Handwritten Letters « Tales From the Landing Book Shelves

Alongside my reading this month I have been pursuing a correspondence challenge with the aim of getting me back into more regular letter writing and keeping in better touch with old friends and colleagues. In the past I have undertaken the Month of Letters Challenge, which I have featured on Landing Tales to record both my own progress and letters received in return. That certainly goes back a few years as I first did that in 2013. In recent years I have followed my own personal February letter writing ritual as a way of marking my late father’s birthday in this often bleak month. He was a postman until his retirement, so it seems appropriate. It also fills the gap left where I would have posted his birthday card as part of my Month of Letters Challenge. Now I have named my letter writing burst as ‘Postie’s Letter Challenge’ and I am hoping to make it through to the end of the month, posting an item each day.

Letters and cards received in the post. — The cards sat on the mat…

I have been toying with the idea of joining the Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society as I have been following them since well before Twitter became X. I like the idea of supporting keeping a letter writing tradition alive. The only snag is that I have to confess to not always writing by hand (but don’t tell anyone). I type letters to my mum in a larger point size for a practical reason, since she finds it much easier to read. I suppose I don’t have the same excuse for abandoning pens when writing to other people, but I blame the email habit for corrupting my good intentions. Perhaps using email so much has also contributed to the sad decline in my handwriting neatness. I have declined since my schooldays when my handwriting was praised for neatness. I have flirted with calligraphy in the past, which I rather enjoyed, so perhaps I should take it up again to improve my writing skills. Or, I can continue to claim that my handwriting is ‘artistic’ rather than untidy.

In the meantime, I will continue my personal challenge using a mixture of typing and handwriting and keep focussed on the end of the month. If I get any replies in kind, I will let you know.

I did say on an earlier post that I would give you an update on my Month of Letters progress and so here it is. The short version is that I am still keeping going and I think I can safely say I am on track to complete the month. If you want a bit more detail than that, do read on And if you want to look at one of my previous Month of Letters post try here or here. You might want to give it a try yourself next year!

As I have done before I jotted down a list of possible recipients before starting, beginning with family and friends back in the UK. I have begun to see Month of Letters as a wakeup call where I have become slack in keeping in touch with old friends. I then add all of my Ireland based friends, most of whom are in Dublin. I suppose really I end up re-writing my Christmas card list in February (maybe next Christmas I should simply file it away for February instead of putting it in the recycling bin).

From Teri

My intention to do something really imaginative in the mail line this year has not actually transpired. In fact, I am being a very thrifty correspondent and operating a ‘using up’ system, which I am aware may sound rather heartless. However, it is all in an environmentally aware kind of a way really. I have collected up so many postcards over the years that to either dump them or buy yet more would be foolish. And anyway, I do have some nice cards to bestow. This year I have been using up my Penguin book jackets, Spike Milligan cartoons and some Chagall cards from The Tate Gallery. I have also indulged my passion for free stuff, acquiring book marks, postcards and tourist information cards to enclose with a note for my international recipients.

From Barbara

The one big difference for me in doing Month of Letters this year is that I no longer have my dad’s birthday to mark, as he died in June 2016. I also used to squeeze in my parent’s anniversary card at the end of the month since it fell at the beginning of March, so that has now gone. I gave the challenge a break last year for these reasons, but decided to return afresh this year and try to include as many people as possible who mattered to me. It’s never too late to make an effort somewhat greater than clicking on a Facebook ‘like’ button for a change. I will say no more for fear of sounding mawkish but you see what I mean.

So now I am on the home straight with only a few more posting

From Karina

days to go so I might have to double up a bit more to fit in the waifs and strays. I have been writing to my mum more often these days and also sending mail to our daughter who is studying away so I already have been doubling most days. This year I have included some new faces, as I have despatched postcards to new correspondents gained from the Month of Letters membership. This has broadened my range to Canada, Scotland and Northumberland (and I haven’t quite finished). I have added in here pictures of some cards that I have received in return, but the nice thing is that I usually find that replies trickle through into March, which makes February into a nice long month really.

And now I am off to pen my last few postcards of the month!