Letters

[twobee]

Embrace the rambling!

I have a few buddies I send letters to and yes, they often turn into a stream of consciousness when I'm writing them and end up several pages long, but I figure that's half the fun. And if they don't want to read them, they don't have to!

I also like sending postcards with funny pictures on them because the writing space is much smaller (good if you fear waffling on too much), and if there's a cool pic, they can hang it up somewhere which is nice to see. Only problem is ink smudging/running if the postcard gets caught in the rain along the way (and it's not a good idea to write anything too personal...)

[BasicallyRun]

I plan to write to my family when I go off to uni. Not least because I hate phone conversations and so anything on that front would probably boil down to 'Yeah, my week's been OK. Yours? OK, bye!' whereas for a letter I can usually find something to say that's vaguely interesting.

Plus, I read a lot of biographies and always wonder how on earth anyone's going to get insight into our generation when so much of our communication gets deleted with a click. Think of the future biographers!

[Annie Ozone]

I love writing letters! Mostly, because I talk to people in person or via email, I write to soldiers overseas. It's therapeutic for me, almost like a journal (and I'm terrible at journaling for real), and it's a nice thing to do. I include my e-mail, of course, and I've gotten a few online friendships going with these guys, which is nice.

If y'all want to write letters but don't really have anyone to write to, go to AnySoldier.com or a similar site to get names and addresses (you have to send mail to a specific soldier, due to security concerns). The guys who've mailed me back have all mentioned that they really like that I send actual letters--I ramble as well, and it usually ends up being something like three pages about goats. But they get a lot of cards from kids that are all, "Thanks for saving freedom, the end", or awkward flag-waving from adults, and not a whole lot else. This makes three pages about goats kind of interesting!

Just to clarify: I'm not in support of the current wars at all, but I like writing letters, and the soldiers who've responded have liked reading them, so why not?

[tei]

I write letters to my friends in different cities. Not really to communicate information, I just feel that it keeps a long-distance friendship strong if you take time to send each other physical letters. Also, I send wacky things along with the letters... photos and trinkets and the like. I agree with moosethemoose, it's kind of like sending someone your diary. "Here's what my life is like right now! How about yours?"

[tosney]

I've always loved the idea of letters and penpals. I once had a pen pal, but despite writing for two years, the letters were never very personal and we just chatted about everyday stuff. Which is ok, I guess, but a bit boring since we already know that kind of stuff through facebook and whatnot. We eventually stopped sending them. Letters were originally for sharing news with friends and family, and hearing the news through a letter what you already heard on facebook a week or so ago isn't very exciting.

I think letters would be fun if you wrote them in a Jane Austen-esque style and/or if one picked a subject that isn't every day. Like, if one starts a conversation on the merits of Oscar Wilde and you go back and forth until the conversation peeters out and you start a new one. On top of that, it gives one time to read Oscar Wilde books in between letters and develop opinions. (Or, of course, a better subject than the one off the top of my head).

And, of course, there are love letters. That's just plain romantic and wonderful. Even if they're bad at them, they'd be so nice to receive from your significant other. It's the thought that counts!


*IDEA* What if we had a penpal match-up amongst the armadillos? Most of us don't already know each other in real life, which would make it more interesting.

[onlyaworkingtitle]

Aug 19, 2011 7:59:03 GMT -5 tosney said:

*IDEA* What if we had a penpal match-up amongst the armadillos? Most of us don't already know each other in real life, which would make it more interesting.

THIS. I'm gonna make a poll~