Hand Written Correspondence
Contents
Pen and Ink - a list of supplies
Pen to paper has always been one of the best methods of communicating.
Whether you are expressing thanks for a gift given or updating friends and family who are miles away, nothing can replace the effect of words on paper.
Although recent years have seen an increase in organizations dedicated to pen pals and letter writing, those who enjoy the art of writing a long and enjoyable letter are becoming few and far between.
Many of the modern pen pals seem to be more interested in collecting pals and exchanging items than finding someone who could end up being a life-long friend. I find this sad because two of my very good friends have come through letter writing. I have met neither of these ladies, but through our letters we have shared happy moments, sad times, encouragement and kindness. We have become very close and even plan to meet in the future.
Being a pen friend is not about what we can get from the other person or even demanding that they fulfill our demands of how long a letter should be and how timely it is sent. Rather, it is getting to know a real person on the other end of the paper and revealing ourselves in the hope of finding a good friend or perhaps even a kindred spirit.
For those who are interested in corresponding with traditional letter writers, here are some links where you can find some like-minded correspondents:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vintaqeinkblots/
Books on Letter Writing:
A Letter is a Gift Forever by Florence Littauer
Handbook for Practical Letter Writing by L. Sue Baugh
Special Words by Joyce Landorf Heatherley
The Art of a the Handwritten Note by Margaret Shepherd
Collections of Letters:
Jane Austen’s Letters – Collected and Compiled by Diedre Le Faye
Selected Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson – Edited by Ernest Mehew
Queen Victoria in her Letters and Journals – Penguin’s Lives and Letters Series
Writing a Thank You note is so simple and shows the giver appreciation which the recipient has for the gift as well as the giver.
Here are some simple guidelines:
1. Salutation and Date
2. Express happiness at seeing or hearing from the giver.
3. Thanks for the gift (EX: Thank you for the darling teapot and cozy...)
4. State how you plan to use the gift.
5. Well wishes.
6. Closing signature
Guidelines for Children:
1. Giver’s Name
2. Thank for the gift.
3. Closing signature.
NOTE – as the child becomes more skilled in writing words and sentences, more guidelines from the first list can be added.
Children as young as 18 mo. to three years can “write” Thank You notes as well.
Some suggestions:
Write the note for them and have them scribble a picture.
Have them “write” the Thank You and enclose a “translation” with the card.
Have them draw a picture of the gift and the giver.
Put the child’s handprint on paper (or note card), then add a personal thanks on the child’s behalf.
Notes for most gifts should be sent out as soon as reasonably possible; the one major exception being weddings, where the bride has up to one year in certain circumstances to return send thanks.
Here is a list of my some of my favorite letter writing implements:
Fountain Pens (various-sized nibs)
Dip pens and colored inks
Regular pens in colored inks
Blotting paper
Stickers
Brass Sealer and Sealing Wax
Festive Postage Stamps
Stationery and note card assortment
Letters are like wine; if they are sound they ripen with keeping. A man should lay down letters as he does a cellar of wine. [Samuel Butler (1835–1902)]
Letters have to pass two tests before they can be classed as good: they must express the personality both of the writer and of the recipient. [E.M. (Edward Morgan) Forster (1879–1970)]
Letters are above all useful as a means of expressing the ideal self; and no other method of communication is quite so good for this purpose.... In letters we can reform without practice, beg without humiliation, snip and shape embarrassing experiences to the measure of our own desires.... [Elizabeth Hardwick (b. 1916)]
A person who can write a long letter with ease, cannot write ill. [Jane Austen (1775–1817)]
[Your letters] serve like gleams of light, to cheer a dreary scene where envy, hatred, malice, revenge, and all the worse passions of men are marshalled to make one another as miserable as possible. [Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)]
Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle souls. For, thus friends absent speak. [John Donne (c. 1572–1631)]
This at least should be a rule through the letter-writing world: that no angry letter be posted till four-and-twenty hours will have elapsed since it was written. [Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)]
For each letter received from a creditor, write fifty lines on an extraterrestrial subject and you will be saved. [Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867)]
I have proved by actual trial that a letter, that takes an hour to write, takes only about 3 minutes to read! [Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)]
Letters to absence can a voice impart, And lend a tongue when distance gags the heart. [Horace Walpole (1717–1797)]
Get posts and letters, and make friends with speed; Never so few, and never yet more need. [William Shakespeare (1564–1616)]
Or don’t you like to write letters. I do because it’s such a swell way to keep from working and yet feel you’ve done something. [Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)]