I do believe that I’ve mastered the art of writing — letter writing that is. I realize that this is a bold claim, especially as live only been at it for a little over six months. However, I do put a fair amount of effort Into this task. l’m averaging almost one letter per day, each letter being around two pages in length (single-spaced) typically. In the overall scheme of things, it not the most time consuming of of things.
While some might assume that I receive a lot of letters in return, they would be wrong. (This is not the case when I write to fellow members of the Type-Pals list that I joined, made up of fellow typewriter enthusiasts, who like me simply enjoy the act of typing out a letter and therefore almost always write back.) I consider this, the fact that l gain enjoyment from the process of typing up a letter, to be one of the key components of letter writing mastery. Not only do I enjoy the typing itself, but I also enjoy looking at the finished letter for the small work of art that each one is before placing it in an envelope and sending it on its way via the postal system. This is the original reason that I came to own more than one typewriter as I wanted access to different typefaces to change up the look of my letters.
While l’m sure to receive replies to the letters I send out to those on the Type-Pals list, l can’t say the same for many of my friends and family, and that’s totally okay. Sometimes I will even write to a complete stranger who has done something good that l’ve read about, or written something that resonated with me personally, provided that a mailing address is made available. In these cases, I figure that sending a letter has far more impact than sending an email, yet l certainly don’t expect to hear back from any of these folks.
That brings up the other key component of letter writing mastery as I see it. l write letters to others for my own benefit, not theirs. l’m simply letting others know that there is someone out there thinking about them, or perhaps acknowledging something that they’ve’ done. In none of these cases am I writing to receive something in return (other than the satisfaction I received from sending them a letter in the first place). I just really like the thought of someone getting something other than bills or junk mail from their postal carrier, letting them know that there is someone else out there who thought enough of them (or something that they had done) to write them a letter. Plain and simple.
Some might expect that mastering the art of letter writing would entail more than this, but it really doesn’t in my experience. Not in this day and age when people almost never receive letters in the mail any more. I know this to be true because l’ve been told as much by those friends and family that have written back to me, or reached out in some other way in response to my writing to them. While I truly don’t have a problem with letters going unresponded to, I can tell you that those letters that I do receive in reply to those that l’ve written make my day. That’s because receiving a letter in the mall is pretty freakin’ awesome. All the more reason to keep writing letters to others out there in the world as far as l’m concerned.
AFTERTHOUGHTS: While my posting here on The Typewritemosphere might have dropped off a bit as of late, that certainly hasn’t been the case when it comes to my letter writing. Between the Type-Pals list, my family, friends and others out there in the world, I might well have raised my overall average to more than one letter per day at this point in time. Once again, I must give thanks to Gregory Short (Poor Typist) for establishing the Type-Pals list. In addition, I’ve been contributing short one page pieces over at One Typed Page fairly often recently. No, I’m not an everyday writer as a few of the others are, but I have been enjoying the challenge of writing (typing) what I can, when I can when I have things to write about that don’t really fit in here.
I found letter writing a nice way to keep in touch with others, especially those who insist on keeping conversations going by text message. I found that by writing to them, either by hand or typewriter, often enough I could get them to eventually reply in kind. My sister, who apparently communicates via social media and txt msg exclusively finally came out of her shell and wrote me, avec computer, and more recently by handwritten letter. I had to chuckle because she commented on stationery and noted that she had to look up the word for the correct spelling.
I made a comment a few months back on OTP that I was thinking about an old school friend of mine. Using some clever detective skills (internet) I found him and wrote a letter to him. He turned out to be a regular correspondent and we have passed many letters back and forth since.
I guess the point here is that, with some persistence, others can be encouraged to write letters too.
I guess this was more of a missive than a comments. 🙂
You know Mike, I hadn’t thought about replying to others via letters in lieu of responding to their text messages. That’s an interesting concept.
Great thoughts. Writing a letter is an act of generosity. And just being generous is beneficial to the generous writer, as well as the recipient.
Richard, you’ve managed to summarize my entire post in just two sentences. Now that’s impressive!