I Wrote a book!

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!

Thank you for supporting A Letter A Week!

Universal Letter Writing Week: January 8 – 14, 2015

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.

More Thank You Letters

I’m plugging along with writing thank you and gratitude letters this month. I’ve made it a priority to write to one person a day. Some days I’ve written to a few because as I’m getting the stationery out I sometimes think of someone else. It’s a wonderful “problem” to have.  Some letters have ended up thinking of you type cards, but whatever the sentiment it’s the connecting to the recipient that means the most to me. 

One letter I wrote was to thank two high school girls in Indiana for their generous spirit that I hope becomes a nationwide or worldwide club that is in all high school. How selfless are these teens to first think of this creative idea secondly to take the time to not only write the letters, but to spend time with the patients. I wish much success to Handwritten Hearts.

I wrote to the girls’ high school and again hope they receive the letter to know their news reached me in Southern California. I know there are many different types of organizations out there doing the same thing-one letter at a time. If you know of one, please share in the comments. I’ll have to write another blog post on my favorites, but for now, here are some other people I wrote to last week:

 

*A man I’ve known in our community ran for city council. He didn’t win, but I wrote him to thank him for running and having the courage to get in the arena!

*A friend from high school who isn’t on Facebook (I think there are only six, ha!) but that I wanted to wish a Happy Thanksgiving and thank her for her years of friendship.

*A thank you card to friends who hosted an early Thanksgiving meal. Everyone brought a dish to share and the place setting cards were even handwritten.   Above is a photo of card holder in her kitchen-love it!  I was beaming when I saw this as I know why I associate myself with these friends–because we all still write thank you notes!

*A thank you to my esthetician who does a great job waxing my eyebrows.  I didn’t write her for the service she provides, but for her dedication to losing weight.  We had a nice discussion on discipline and how you have to start small, but keep with it.  I was so inspired by not only how great she looked, but that she didn’t diet or do anything extreme. She started exercising and is committed to making it a part of her daily life.  I’m a big exercise, fitness girl, so I had to write her to say, “Way to go!”

*My French Bulldog’s vet received a thank you this week because when we went for a visit last week they gave us a free bag of turkey and cranberry treats.  Here is a photo of Nitro wanting more after I shoved some in his bone.

Thanksgiving is Thursday. May you not only count your blessings but perhaps take the time to write to someone this week to let them know how thankful you are for them.

Long Overdue Thank You Notes

I have to give Hallmark credit. I am normally one who likes to send stationery that isn’t from a Hallmark store. However, due to not being able to get around that good after hip surgery, I was limited to go to my local Hallmark store. I don’t mean to sound like a snob, but I think I am when it comes to stationery. I love boutique vendors and way too expensive letter press stationery. Limited to time and money on this trip, I found these adorable thank you note cards. I love the colors and the raised ink. Hallmark is a good gig. You gotta hand it to them for also having a special .99 cent card area.
Target and Michael’s can have good selections too. I am having my own cards made as we speak-I’ll tell you more about that soon!

The cards above are being sent to friends who sent me a get well gift or card during my recovery. It is amazing how a note from a loved one can support you when you are under the weather or in my case, laying around for days.

I saw a card once that said, “You’re welcome” on the outside and on the inside read, “Thank you for the thank you card”. I thought that was quite clever.

Who can you send a thank you card to today?

The timing of cards

This photo is from a card that I had for over four years. The reason why I know it has been that long is because I put a return address on it was from a home we lived in four years ago. I’m sure it has many fingerprints on it from me as I’ve taken it out if its “Misc.” drawer dozens of times and always ended up putting it back, feeling as though it just wasn’t the right time or person to send it to.

Yesterday, a friend texted me to see how I was doing after a procedure I had for my hip. (Just a shot to hopefully calm whatever is going on in there-blog for another time! Ha!) Other friends checked in on me too, but for some reason hers stood out and I thumbed back through some our text exchanges and immediately thought, “She makes my life richer!” I headed right over to the card to send to her and it is now somewhere between my mailbox and her home.

She’s not my best friend, we haven’t even hung out a lot, but she’s funny, creative, witty, true and caring. She’s a wife, a mom, a daughter, business savvy and my friend. I hope she enjoys receiving this card as much as I did sending it!

Reason for this post? Buy cards that you like and there will come a time when you’ll instantaneously know who deserves to get it in the mail.

February 7: Send a Card to a Friend Day

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.