|
Post by katiel on Nov 21, 2022 21:24:05 GMT
I noticed a lot of us commenting on our reply piles lately, and I thought it might be nice to have a place to celebrate our successes of catching up, or lament our falling behind, or just a place to do some writing accountability.
I’ll start. 🙂
I had a glorious summer of happy mail! I heard from nearly all my penpals (even the ones that I only hear from once every 2 or 3 years - all of them!). I loved every letter, but with all the traveling and summer activities, I barely had time to write. So by the end of September I had an overflowing reply pile of 27-ish letters to respond to (I’d taken so long to reply, that several penpals had written to me TWICE). Now that life is more back to normal, I’ve been writing up a storm lately. I’m very proud to report that as of today, my reply pile is down to 18! (including a couple new ones that arrived this week!) YAY!
My goal is to catch up, by sending replies in Christmas cards. Can I do it? We’ll see! I’d probably stand a better chance at success, if I wrote shorter letters, but apparently I’m a jabberbox. Haha! Either way, I’m having a great time getting back into writing after a few months of barely replying to letters at all. I’ve missed these “slow conversations!”
So how does your reply pile look right now?
|
|
|
Post by Mia on Nov 21, 2022 22:02:41 GMT
Umm... snap... though that excludes two different letters I have in progress. I thought it was more, but post arriving has been irregular (and may well be for a while, there's strike action planned, not a decent pay rise considering inflation, and then there is mismanagement).
It has been advised to send cards out before the end of the month (November), I guess even domestically. One card I sent last year overseas arrived in May! So, season's greetings / insert time-appropriate greeting here! However, I think it is going to be wrist-aching trying to achieve that as I have a lot of cards I'd like to send!
|
|
|
Post by distractedmom on Nov 22, 2022 2:01:34 GMT
My reply pile is so big that I *almost* feel better on days when I don't receive letters because that means the pile isn't growing. katiel, I think I have the same issue. I talk too much in my letters. I am being realistic: it'll probably be January before I am writing regularly again.
|
|
|
Post by ginny on Nov 22, 2022 12:09:21 GMT
I have stopped counting how many letters are in my 'reply pile'. I won't catch up before Christmas, and I'm not setting myself goals like that anymore. Life has thrown me curveballs over the past years, and I refuse to add negative associations to the pile of letters that's sitting around because I fail to meet people's expectations regarding intervals between letters. Writing and chatting with people in letters should be fun, and I don't want to be guilt-stricken because I cannot respond in a timely manner. I AM sorry for taking so long to write back, but it's the way it is. I'm fine with people taking their time as well. I'd much rather have them write to me because they want to chat than because they feel obliged to pop out a reply within a certain timespan. I had a letter from a penpal the other day in which she said she absolves me from all 'penpal guilt' - because she knows what it's like. That felt good. Happy writing, everyone. That's what counts to me
|
|
|
Post by sunshine2170 on Nov 22, 2022 17:38:21 GMT
I don’t really count when someone hasn’t written to me. I am mindful of how many letters I owe and try and reply to one a week. I have two Penpal letters I owe and the 5Qs that I am adding to on my days off.
I have my Xmas cards purchased so no excuses now hahahaha.
Why do we do that to ourselves and put so much pressure.
Before long it will be Incowrimo and other Feb letter writing prompts.
I never feel Guilty in anyway shape or form if I take awhile to write and others take awhile to reply back to me. I’m just happy to receive anything anytime. Being in almost full time work on a casual basis I know how much time we don’t have to spend on our hobbies.
My motto is : Do what I can when I can
|
|
|
Post by allanorn on Nov 22, 2022 18:20:31 GMT
On staycation last week and this week. I wrote seven last week and I'm down to seven. Only one needs to go international to Germany; I can make the effort to get that done this weekend.
