The Real Life Of A Letter Writer

Real or Perceived?

This my dear friends, is REAL.  I am terribly behind....AGAIN on letter writing.  I could give you all the sad details, you could hear me bemoan my bad habits,  but short and sweet, I over commit, then become mentally exhausted,  my creativity is drained, then you guessed  it, no letters are being written.  But life seems to get one corrected  in one way or another.  My life's correction came by means of my husband being  very sick.  Changes needed to be made in my life so I can focus on him, and so I did.  Not only does he benefit but I've noticed a huge change in myself, more relaxed, rested...and I've noticed that I can look with REAL interest in that pile of letters.  

Perhaps that is the REAL reason letter writing has been on the decline the world over?  Are we all just too busy with life that we are mentally drained and can not focus on the quiet , thoughtful repose of letter writing?  It seems to be  a definite link for me.

Now, not to get too serious here....I thought I would interject my perceived  (Romantic) ideas about letter writing. We have 4 desks in our home, two of them being mine.  This desk sits in my bedroom.  It is very small so in order for it to be productive, it must stay clean.  Ha, ha,  That is a difficult task for me, but I do tend to keep it neat.  This is my "Pinterest"  perception, in other words, what I want you to think goes on all the time.

And here is my my REAL  "work horse desk".  I love the fact that I have a large area to spread out and get...messy.  But I first must get it clean, so that I can think.  But, it doesn't stay that way for long.

Before you know it , it looks more like this.  I really do get messy, but there is a method to my madness...most of the time.

Sheryl sends me the most gorgeous cards made from her own photographs.  She uses Shutterfly, but I'm sure there are others as well.  It's a great idea if you are a  photographer like she is.  

Finally,  I wanted to share with you the little Pen Pal Information sheet that Sheryl sent in her last letter.  Isn't it great?  I love the homey hand- made feel.  It is so simple yet it covers all the major questions.  I have made some copies of this and have started sending them out.  I plans on using the completed forms  putting them in a binder.  On the back side I hope to put a log showing when I sent or received from this pen pal.  It should be very helpful.  I hope that those who I send it out to WILL send it back, completed.  

Must get back to Letter Writing.  If you have written...I am getting to yours.  I have already written 7 letters and hope to get at least that many over the weekend.  Thank you for your patience.  

Clean that desk, and get writing!

Pam

Snail Mail HELPS

How about logging your letter writing?

A good friend of mine sent me her customized page for keeping track of her incoming and outgoing letters and other snail mail projects.  It is very streamlined and appealing to the eyes...not too cluttered.  I like that.  She also has a swapbot business sized card which I think is so clever.  It has a place to include the name of the swap and a little reminder to rate her !

Here it is up close.  Great Job!

Let's keep it organized, right?

Write Letters,

Write Often.

Lady Pamela

Letter Writing, Correspondence , Organization 101

Let's Get Organized!

Do you find that it is difficult to keep track of your correspondence?  I have found several letters that I have not replied to, much to my chagrin!  My goal is to find any unanswered letter and get off a good reply, and hopefully be restored to their good graces, before 2015 hits!   But what can I do to keep track of my letter writing and be more responsible?  I am a PAPER person.  Is that any wonder?  I love letter writing, post cards, swaps...I love tangible things.  Sure.  I use my iphone for some items...but I am finding that it JUST DOESN'T WORK for me.  So I decided to go real old school,,, a ledger. Yep, it isn't pretty, but maybe I can pretty it up  sometime.  

Right now I have divided up my ledger into the following categories:  General:  Incoming/Outgoing.  I have devised a rather primitive key...

Lots of incoming on this page...mainly CC (Christmas Cards!)

This is my PostCrossing category.  It is nice to see what cards I have sent and received.  Also helps to see if I have registered the cards.

I recently joined Swap Bot!  I am working on getting a good rating score, so I need to be extra diligent on following through on my swaps.  So far...so good.

Another category I have started is my 50 State Post Card exchange for my Geography class. I have received a few cards, but haven't sent any because I still have not received the list of addresses.  I have contacted the coordinator , but to no avail.  I will persist!  

There are other systems out there, one that Mrs Murphy's Mailbox Magic had that utilized a card file system, but I can not find it on her site anymore,  perhaps you can find it elsewhere.  It might be a system that suits you better than a ledger system. Or computer systems...excel?  Use what works!  I will try to give you an update from time to time.  Of course systems only work , if they are used.  What do you use to keep track of your pen pals, and other letter writing correspondence?

Write Letters,

Write Often....and stay organized! ;-)

Lady Pamela

1/2/15  Update on Mr. Ledger...He got prettied up!  Quite an improvement, wouldn't you say?

Do You Keep "Birthday Mail" Lists?

Have you ever flirted with certain disaster? I did, and lost!  I missed a VERY important birthday this week...because I didn't have a birthday list made out, or some kind of plan in place to handle all of these special days.  Aaarrrggghh!  I feel so very sorry...she is my  sweet , little  Chloe...and she is now 2!!  I am  determined not to ever let this happen again...so I contacted everyone, and asked them (one more time...PLEASE...) to send me birthdays. Thankfully, everyone complied.

See some of the blank spaces?  I was still waiting to get the birthdays from Stephanie's family.  Also, I still have 2 more grands "in the oven", so names and dates are still blank! :-)

It was time to get  out the watercolor pencils...Chloe is CRAZY about Tigger!  (her mother is having a Tigger Themed birthday party for her later this month!)  I had to work a bit to get it to come out looking like Tigger...but I think I eventually got it!

Tigger's belly was the perfect place for the address... and of course a quote was necessary!

Next came the  letter, short and sweet...

Thank goodness I had some Tigger stickers...and two orange balloons...one for Tirzah and one for Chloe. I wanted to include a stick of gum...but didn't have any.  I need to get some for my stash.

I mailed it off today, late, but done.    What about you?  How do you  keep track of birthday mail?   I was a terrible Auntie to my nieces when they were growing up.  I had trouble just keeping up with my growing family.  Having 10 children kept me hopping (and still does!). Now we have  four married and  the grand babies are coming...when the next two are born, I will have a total of 8.  I have  12 new birthdays to keep up with (grands, and then my 3 son-in-laws and one daughter-in-law.)  So in just my immediate family I have 22 birthdays to keep up with.  That doesn't include MY side of the family, sisters, mother, etc.

I think I need a plan.

Do any of you out in Blog Land have one of these contraptions?  I bought this at least 8 years ago (probably longer)...to try to get me on track for Birthdays ...

It is a rather nifty little file box with open file folders for each month.  I guess they could hold cards to send out for the month?

See the dates?  I told you it was old!  Sadly, I have never used it.  But just maybe I will start to utilize it for keeping track of the  approximately 30 birthdays that I would really like to send out a card.  Please let me know if you have other means of keeping up with Birthday mail...


Write Letters,
Write Often.

Lady Pamela