A Month Of Letters

February 2, 2017Leave a comment

fb_img_14860590049331

It’s that time again, where I start off the year with a list of randoms that I send missives to for no other reason than to spread some love. This year I’m sending books that no one seems to want. I’ve donated books to the local women’s shelter before, and I had planned to send some to a library in a rural area that needed more but they were inundated, so.

It’s day two and so far, I’m on track. Last year or maybe the year before, I sent letters to people I found on whitepages online with the same surname and found a long lost relative! She and my mum keep in touch because they both do genealogy. Feel good story of the year. This year I’m hoping the books make someone’s day. Sending them certainly makes mine. I’m not sending my Stephen Kings, John Marsden or Jane Austens, and a bunch of others, but I have plenty of books that I won’t reread and they will make a nice surprise someone’s mailbox. Maybe this year I will get a reply.

#lettermo

February 23, 2014Leave a comment

So, I have written the 4th, I think, letter as part of the Month of Letters dealio and am doing a fine job of a little bit interesting without too much personal detail that could be sold to an identity thief, or even just a Joe on the street with a modem (do the kids even have modems these days?). But really, people could probably find out stuff about me without trying too hard. I googled myself and found quite a bit.
I have provided my name and address on the envelope in the spirit of good faith, and with that they could see a map of my house, comments I’ve made on other blogs or facebookers, people I know or may know or may live with, and my previous address/es. If they pay a bit of money they could probably find my drivers license or arrest record, and if the shows on television are anything to go by, and I’m sure they are, they could find my registered vehicles and probably where my kids go to school. And therefore who elses kids they attend with, then find the parents online as well, then my details by association. What the hey, people? Have they no legitimate past times to keep them occupied? Puh-lease, get a life.
I like to think none of the above, and that they will take 2 minutes out of their busy day to read my letter, chuckle over what constitutes humour and think about whatever I’ve written, then mention it to a handful of people who may or may not mention it to another handful of people. And in one of those 5 handfuls, maybe someone will have time to do something similar, or think of someone else who would enjoy doing it. So I won’t write about the pile of doggy do-do I drove through today (that was in the middle of a car park, good grief), or the tea and crackers spilt on the floor of the backseat of the car, or what Husband would say if he knew about it, because that stuff would put someone off. That stuff is not newsworthy. I will stick to the “just put my kids to bed” pick up line, or the “have you been watching much of the olympics?” catch phrase, because that stuff is gold. I know they’ll want a second date with this pen pal after that, at which point I will have to come up with some new material.

A Month of Letters

February 21, 2014Leave a comment

I found #lettermo on a tweet from Joe Hill, son of Stephen King and glorious writer in his own right. I googled it and thought it was a great idea.
I write occasional letters and send cards in mailing boxes with birthday presents, but a letter a day for a month sounded more significant. As much as I’d like to send personal letters to my peeps, though, they know I’m busy and I’m not as busy as they are actually, so I’m not writing to them.
I wanted to send a letter to some of my school teachers, not high school teachers because I think teenagers kind of suck a bit, so they probably wouldn’t want to hear from me anyway, but I thought the primary school teachers might. But I couldn’t find them on facebook or the school websites or anything; there wasn’t even a list of current staff members. Sheesh! So I looked up various spellings of my own name in the white pages, and voila! There were a bunch of people with my name in variable spellings, and, there were plenty of people with my parents’ names as well. So those random, potential identity thieves or crotchety old folk will be the recipients of my daily mail. Hopefully they will be pleased to find some sincerity in their mail box alongside the usual bills and catalogued rubbish. Or not. Perhaps they will be mightily offended to find more unsolicited nonsense, in which case, screw them.
I have enjoyed writing the letters so far, though they are not so much interesting literary masterpieces as much as they are the musings of a tired woman who may or may not have battled with the kids at bedtime, and who is probably counting the calories to see if she will take a glass of wine to the couch. Perhaps those crotchedy bastards will wonder why I bothered to send them such simple nothings, or maybe the poetic counterparts will appreciate a small look into someone’s life, and send me a small look into theirs.
This whole idea has spawned some cool ideas of what to send to whom, but they come to me in the mornings, and I do the writing in the evening when I’m preoccupied and tired, so maybe next time.
I thoroughly recommend A Month of Letters.