Writing letters to friends

[steve b]

I was just wonder how many people still maintain friendships through letters. I don't think I know anybody who writes to friends which seems rather sad. I've certainly never maintained a friendship through writing. Probably as much to do with my poor written skills as much as a lack of people to write too.

I find the further I progress up the slipper pole the more time I spend writing documents. But the only time I get a chance to write with a pen is when taking notes and minutes in meetings. I wish I could find an opportunity to do some letter writing and develope some penmanship skills.

[jbb]

I have a bunch of "pen pals" through both Fountain Pen Network and Pentrace. Here's a link to the FPN string about it:

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/in...?showtopic=2314

 

It's so much fun to send and receive handwritten mail. It's a wonderful excuse to use your pens and buy nice paper too.

[limesally]

I have one friend - but only one - with whom I have a regular smail mail correspondence; we've been writing each other for over twenty years. Sadly, within the last 10 or so we've moved to using the computer. I think I will hand write the next one, though.

 

He's the last friend I have that I still write to, though. Everyone else, including my family, has shifted to e-mail. It really is kind of sad!

[wvbeetlebug]

I have a pen pal I've been writing to since I was in junior high. We both have each others contact information, but we pretty much stick to pen and paper. I have acquired a few more from here.

[Paddler]

I have friends that I keep in contact with via snail mail. We usually do e-mail, but sometimes I'll twist their minds and send a handwritten letter. Using the stationery that folds into its own envelope and locks shut with its stamp really breaks them off at the ankles.

 

Paddler

 

[Titivillus]

-->

QUOTE(steve b @ Nov 1 2007, 03:26 PM) 407928[/snapback]

I was just wonder how many people still maintain friendships through letters. I don't think I know anybody who writes to friends which seems rather sad. I've certainly never maintained a friendship through writing. Probably as much to do with my poor written skills as much as a lack of people to write too.

 

I've got a correspondence with some college friends that's going on a decade and a half now it has slowed as our lives have speeded up but it is still there, as well there are 3 or 4 others who I've got at least 6 years of correspondence with.

 

Last count I had near a thousand letters from people on Pentrace & here.

 

Give me a pm and maybe we can write.

 

Kurt

 

[Hélène]

my boyfriend (of more than a year and a half) is in Navy boot camp so he is allowed snail mail only, so we currently have a long distance letter only relationship. when he gets out of boot camp we will be able to talk and email but currently it is snail mail only. his letters are written with a military issue ball point on military issue sationery(two designs; Naval Training Center Great Lakes, Illinois and The United States Navy)

[Bill D]

I write my daughter, who is away in college. She says no one else she knows gets "real" letters. I think she likes it, but she never writes back.

 

Bill

[Paddler]

I write my daughter, who is away in college. She says no one else she knows gets "real" letters. I think she likes it, but she never writes back.

 

Bill

 

Well, give her a pen, for heaven's sake!

 

Paddler

 

[acfrery]

I have a few excellent pen pals, half of them I know in person (and I meet almost every day a couple of them, but this does not impair our snailing). The other half seem as close to me as the ones I know in person. Our communication is a delight.

 

Alejandro

[Carrie]

I keep in touch with a couple of old uni friends through letters, some of those live down south and some in different countries. It's been a decade since I was doing my Masters.

 

Other letters are written to penpals, some of whom I've had the pleasure to meet. My longest penpal correspondences have been going on since 1993.

[PAKMAN]

I was just thinking of writing an old friend from High School. Sadly the main reason was to get his new email address!

[jd50ae]

I write my daughter, who is away in college. She says no one else she knows gets "real" letters. I think she likes it, but she never writes back.

 

Bill

 

Well, give her a pen, for heaven's sake!

 

Paddler

 

Really.

College students often need a nudge.

[Ringtop]

I write to both my parents, and they mostly write me back. I have a few pen-pals from this list, too, although a couple of them haven't written me in a while, and I owe a couple more of them a letter...which I should go write right now.

 

I've tried writing regular friends, and I usually just get an e-mail back exclaiming their surprise at getting a real letter. So, I do treasure the people I correspond with now. Otherwise my fountain pens would just be used for not writing in my journal, and the occasional grocery list.

 

Vida

[Mad Mama]

Who gets my letters?

A retired nun in NYC who helped me tremendously in high school. She doesn't own a computer.

A retired college English prof in CT, a mentor, who rejects owning a computer.

A friend in a nursing home in Indiana who doesn't have access to a computer.

A close friend in Seattle who enjoys getting snail mail.

