’m also blogging throughout the month. And of course, I’m writing letters and postcards.
Here’s my post, Welcome to the first day of The Month of Letters from A Month of Letters Website.
I know what you might be thinking… depending on where you are, it could still be January 31, but in Australia people are already starting to send their missives.
You can send anything. A letter, a postcard, a ticket from a movie you saw with a note jotted on the back… You can hold something in your hands, put it in a little box, and then somewhere else the person you were thinking of can hold the same thing. It’s sort of amazing, when you think about it. Sometimes starting the letter is difficult, but let me share with you some advice from Hill’s Manual of Business and Social Forms, published back in 1879.
“The expression of language should as nearly as possible be the same as the writer would speak. A letter is but a talk on paper. The style of writing will depend upon the terms of intimacy existing between the parties… In your letter be yourself write as you would talk.”
There is a tendency to overthink before putting pen to paper because it seems more permanent somehow than a computer screen. There is no delete key. Don’t fret. The letter you are sending will delight the recipient simply because you thought of them. The little bobbles simply prove that you are not a robot.
Be yourself. Are you ready?
This is such a wonderful idea! I posted on my blog today, and started to make friends on the forum.
~ This is splendid ~
I began writing letters to my Aunt, who lived in the same town in Vermont, when I was ten years old. I so enjoyed the patterns/images on the stamps and thought it quite magical indeed that the letter I wrote would get exactly to her post box.
Thank you for the challenge. I have always enjoyed writing real letters, being the.very.last.one of my friends to use emails. AND, how exciting ! I just had a wonderful idea ! ~ I’ll send letters to a man-friend too, who I’ve known for years, you never know how that can change a dear friendship.
What a great adventure to have in rather dreary February.
Best,
Shell ~