Saturday, April 02, 2016

Snail Mail, National Letter Writing Month, and Write_On

OK--I know that I said I was happy that A Month of Letters was over.  And I was.  Then I saw Write_On's campaign for 30 Letters in 30 Days.  I had an entire month since A Month of Letters to write letters at my own pace.  So...maybe.  


I couldn't find anything about having to put the letters in the mail each day, only that the 30 letters be written.  So I could write a couple of letters or postcards and put them all in the mail at the same time.  I think.  I'm also assuming that postcards count.  If I do it, they will for me.  

Here's the thing, April is National Letter Writing Month, and I can set my own personal goals.  
http://lindsayostrom.blogspot.com/2015/02/national-letter-writing-month-2015.html

Check out Lindsay's blog,  she has some wonderful images
 for 
National Letter Writing Month!  I plan to use some of them!
So...whether or not I meet Write_On's goal of 30 letters or not (and I'm going to try), I have several ideas for letter writing this month.

*  I had printed a poem I thought a friend would like to send in my next letter.  Then I realized it was April and National Poetry Month!  So instead of waiting, I stuck the poem in an envelope with a short note and put in the mailbox.  

    http://www.helloliteracy.com/2013/04/hello-literacy-says-hello-national.html

*  Realizing that this serendipitous combination of celebratory months could work for me, I decided to send a poem (or lines from a poem) with every piece of correspondence this month.

 *  I'd love to attend one of Naomi's letter writing parties.  For goodness sakes, Melbourne even has a Snail Mail Social Club!   

*  Another idea is to write a few letters to strangers including a short poem and leave them in various places.  Maybe one in a library book, since I need to return my current bag of books....

*  The USPS has some great ideas and new stamps!

Outgoing Mail:

This went out on Thurs.

Below is my first April letter.
I had already sealed it when I thought 
about sending a poem,
but she will get a poem in the next one.

I decided not to save this poem for Penne's next letter,
and so it went out on April 1, too.
I taught this N. Scott Momaday poem years ago
and thought Penne would love it.



Go Postal!  Write someone a letter this month!


14 comments:

  1. Jen, your enthusiasm for this next snail mail project is infectious! I love it! Every month of the year is letter writing month for me. I just don't set a specific amount to send. I should well think postcards count! There's only room for a short letter, but I say it's no less important. Cheers for a really happy mailbox month!

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    1. Last month, without trying to meet a goal, was relaxing. I'm not sure why I decided to attempt another challenge--except maybe that could choose to share a lot of poetry! Postcards will work well for short poems like Emily Dickinson's or simply favorite lines from longer poems. And then I won't have to think of anything else to say! :)

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  2. What a concatenation of celebrations!

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    1. :) And this might even be Shakespeare Month, as his birthday is coming up!

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  3. Hi Jen, good luck with the Write on Challenge. I love your mail art!

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  4. I'm sure I won't be able to send one a day - but I do intend to send some to my friends to let them know that this is National Card and Letter Writing month!! FUN!!!

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    1. Yay, Penny!

      I'm not going to even to do one a day, that is what was so exhausting about a Month of Letters. I plan on sending things out in batches of two or three at a time. I mail postcards or letters to the grands each week--so that's 3 a week, and they all go in the mail at the same time. Puts me ahead of the game! :)

      I like sitting down and writing several letters at time when I'm in the mood. :)

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  5. Oh my goodness, are you writing poems, too? I'm already impressed that you're sending out so many letters. I can't imagine how you manage, even writing them in batches. Somehow I get a few poems written every now and again, but I can't even dream of 30 anythings in 30 days. How awesome that you're at it again!

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    1. No, I'm not writing them! I'm going through my anthologies and finding my favorite poets on line. The one I sent Penne is by N. Scott Momaday. Some are just lines from poems I love, not even the entire poem, but I give the title and author so they can look them up if they want. Good gracious, if I wrote poems, they'd be bad limericks! :O

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  6. Fun post! I popped over to the Scholastic/USPS ideas page-- very cool! TFS

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    1. Thanks! They do have some good suggestions at the USPS page--nice collaboration with Scholastic!

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  7. You are so ambitious and prolific! Good for you!

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    1. Oh, I forgot to post a pic of the one I sent to you!

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Good to hear from you!