Celebrating the release of my new book, A Letter A Week, with my family ~ January 8, 2022
A Letter A Week is a 104-page journal book that allows you to log 52 handwritten letters that you write throughout a year. There are tips and ideas on who and what to write.
Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org. I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Below are other retailers you can order the book from.
For a signed author copy or to order wholesale, please email me at julie@aletteraweek.com.
Who is this book for?
People who enjoy writing letters
People who write once in a while and would like to be more consistent
People who would like a yearlong challenge
The person who needs to unplug from electronics more often
Those who know people in their life that would benefit from reading a letter
The person who rarely picks up a pen and would like to connect to more people
The book will also:
Improve connections with people without email or texts
Be mindful while thinking of others
Show how important the recipient is to the sender
Share gratitude towards others
Have a keepsake to treasure for years
Order your copy today and get ready for a year of writing handwritten letters!
GIVEAWAY!
Check out my Instagram page for random stamp and other merchandise giveaways!
Quick! It starts Thursday (why middle of the week who knows?)! Please consider clicking on this link and sign up for Alexandra Franzen’s free course where she will email you a new letter writing prompt, every day, throughout the seven days of this letter writing week.
I know I can write seven letters no prompting needed, but this will be fun to see what a writing expert inspires within us to script.
I don’t know Alexandra, but I did write her earlier today to thank her in advance for this free “course” and for her having a link to her posts. Any website that has a physical address where I can write to is a plus for me and hopefully the recipient. You must check out the list she has on the main home page that says, “these are my posts”. Let me know if you looked at it and didn’t click on any of them? The 30 mini-love notes for Valentine’s Day…or any day were probably my favorite! I cracked up at some of them, and others were way too technical for my I just want to have fun blog.
One other thing I’ve recently decided to do … it wasn’t a resolution, but after organizing my stationery drawers today (plastic container drawer in the kitchen can wait) and seeing how much I spend on stationery, I am going to try and minimize the purchasing there. I was also encouraged by Dallas Woodburn’s blog where she is dedicating the year to various meanings of simplicity and the first question she asked was to identify things you over purchase. No brainer there. I have yet to meet Dallas too, ( I think our paths will cross soon as her parents live 15 minutes from me) but two things we both admit to over purchasing is stationery and tea. I look forward to her weekly blog posts.
From Dallas Woodburn’s daybydaymasterpiece.com site
Off to get to letters in the mail. One is a birthday card and I’m kind of obsessed with cards arriving on someone’s actual birthday even though most people (of course not those of you reading this) don’t check their mail daily. And, there again, a blog for another time.
I was excited to write a friend a thank you and wrote the wrong year. I never do that! Welcome to 2015. I do script a lot while watching sports events, so I could blame it on Florida winning the toss in the Rose Bowl. A friend from high school was so kind to surprise me with not only a letter, but a package of goodies from where she lives now in Colorado. The best thing about receiving this was that it wasn’t expected and it was very thoughtful. Her timing was impeccable as I had just returned from the hospital (explained in previous post). On a side note, if you ever have to have surgery, I do recommend around Christmas so at least you receive cards in the mail daily and they cheer you up. So, back to my package and the best bonus that I will now start including in an envelope is a lottery scratcher ticket. I’m all about someone has to win and though I’m not obsessed about playing it is always fun to put one in a birthday card or now I will start adding them in my out of state correspondences because if they win they will be forced to mail it back for you to cash it in for them. I’ll keep you posted on that.
Notice the date …
There have been many times I’ve wanted to write about Hannah Brencher, but since I am using her new fold-and-mail stationery, it is as good of time as ever to write about a young mover and shaker that I had the pleasure of talking on the phone with a few years ago when she was just starting The World Needs More Love Letters. (Which, you must check out the website if you haven’t!) Hannah has a very cool story on how she created her website and will now be an author because of its success.
The fold-and-mail stationery that I purchased comes with 40 sheets of paper and ideas on who to write and what to write about. They also come with fold over seals which immediately reminded me of an old letter I received from my great grandmother when I was in college way back in the late 1980’s that I still have. I’ll have to google them to learn about the history or when they disappeared and are now making a come back. I have only used two sheets of paper and though I’m not wild about the patterns, it is a great gift idea and because it looks like a thin book, it would be great to travel with or keep in a briefcase, backpack or bag. The size is perfect with lines, so if you didn’t want to write that much you could skip one.