My 3-month old grandson in Rochester, NY whose first name is a family surname; I'm writing the history of that branch of the family to him in installments.

My best friend-cousin in a rural part of Ireland. She only has dial-up.

I usually enclose a short hand-written note in birthday cards, etc. to people I don't see often. A computer-generated note seems to diminish the personal touch of the card.

 

Why do I write letters?

I don't much like talking on the phone.

I like the "warts and all" imperfection of not being tempted to edit; they get the real, not the wordsmithed, me, for good or ill.

I like using the envelopes I make from old calendars, maps, etc. and sending word-processed letters in them grates on my sensibilities.

I will find any excuse to use my fountain pens.

But my #1 reason for handwriting letters is my shameful secret: I smoke cigarettes. Since I don't smoke in the house, I write while I smoke on the deck. It makes the time go faster and helps rationalize that I'm not actually wasting time.

 

Interesting topic. Thanks for suggesting it.

 

 

 

[Bill D]

I write my daughter, who is away in college. She says no one else she knows gets "real" letters. I think she likes it, but she never writes back.

 

Bill

 

Well, give her a pen, for heaven's sake!

 

Paddler

 

Really.

College students often need a nudge.

 

 

Oh, I've given her pens and inks and stationery, but she's a telephone person... talks all the time to her mother. She's probably just as frustrated by me because I don't like to talk on the phone. It's OK

 

Bill

[playpen]

I write to a few people on FPN and although they are as different as (sorry folks) night and day, they are all wonderful, intelligent people.

When I reach into the mailbox and discover a letter from one of my pals, I am so delighted! It's exciting to even get a stamp from a far away place but to actually receive a letter that someone took the time out of their life to write just to me, is fabulous beyond words!

In my opinion, this network is building bridges, one letter at a time in a way that no other organization ever could. We are not being forced to know one another, we're doing it just because and that's the best reason of all!

[playpen]

admin please remove duplicate post.

Edited November 5, 2007 by playpen

[kudzu]

Hi, steve b - interesting topic. (And hi, jbb! my FPN dip pen encourager, mentor and pen pal.) Since I started with fountain pens early this year, I write EVERYONE. I used to use email alot, but now I just write. Even to people who live in the same town! I come from a large family and have elderly aunts and uncles, plus my mother, who all get regular handwritten letters from me. I have a dear friend who lives fairly close & is young enough to be my daughter who is now into fountain pens, too, and I write her 4-5 times/wk. I hear back from jbb, my young friend who also likes pens now, and from my uncle who recently sent me my granddad's beautiful old Wahl Eversharp pen. I was writing my 8-yr old granddaughter (now 9) a couple of times a week, and she seemed to tire of getting the letters, so I'm going to write her a little more infrequently to make it still fun for her to receive (she was getting very blase about them to the point of not opening them for a couple of days). To that end, I just bought some Noodler's Blue Ghost Ink and plan to give her the right kind of light for Christmas to read my invisible, "secret" letters to her. But when all is said and done, I write because *I* love the motion of writing. I love the dance between pen and paper, I love the joy of discovering just the right pen to make an ink zing. And most folks really DO love to get actual letters in their mailboxes. I go ga-ga over jbb's letters (they are little masterpieces of flex dip pen artistry), and I savor my young friend's notes to me, too. Mail is just fun!

[Judybug]

Why do I write letters?

I don't much like talking on the phone.

I like the "warts and all" imperfection of not being tempted to edit; they get the real, not the wordsmithed, me, for good or ill.

I like using the envelopes I make from old calendars, maps, etc. and sending word-processed letters in them grates on my sensibilities.

I will find any excuse to use my fountain pens.

But my #1 reason for handwriting letters is my shameful secret: I smoke cigarettes. Since I don't smoke in the house, I write while I smoke on the deck. It makes the time go faster and helps rationalize that I'm not actually wasting time.

 

Interesting topic. Thanks for suggesting it.

 

I'm not a smoker, but I share all your other reasons for writing letters. Many thanks for the idea about making envelopes from old calendars. Why didn't I think of that?! I have a stack of old calendars with such beautiful pictures I can't throw them away.

 

For personal letters I too like being relieved of the temptation to edit. Even when arthritis insists that I do a letter on the computer, I resist the temptation to edit.

 

Phone calls are OK, but when the call is over - it's over. I can enjoy a letter over and over again.

 

And yes, I always find an excuse to use my pens - lists, multiple journals, letters, notes, etc.

 

Judybug