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Post by penguy on Mar 12, 2022 15:10:00 GMT
I'm curious why do you write letters. It might be because you are an extrovert, or an introvert, that you want to communicate with someone else, because you find it difficult to communicate with someone in person, you find letter writing calming and introspective, you want to share life's ups and downs with someone else, you have so many fountain pens you need to justify your obsession. What is your excuse
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Post by sunshine2170 on Mar 12, 2022 19:58:59 GMT
I've always thought about this and hubby also asks me. My penpalling started when I was 11 years old when I lived in Fiji. We didn't have any tv then and I was always looking for something to do. I guess one day I read the newspaper and saw an ad about penpals in Malaysia. I sent my name and address not expecting anything and lo and behold I get back about 30 letters, 15 of which I responded to. That started me into writing letters. I wrote to family, friends and new penpals. Some survived the years and some didn't. I now enjoy it even more because I learn so much about other countries I will never go to. I also write one offs in support of someone needing comfort. I add a lot of pictures to my letters to show where I live or just some beautiful pictures of Australia. I find letter writing invigorating and I can pour my heart out and stretch my imagination or real life further than just my little island. Thanks for the question penguy. My excuse is I wake up too early to go to work and on my days off I still wake up early so what better way to spend that early morning than to write to someone. (also hubby is asleep and the computer is the quietest thing I can do in the house to not wake him up lol)
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graphitediaries
Pencils
Posts: 61
Looking for Penpals?: Yes. Global penpals welcome
Country I live in is: Quebec
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Post by graphitediaries on Mar 14, 2022 2:03:32 GMT
I have too much stationery.
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Post by tramplingrose on Mar 14, 2022 2:39:48 GMT
I write constantly, and it's a way to connect with people from far away. Plus, I'm like a little kid and I love getting mail (that isn't bills).
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Post by sails on Mar 15, 2022 15:33:54 GMT
I'm curious why do you write letters. It might be because you are an extrovert, or an introvert, that you want to communicate with someone else, because you find it difficult to communicate with someone in person, you find letter writing calming and introspective, you want to share life's ups and downs with someone else, you have so many fountain pens you need to justify your obsession. What is your excuse I like to.
(Or maybe the fountain pen thing…..)
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Post by Mia on Mar 15, 2022 19:52:11 GMT
I'm an introvert. Letters allow me to be who I am, without worry of looking/sounding silly. Some things are easier to say on paper.
Also allows me to be a stationery addict!
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Post by radellaf on Mar 15, 2022 23:02:27 GMT
I have too much stationery. I have too many pens and too much ink.
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sunnycat
Crayons
Posts: 11
Looking for Penpals?: Yes. Global penpals welcome
Country I live in is: Sweden
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Post by sunnycat on Mar 16, 2022 12:37:12 GMT
I've always loved writing letters and I don't really know why. I have some letters saved from my childhood best friends from when we were maybe six, seven years old. And then I continued writing to strangers as I got older and it just never stops being my favorite way of communicating. It's fun getting something in the mail that took some time to get to me from another part of the world, and not just an instant message on my phone. And knowing that someone created it just for me. That, and the fact that I've always loved writing.
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Post by eefa on Mar 16, 2022 19:40:07 GMT
I started writing letters about 5 years back as an excuse to use my fountain pens and ink. But when I think about it I wrote very long letters to friends when I was at university too. I couldn’t imagine not writing them now. I even sporadically send cards to friends who live close by. I enjoy being asked questions and getting to answer them and ask questions back. And yeah, as others have said, it’s often easier to write how or what you feel and think than to say it.
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Post by Steph Walford on Mar 17, 2022 22:52:58 GMT
I get asked why a lot ... They say why do I not email or DM etc? Simple answer is I enjoy receiving post that is not BILLS or JUNK! Writing letters in this "era" is a dying art and I hate to see it go completely! Ok I not the most fastest at responding but that is beside the point there LOL
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Post by davidv on Mar 18, 2022 0:12:39 GMT
It did start as an excuse to use my pens and ink for me. I enjoy the connections I’ve made and also being creative at times in my responses. It’s also just satisfying to write.
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Post by Lupine on Mar 18, 2022 0:38:12 GMT
Great question. I love all the answers so far too. I was literally 8 years old when some TV program (like ZOOM) advertised an address where children could be matched up with a pen pal. I did it. Yes, I like to write, and I love running to the mailbox to see what's there, and now I love using up ink in pretty fountain pens, but, I wonder if penguy 's question isn't pointing to something more innate and complex? Communication absorbs me. I'm introvert enough to like writing alone, but ballsy enough to ask someone I don't know to spend time reading the nothing very special stuff I've written. Maybe besides what we like about letters and stationary, we each have some unique mix of traits that makes this fun. What personality does an 8 year old have to have if, on her own, she'd like to see if a stranger might write to her? There's definitely a little "daring do" in this hobby, don't you think?
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Post by ginny on Mar 18, 2022 10:21:49 GMT
What an interesting question - and it's been fun to read all the answers. To be honest, I think it all started because I was curious about how people lived in other parts of the world. I tried getting a penpal via IYS (International Youth Service) in the mid-/ late 70s, but even though I received an address, wrote and got a reply, it was basically a 'one letter wonder' - we didn't really have all that much in common, and I think my language skills were under-developed then - I had only had English for two years then, and that wasn't enough. But - I was still interested, and in 1979, I finally found a penpal via an ad in a magazine - I replied to the ad, and we have been penfriends ever since. When I was 16, I started having international penpals. I've never looked back. It has certainly made me realise how we - as humans - have much more in common than we might have thought. We all have hopes, dreams, fears, worries, joys and quirks. And it has made me more understanding and tolerant about other people's viewpoints. That doesn't always make my life easier as I tend to look at things from all angles and perspectives and want to understand why people do the things they do... but it's all worth it I find that I can connect with people more easily via the written word. I consider myself an ambivert - I don't seem to fall into the intro/extrovert boxes, and all the personality tests that I have done came out with different results (maybe that means I'm fickle, I don't know) - so I have a bit of both aspects in me Another aspect I love about letterwriting is that it's almost therapeutic - you write about something, and it gets clearer to you as you write. And unlike writing in a journal or a diary (which is fun, too, obviously), you get a reply that might make help you seeing things from yet another angle. My stationery addiction would probably never have developed if I hadn't got into letterwriting. Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing And - last but not least - in my immediate surroundings I find it hard to find people who like the same books and movies and what-not... so it helps to have faraway friends with whom I can discuss these things.
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Post by InsomniaQueen on Mar 19, 2022 3:40:20 GMT
I enjoy the act of writing (most of the time, when my hands/wrists cooperate). I enjoy the narrative of writing. The entire thing is a creative outlet for me: the composition of the letter and the aesthetics of the paper, wax, stickers, string, or whatever. I love pouring my thoughts onto a page (even if sometimes only a smattering of thoughts worth sharing emerge). I like sending those thoughts out in the world and am in awe that the vast majority of the time, those thoughts arrive exactly where I've sent them. (Sometimes they take their time getting there, though.) And, I'm like a little kid at Christmas when I open the mailbox and see all of those little envelope gifts put together and addressed just for me.
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