Longtime readers will know I’m a big fan of snail mail. There’s nothing quite like receiving a handwritten letter through the post, whether it’s from a family member, old friend or penpal.
Back in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, receiving a personal email was where it was at. Personal letters seemingly started to die out. Being able to send a letter via email and have it arrive instantly at a destination the other side of the world was amazing! These days, however, email is full of spam and companies trying to sell something. Social media websites like Facebook have nullified the need to send a personal email.
So receiving a personal letter in the post and excitedly reading those pages of news and thoughts of someone, that’s where it’s at now. It’s so calming to sit down with a pen and paper and write a letter to someone and then drop it in the mailbox, eagerly awaiting a reply.
Saturday, 1st September 2018 is World Letter Writing Day and to celebrate Viking Direct asked if I would like to take part in their international penpal blogger campaign (Of course I would!). Bloggers usually connect through digital forms such as social media, but Viking Direct wanted to find out how well it would work to take that communication offline by communicating via traditional letters.
I was hooked up with Daniela. Daniela is a lifestyle blogger from Austria. I hadn’t come across her blog before, so as well as getting to learn about Daniela, I’m getting to learn about her blog too. Daniela’s blog is written in German, but my browser translates it for me. Daniela kindly writes her letters to me in English as my German only goes as far as counting to 4 (eins, zwei, drei, vier) and saying “danke schön” (“thank you very much”)!
I think Viking Direct’s idea of bloggers communicating by traditional letter is a great one. In fact, I have another penpal who I “met” via blogging. The wonderful Kelly from Kelly’s Thoughts & Ramblings and I connected via snail mail after one of my letter writing blog posts. We often send letters and postcards back and forth. It’s so interesting to get to know more about the person behind the blog.
With World Letter Writing Day looming what better a time to grab a pen and some paper and write a letter! Write to an old friend, a family member, a blogger or someone else looking for a penpal. You don’t have to commit to long letters or being a penpal either. Surprise someone with a bit of snail mail. Handwritten letters bring joy whether you’re the sender or the receiver.
Will you be sending a letter this World Letter Writing Day?
You know I like this post and thanks for the mention. 🙂 You are one of several folks I still write “real” letters to and yes… it brings joy to open the mail box and find something other than junk or bills. There’s nothing quite like a handwritten card or letter!
So true!
I love getting letters but don’t send them as much as I used to. I am good about sending cards though.
I have a penpal in New Zealand who I owe a letter to – I’m writing it on Sept 1!
I really, really love real mail and send it often. I have a few penpals, but I create happy mail more than I am a writer.
Letter writing – an art of the past (almost). Lovely to see the stamps.
Apparently children around the area in which I live, no longer have handwriting classes in schools, nor are they taught to write using capital letters or punctuation. Even bad spelling isn’t frowned on any more! I wonder how this new generation would get on if they had to hand write a card or letter, when the only thing they know about postage stamps, is the Post Office rubber stamp which adorns their Ebay packages!
I quite like the idea of sending postcards from places we visit, as I follow a couple of postcard sites on Twitter and they are always so interesting, both to look at and read.
Thanks for the reminder about September 1st 🙂
Yvonne
xx
I am a snail mail enthusiast. It is surprising how many people still write letters, but don’t announce it. I have been told this hobby is just for children! And yes, you can start out snail mailing as a child, but that shouldn’t mean you just stop when you turn into an adult. OK, I did stop in my later teenage years for reasons of exams, study, life, etc… but did return to it.
I remember what a thrill it was to get letters from pen pals in grade school. We’d mail a photo or a dime and they’d mail us gum. Do they even teach cursive in school anymore? I’m always so happy when a blogger emails me, it’s almost as good as letter.
I think email has its place, it’s sometimes very convenient to contact someone immediately, but there’s nothing like getting a piece of handwritten mail through the letterbox. I didn’t know about World Letter Writing Day but now that I do, I shall be writing a letter to someone.
I wish I’d known about this in time to sign up but I think I’ll send some cards or letters to people I already know but only email with instead. That will be fun.
I think we all love “real mail.” I have fond memories (and have kept) a number of letters my mom and dad sent me when I was in college. Of course, you think, every parent in the early 70s would write to their daughter away at college — except that my dorm was only about five miles from my parents’ home! They wanted me to have mail like the other kids and I’m so grateful!
This is wonderful. What a nice campaign to take part in. I think personal letters are more precious now, when we all send emails instead of handwritten papers.
It is several years since I last received a ‘Snail Mail’ letter. I have missed the simple pleasure of receiving a lovely letter from one of my friends.
I used to have a pen pal when I was a child and it was really fun. I’m glad to see that traditional letter writing hasn’t died out completely. It’s nice to get a handwritten letter and writing one is always fun too because you can go nuts with stickers and cute things. Perhaps one day I’ll try to have a pen pal again.