Back in February I decided I’d accept PJ’s challenge to write a letter a week until Memorial Day. I am a letter writer at heart, having come from a long line of letter writers. I concede that written letters sent with a stamp may have moved into the realms of dinosaurs but it was a challenge that touched my being.
I’m happy to say I made it, though it wasn’t always easy and the last couple of weeks I was scouring the address book looking for someone that I thought would appreciate a letter, someone that hadn’t already received a note from me. And I’m less happy to report that after all those weeks and all those letters I got a total of two letters back. Previously I had believed that letters begot letters…that surely people receiving a surprise letter would respond in kind. Not necessarily so. Both people that wrote back said they were happily surprised to get a letter these days, and both their letters were newsy and fun to read, and something I wouldn’t have received without my initial effort. But still. I calculate that I mailed at least 12 letters. My response rate wasn’t much better than the expected response to a direct mail marketing campaign. And I wasn’t even advertising anything nor asking for money!
Still I have to say it was an interesting experience; one that made me reach out to people I normally would only write to at Christmas. And while some of the letters were fun to write, some felt more like a chore. So going into the future I think I’ll still be writing letters, but not so much on a schedule.
Still I’m glad I did it, and I’ll imagine that everyone that got a letter smiled a bit even if they couldn’t find the time to let me know. And if you didn’t get a letter – don’t feel slighted – it’s just that I know you read my blog and you already have the latest news!
Change Is Hard 
June 5, 2011 at 6:46 am
Can’t remember the last time I received or wrote a letter, besides letters to parents of my students. And half of those get intercepted by the student!
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June 5, 2011 at 7:13 am
This is what I found too – and I think the biggest problem is the concept of time. Anything that takes more then a few minutes to do is too time consuming. Thank our fast paced world for that one.
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June 5, 2011 at 7:36 am
Letters, we haven’t written one in awhile. Though Dog Dad never was much of a writer, though he is old fashioned in many ways. He uses a percolator to make coffee, he loves to go to the dog park, he likes to stop and watch things. That is my Dog Dad, old school.
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June 5, 2011 at 7:37 am
Old school is kind of nice.
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June 5, 2011 at 8:17 am
It’s time for me to get the letter pads out now!
Thanks for your reminder, Dawn : )
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June 5, 2011 at 10:26 pm
I wish you had more return letters for all your efforts. I have a dear friend who writes letters all the time. Unfortunately, she also rarely gets letters in return. It’s pretty sad. 😦 I admire her efforts though and I know I always appreciate any notes that I receive from her.
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June 6, 2011 at 5:34 am
I think the times have changed. Letter writing was then–blogging , e-mail, calling is now. I come from a family of big letter writers-even my mom’s dad wrote letters and so did her two brothers and sister. But now they call because long distance is pretty much free and they e-mail all the time. I love Christmas letters from people I don’t keep up with during the year. Why send a card if your just going to sign your name and I haven’t talked to you all year–Bragging is fine with me!
Good effort and I am sure you added smiles to the face of many letters openers and many said to someone, “Can you believe someone took the time to send ME a letter today!!”
Have a marvelous Monday!
♥
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