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Post by Mia on Sept 16, 2017 18:44:30 GMT
What attracted you to letter writing? Why do you write letters in a digital age? I may look to use some of the replies from this thread in snail mail videos.
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Post by sails on Sept 16, 2017 18:56:20 GMT
I always wrote letters...even as a kid, to my friends, when I moved a mere 30 miles away. And they wrote back, and I still have some of their replies. It just seemed natural back then, so even though I appreciate emailing, I write real letters. On paper and everything!
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Post by stormymorning on Sept 16, 2017 19:06:56 GMT
Similar story here! When I moved away at the age of 10, two of my friends and I corresponded. Email wasn't available to us yet and we didn't like calling (I still don't). The letters seem very boring now, btw! It stopped when we went to the same high school later on.
Got back to letter writing a few years ago (I'm 29), because of a few things. 1) I love putting fountain pen to paper and using beautiful inks on quality paper 2) I really like how writing letters slows down my world - it's slower than both talking and typing, so I feel more relaxed 3) Fellow letter writers are interesting people!
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Post by hoyabella on Sept 17, 2017 6:39:33 GMT
I was first attracted by lettersets when I was about 10: correspondence gave me the possibility of using beautiful stationery and buying more 😜. Then it took me no time to realize that I loved pen friendship as well as lettersets.
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Post by joy52 on Sept 17, 2017 8:31:50 GMT
I must admit that the first reason was to use my pens and inks. And when I got going it was about the long distance relationships that develop. Even though I have been writing regularly for less than a year ..I have become very fond of certain pen pals.
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Post by erin on Sept 17, 2017 15:22:29 GMT
I wrote a lot in junior high and high school because I loved getting letters, and it was a fun hobby for me. I didn't love school and writing letters during school kept me looking busy. Looking back I realize it was a wonderful educational experience! I had pen pals from all over and really learned a lot about other cultures.
College and marriage happened soon after and I didn't have time for writing as much anymore. But I always missed it.
I happened upon Postcrossing and developed some postcard friends, but soon started writing letters again too. It's again something I look forward to, and it's wonderful to find a nice chunk of quiet time to sit with a letter and reply to it. In my job I talk almost all day long and while I enjoy my friendships I really love the quiet of writing more.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2017 18:21:12 GMT
I started writing letters when I was nine. My little sister had participated in a balloon release and a girl one year older than me found the balloon with the postcard and replied.
We wrote to each other during three or four years and it gave me the opportunity to use some of the beautiful stationery that I had got for my Communion. At the time stationery was (still) a common gift.
But an even bigger motivation was my interest in other countries. As soon as I knew just enough English at the age of twelve, I started to look for international penpals.
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millefolium
Crayons
Posts: 15
Looking for Penpals?: Yes. Global penpals welcome
Country I live in is: USA
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Post by millefolium on Sept 18, 2017 0:03:16 GMT
I've always enjoyed the quiet spaciousness of letter writing -- when I write a letter my thoughts can unfurl slowly and I can tend and follow them and see where they go without the other person waiting for an immediate answer (as the case in, say, conversation or even email). I like the personal quality, too, of addressing a letter to one person -- even a stranger! -- who may or may not be expecting something in their mailbox.
And there are the tangibles of letter writing, which I've grown to appreciate, even relish: the flow of ink, the geometry of words that fill the page, the texture of the paper, the feel of the envelope -- and of course the satisfying "whoosh!" sound that a handwritten letter makes when it plummets into the mailbox and begins its journey (or am I imagining that?!).
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Post by radellaf on Sept 18, 2017 8:35:25 GMT
In 1989 I wrote letters home with my first Pilot V5 and a Mead writing pad because there was no eMail and phone calls, even in-state long distance, were expensive.
I've always written thank you notes and still feel like email or FB acknowledgements of gifts are kinda tacky; though, I'd much rather receive one than nothing so I at least know the gift arrived.
Recent letter writing started maybe 5 years ago and was entirely motivated by a desire to use my growing collection of fountain pens, ink, and paper. Journaling is great, but I find it easier to get motivated to write. Also, I can use a wider variety of paper and get to use the bleed-y inks I want to try. Also fun to do the addressing and stamping plus decorating and/or making envelopes. I know you can decorate a journal all the way up to scrapbook level, but that ain't my style.
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Post by sgtstretch on Sept 18, 2017 13:05:09 GMT
We had just bought a house, and I was tired of finding only bills coming in the mail. I wanted to look forward to getting the mail every day, and put my fountain pens to good use. Now I'm always finding great mail to enjoy, and my fountain pens get tons of use.
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Post by christyotwisty on Sept 18, 2017 19:11:44 GMT
Pre-internet, a way of collecting people who could show me their cities and let me stay with them for free, plus the international stamps.
Now, what attracts me to letter writing are its accoutrements, the anticipation of a response, viewing without advertisements, moderation, mediation or character-length restriction someone's brainscape. Fountain penthusiasts add the bonus of using inks I may want to purchase. In some cases it's a better way of eliciting a response from a public personage, as it's no longer the case where a fan letter would be lost in a deluge of mail.
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Post by richila on May 7, 2018 18:30:51 GMT
I started writing letters to use my fountain pens and inks more often. Now, it is the joy that beautiful paper and inks bring to my day.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2018 11:20:23 GMT
As a child I was always 'different' from my school 'friends' as I was obsessed with animals I had my first penpal when I was around 12 years old when I saw an ad in Pony magazine. Helen and I wrote to each other for over a year before losing touch when, within weeks of each other, our families moved house. It was SO wonderful in that year to actually 'meet' someone who shared my passion for horses and so it has remained over the years. Whereas most folk I know are into their children, drinking, tv soaps, fashion and material goods etc I'm still the 'odd' one who prefers to be outdoors pottering in the garden or birdwatching and I'm still animal-mad The vast majority of my pals I write to have animals and/or are gardeners so 'understand' me and it's lovely to be able to write freely and know these friends will know exactly what I'm on about
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Post by DJW1066 on May 14, 2018 1:20:24 GMT
I'm of a generation that used letter writing as a utilitarian mode of communication. Long distance telephone was dreadfully expensive, and terrible quality. Telegrams were also expensive and very limiting. Letter writing was nothing exceptional or romantic, but just a means to stay in touch. Similarily, fountain pens were unexceptional, and just an everyday tool for writing. Now the mundane has become much more exotic, and I must say, more fun and fulfilling, when compared to email, texting, telephone, and so forth. Who would have predicted such a turn of events so many years ago?
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Post by stompie on May 16, 2018 17:02:51 GMT
I just enjoy writing. I lived in Oxfordshire for a while and would go and visit little churches in the area. If they had little booklets giving the history of the church I would take those and hand write a copy, go back and just leave it on the table. One of the chaps in the village had published a book on the history of the village. I did a handwritten copy of that for him as well. So, in the absence of any more little churches to visit, I turned to snail mail!
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