Instead you will all have to do the writing yourself.
If you want.
It's time for a mini handwriting challenge.
I have been thinking about doing this since Eden mentioned handwriting. I have been making more effort to ensure I send the odd letter, note or card to people.
I also received the most surprising and lovely card in the mail last week. It made me cry. It could not have had the same effect if it was typed, texted, facebooked or even emailed to me.
Mail, actually written by you has a secret power that you never even realise. Only the receiver gets the magic. That extra smile you have when you get a surprise letter, the joy of hearing from someone real, of learning some news, of knowing someone far away was thinking about them.
I know lots of you might be thinking the following things:
- I have no one to write to
- I don't have any nice cards or paper
- I have no news to tell
- my handwriting is too messy, my spelling too poor
And I am telling you these are just excuses.
Write to your family members, an old friend or a friend you see every week. Write to your kids and put the letter in your drawer until they are 21. Write to your husband and put the letter in his wallet to read at work. Write to your grandma, even if you never have, especially if you never have. Send birthday cards to old friends that you have not sent to in some time. Send a thank you letter to your favourite shop or cafe, tell them why you love their service, often it is the complaints that come in first.
Cards and fancy paper are limiting, they reduce the space you have to write on, use printer paper, folder paper or a note pad. Use the back of your kid's artwork, recycle some junk mail. Send one sentence on a sticky note or copy an old photo of you and a friend and add a note on the back.
You always have something to say.
Your handwriting is perfectly fine. The beauty of handwriting is that it is all you, it is not meant to be perfect, straight and planned, it is fluid, wobbly, personal and flows out on the page.
So here is my challenge for myself and if you want to join along just let me know.
I will add a special side bar in my blog that includes everyone who is taking part, Bloggers or not.
It is really very simple, the challenge is just
Six letters to six people in six weeks.
That is just a letter a week for six weeks.
It can be harder than it sounds though so let me give you the tips to help make sure this happens.
Get your envelopes and your stamps ready at the beginning. Choose your paper of choice or buy a collection of cards if you think you want to send cards. Having to get to a post office six times is annoying so get all you need on one trip and just pop things in the closest mail box.
Keep a pen handy in case you get a spare moment to write to someone.
Try and decide at the beginning who you will write to, write them on a list and tick them off as you go.
And lastly, let me know if you blog any thing about your handwriting. I have a button over there on the side bar that you can use on your blog sidebar, or your posts or wherever you use such things.
If twitter is your thing, I will be using the hashtag #6letters
And I will be using the handwriting challenge as an excuse to write about all sorts of things related to handwriting from time to time during the six weeks, which might also be a reminder for you to get writing.
I hope someone feels like joining me, but either way, I will enjoy writing and sending my letters and hope six people have an extra skip in their step as they walk away from the letterbox knowing they have a real letter and not just bills to read for the day.
Happy writing.
And a huge thank you to Liz at Mumstrosity for making the button. Lady is a genius of late night blogging magic.
And a huge thank you to Liz at Mumstrosity for making the button. Lady is a genius of late night blogging magic.
