Just jotting along. Only 4 letters from new people this year, must be the Texas address (!)
Just jotting along. Only 4 letters from new people this year, must be the Texas address (!)
"Nolo esse salus sine vobis ...” —St. Augustine
3 more new writers in the box, will just make that one a day mark this year.
"Nolo esse salus sine vobis ...” —St. Augustine
Final two out today. One to the UK and the other to New Jersey. That brings the total via USPS to 37 + 6 hand delivered for a total of 43.
No new ones in today's incoming mail.
Brad "Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind" - Rudyard Kipling
"None of us can have as many virtues as the fountain-pen, or half its cussedness; but we can try." - Mark Twain
The clock just ticked over to March 1, so INCOWRIMO 2018 is officially over, and I made it—28 letters—14 to the U.S., and 14 to other countries. Receiving responses to some of my letters was a real treat, and I got one letter from someone who picked my name from the address list. In a few cases I can see some ongoing correspondence. It’s been a blast, and the month ended on a bittersweet note: I accomplished my goal of a letter a day, but now it’s all over, and I need to wait eleven months for it to start again.
Here’s a strange one: I received a postcard from someone not on the Address List. There were three stickers on the postcard. One was my address, the other was the sender’s return address, and the third was a sticker telling me that she liked to send and receive postcards from all over, and would I oblige by sending her a postcard. The strange part is that there wasn’t the merest scrawl on the postcard—just the three stickers. My opinion—this was somewhat impersonal. I wonder if anyone else got such a postcard, and what your reaction to it was.
As I see it, the goals of InCoWriMo are/were:
- Have a reason to use all the pens we enjoy collecting
- Make new stronger connections with similar yet different people
- Develop a daily habit/time to sit and write
If you found that your day was better when you took a few moments to write out a thought or two and send it off, why would you choose to have a less better day just because it isn't February?
Events like this are designed to give us a little extra reason to do something we wish we would do, yet can't quite justify. The hope is that after a length of time (Month) we would be past the 'should I / shouldn't I' phase and into, this is just something I do.
My recommendation is to listen to the little voice that says "I miss having a quiet moment with my thoughts and stationery", "I miss walking to the mailbox and putting something fun and creative in it". When you hear/feel this, send something to someone you have connected with already or.... pull a new name and address from the list. I seriously doubt that anyone on that list would be unhappy to receive a surprise introduction letter anytime of the year.
The pressure may be off, but the pleasure shouldn't be.
Letters can be for life, not just for February!
I have had similar mail. It seems that InCoWriMo has broadened the type of people participating over the years. 5 years ago when I first participated it was an event that almost exclusively belonged to FPGeeks. It was fountain pen and ink usage. Since then InCoWriMo has received much wider awareness and draws people with different interests. It wouldn't surprise me if some participants got a letter from me and wondered what was going on with this old guy talking about himself and his inky pens.
To each his or her own and receiving any letter or card is way better than advertising junk.
Redbike7 (March 2nd, 2018)
I tend to write 10-15 letters per month, most months, some more, sometimes less. InCo is just another month for me.
I sent out quite a few despite being very busy with work and I think I had ten various missives in. I'm going to reply to the received ones this month so that my correspondees have a nice surprise this month as well which may be the wrong way round but that's the kind of man I am.
A working class hero is something to be. (John Lennon)
I managed February easy enough, but now am inundated with letters I want to reply to. Current pile has 43 letters needing responses.
Now whittled down to 23 but that is before the postie calls. Many are replies to my surprise letters, or their replies to my replies of their surprise letters.
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