A friend of mine recently posted on her Facebook that she's looking to write more letters to friends. I responded and got a lovely card in the mail shortly after. It was so exciting to find a hand written letter in the mailbox just for me! I also had been wanting to write letters to my sister-in-law for fun and while writing those two letters today, the idea came to me.
So today, Tuesday, October 8, 2013 I am issuing into effect, my very own Letter Writing Revolution and I want all of YOU to join me!
I had tons of pen pals as a kid (thanks Tiger Beat magazine!) and loved it. It was so cool to write to a girl my age over in Spain, Italy or California. My mom had pen pals when she was a kid too so it was cool to take on the same hobby. As I grew older, the letters eventually stopped. Busier school and social lives I'm sure were the causes but also, the internet. Instant messaging (AIM anyone?) took over. Especially if you were cool enough to have a screen name like xXxGothGirlxXx.
IMs made way for chat rooms and eventually LiveJournal and Xanga. From those spawned MySpace and now we have Facebook. Not to mention 50 other social media sites that no one has time for.
Now don't get me wrong, I think Facebook and other social media can be an incredible tool! It can connect long lost friends or family members or reconnect old high school friends. It's especially a valuable tool for bloggers like myself.
Yet, Facebook has a down side. It has us more connected than ever before and somehow completely disconnected. Rather than call someone and see how they've been, you can simply "like" their status about a new job or a delicious lunch.
I think we need to REALLY reconnect with people by handwriting letters to them.
Let's do this together and start a Letter Writing Revolution!
I don't want to bog this down with "rules" but if you'd like to join me on this, comment below. To make this awesome, feel free to share across the internet! Yes, we're going to use social media to our advantage! It's quick and effective. Share this post through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Google+...or all of the above. Let's make this a big, beautiful movement. Use the hashtag (oh boy I hate hashtags but let's do this!) #LetterWritingRevolution to help organize our progress!
I'm going to share on my personal Facebook page with my friends and family to find more people to write to. I'm open to write to anyone! New friends, old friends, strangers, family members, bloggers, soldiers, children and people all across the globe!
Feel free to write postcards instead. Start small if you have to. I also encourage you to get involved with PostCrossing! It's an awesome organization that basically keeps track of postcard penpals. I wrote a little about it here.
What are you waiting for? Dust off the envelopes, grab a pen and start writing! Let's make this so huge and fabulous that the USPS is taken by surprise!
May your hand not cramp until the 2nd page (or paragraph. I know, it's been a while).
So tell me, who will you write to first? Who do you think will write back?
Till next time,
Catherine
I love it! I'm in! I'm going to write my first letter to my fiance. We used to write letters all the time, but haven't really since my freshman year in college. Hopefully he writes me back. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know who I would do after that.
Aww that's a great idea! They'll be extra special to read after you've been married for a while :)
DeleteI love this idea! Getting a letter or card in the mail is a real treat. I'm going to write my college roommate first.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I got a hand written thank you note today in the mail and even that was exciting! That's a good idea...I should write my college roommates too!
DeleteI'll join in!
ReplyDeleteI'd LOVE to have someone to write to though... any other of you female bloggers care to addy exchange?
Wonderful! We're working on coming up with a secure system where we can do that. We'll keep you posted!
Delete@evilredcaboose...I have *finally* created a Google Form for submitting names/address for writing to one another! Here's the link :)
Deletehttps://docs.google.com/forms/d/1xrlZ9xTELwSvnuyzby8LBrBYHFIIYg2cdI_uap1dIF4/viewform?usp=send_form
Time to write my very first one ........... thats too to my family mamma and paa :)
ReplyDeleteLove u for such an article or blog :)
Thanks for stopping by and joining in my #LetterWritingRevolution!! :D
Delete