I've been good this year with getting letters out with Christmas cards where it's appropriate. Except for the one international letter, my international ones are done unless I get surprises. For those in the USA: letters with cards will go out first, but my plan is to get the rest of the Christmas cards out by writing them the weekend of the 10th at one of my afternoon offices.
|
|
|
Post by tramplingrose on Nov 22, 2022 21:27:44 GMT
I've hovered around 20 letters for the past couple months. Except for approximately three of them, they're not ones I can just knock out in an hour or two, and lately it's been hard to find both the time and the motivation to carve out the necessary blocks for letter-writing. If I can clear the pile by the end of the year, I'll call it good. I'm not feeling the holiday spirit this year, so I won't have the additional pressure to send cards or letters with cards.
|
|
|
Post by purplemaze on Nov 23, 2022 8:28:32 GMT
I have 18-20 in my reply pile, but some aren’t regular pen-pals, but infrequent correspondence. So I will let those replies past in to the new year I think. I am intending to write back to the regular pen-pals as I write holiday cards. And as suggested by some, sending international letters sooner seems like a good idea.
|
|
|
Post by stompie on Nov 24, 2022 8:18:56 GMT
No issues here and I am pretty much up to date on all replies
|
|
|
Post by penguy on Nov 24, 2022 17:08:29 GMT
It feels good knowing I'm not the only one that is behind. I have 15 in my inbox waiting for replies. I'm well on my way on a reply to Mia (on a letter dated September 28th). I know I'm behind because I haven't received a letter for nearly a week. Hopefully my 'letter writer's block' is going away and I can get 3 or 4 letters out each week.
|
|
|
Post by Steph Walford on Nov 28, 2022 11:12:12 GMT
I noticed a lot of us commenting on our reply piles lately, and I thought it might be nice to have a place to celebrate our successes of catching up, or lament our falling behind, or just a place to do some writing accountability. I’ll start. 🙂 I had a glorious summer of happy mail! I heard from nearly all my penpals (even the ones that I only hear from once every 2 or 3 years - all of them!). I loved every letter, but with all the traveling and summer activities, I barely had time to write. So by the end of September I had an overflowing reply pile of 27-ish letters to respond to (I’d taken so long to reply, that several penpals had written to me TWICE). Now that life is more back to normal, I’ve been writing up a storm lately. I’m very proud to report that as of today, my reply pile is down to 18! (including a couple new ones that arrived this week!) YAY! My goal is to catch up, by sending replies in Christmas cards. Can I do it? We’ll see! I’d probably stand a better chance at success, if I wrote shorter letters, but apparently I’m a jabberbox. Haha! Either way, I’m having a great time getting back into writing after a few months of barely replying to letters at all. I’ve missed these “slow conversations!” So how does your reply pile look right now? You are so correct ... we should be more positive. I know currently in the UK we are dealing with postal strikes but despite that I am doing ones best to catch up. I just love receiving Taking each day and letter as it comes and doing what I can <3 Btw katiel Love the thread/post
|
|
|
Post by distractedmom on Nov 28, 2022 14:14:32 GMT
I have stopped counting how many letters are in my 'reply pile'. I won't catch up before Christmas, and I'm not setting myself goals like that anymore. Life has thrown me curveballs over the past years, and I refuse to add negative associations to the pile of letters that's sitting around because I fail to meet people's expectations regarding intervals between letters. Writing and chatting with people in letters should be fun, and I don't want to be guilt-stricken because I cannot respond in a timely manner. I AM sorry for taking so long to write back, but it's the way it is. I'm fine with people taking their time as well. I'd much rather have them write to me because they want to chat than because they feel obliged to pop out a reply within a certain timespan. I had a letter from a penpal the other day in which she said she absolves me from all 'penpal guilt' - because she knows what it's like. That felt good. Happy writing, everyone. That's what counts to me I love that! Let's all absolve one another from all "penpal guilt!"
|
|
|
Post by penguy on Nov 29, 2022 16:15:02 GMT
Two letters and a box out yesterday. A letter is headed to catida today. I'm finally getting my pen warmed up!
|
|
|
Post by katiel on Dec 4, 2022 22:24:40 GMT
My reply pile is now in single digits! I’ve been having so much fun writing letters on Christmassy paper and tucking them in Christmas (or holiday) cards!🙂 Most of you should be seeing something in your mailbox from me, soon!
|
|
|
Post by katiel on Dec 19, 2022 18:24:51 GMT
Yay! With this last Christmas card I mailed today, I zeroed out my original reply pile! I had so much fun writing all those Christmassy letters!
However… This last week has been great, and 6 letters (some with pretty cards!) have also come in! So my reply pile is up to 6 again, but I think I’ll work on replying to these at a more leisurely pace. It’ll be a chance to try out some of the pretty new stationery I’ve been getting for Christmas!
But yay for getting (briefly) sort of caught up!
|
|