Back to Hannah. If you are a twenty something person, I encourage you to browse through her website. If you are younger or older you may also like what she says, I just think her main audience is college and post college young people. She has a way with words that I believe will have you agreeing or reminiscing to some part of what she blogs about. I look forward to her coming to Southern California where I live and having coffee with her or walking on the beach someday. She has a book coming out in March, which I highly recommend pre-ordering from your local book store or Amazon.
I honestly don’t remember how I connected with Hannah, but I wrote to her and her then publicist talked to me and we had a short conference call. Like many things in my life, I don’t want to job, I just want to be the cheerleader about it. She was on the east coast and we discussed me being a west coast liaison. I knew from the conversation it wouldn’t really materialize as she was still developing it and I was ok with that. I get pretty excited over stationery and letter writing which I think I conveyed (even though I’m not really a ‘writer’-whatever that means), but one of the most profound things anyone has ever said to me back in May of 2012 after I apologized for being so hyper about what she was embarking on, she said, “You’ve got to own that energy!” So, I like to write letters for MLL (More Love Letters), I’m a follower on Instagram and Facebook and I’m much better about owning the energy about things I have a passion for. There’s a whole different blog about how MLL helped me surprise a friend which I promise to blog about in a future post. Stay tuned!
To go along with what Hannah said to me, why don’t you consider using some energy to write someone you’ve been meaning to thank, encourage, reconnect with or just say hello.
I don’t know about you, but I am so tired of reading 10 steps for this, Seven sure ways to do that. There are so many tips out there on how to write the correct blog post to and ways to get more readership. I am writing this blog solely as an outlet of my passion of letter writing. As you can tell (if you scroll back, I guess), I haven’t written in a few months. I’ve written lots of letters and taken a few photos for blog posts. I’m living life and the days keep going by. The reason for this post is to just say I don’t think you need a reason or a how to write a letter. When you feel compelled to write, just do it. Yes, you’ll need to put some effort into what to say and buy some stamps and know where the nearest post office or mailbox is, but I guess that’s where the time and thoughtfulness comes in. My card choice may not be perfect or my writing sloppy, but my intention ALWAYS behind writing is to sit and connect with that person for a moment–even if they don’t reply.
Above is a sample of some of the stationery I received from girlfriends this month for my birthday. It’s a such a great gift for me and I love thinking of my friends when I send notes to others. I have a French Bulldog that looks just like this card so I was thrilled to receive these. It’s also nice to get stationery that you have never seen before. That’s where specialty card stores are a must for me, especially when we travel. The fall leaves is blank inside and was perfect for this time of year and green is my favorite color so of course I loved these too.
So excited to sit for a bit tomorrow and send cards to friends! It’s National Send a Card to a Friend Day! I of course do this all throughout the year, but tomorrow will be for those close friends, ones I text and see a lot, but don’t really write to that often. It is still fun to take time to let them know how much I appreciate our friendship or send them a little motivation. So many of my friends are hard working moms and sending them a handwritten note is the least I can do for them. I don’t have kids, so I try and let my mom friends know how incredibly awesome they are!
The photo above is where I get my cards when I’m at home. It sits right next to my desk and computer and is within arm’s reach. I purchased this BisleyCollection Cabinet from The Container Store years ago. I love it and spend way too much on stationery, but this is exactly why I started this blog: To inspire others to write letters, “just because …”
I’m not an English major and I’m sure someone can rip apart my grammar. I am passionate about putting pen to paper and hope you will enjoy what I share! I don’t plan on posting just “National” this or that day. I had been sitting on this blog for months and the other day when I read about Thank a Mailman day I decided to dive in! I will share who I write to and hopefully encourage others to write more too! There are many articles out there about the diminishing art of the handwritten letter. I’ll share those, my favorite stationery vendors, other bloggers and organizations that support writing good ol’ snail mail.
Please feel free to add any comments or suggestions! I’m new to this blogging world, but figured I’d give my Facebook friends a break from constantly talking about the art that I love: handwritten letters.
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