letters

(NB: This is an archive post, so the issues mentioned in this article are no longer available. But equally attractive current options are to be found at your local post office. Read on.)

This is a call to arms. To everyone, especially people selling things on sites like eBay or Etsy, or people who like sending presents through the mail. Listen up, and get ready to hit Share. Because we’ve got to get the word out, or we’re doomed. (Are you an Internet news site editor looking for content? Go nuts.)

So, you sold something on eBay? Or you’re posting a present? Bloody good on you.

You’ll take your thing to a post office, where a bored employee will weigh it, hit a button, print out a dreary docket, stick it on your thing, and off it goes. Efficient, effective, and YOU’RE THE REASON THE BAD GUYS ARE WINNING! Doubly so if you’re printing out your docket straight from eBay and not even entering a post office.

Who is winning? The forces of BORING! Continue reading →

Thank you so much to everyone who’s been liking and following this blog. It’s nice to know this barely disguised nerdiness is finding an audience in some surprising corners of the world.

I do try to return the favour, and it was while checking out Skiye Mail’s blog [edit: now kaput] that I stumbled across the concept of InCoWriMo. How have I never heard of this? It’s totally what I’m all about!

Inaugurated by a fountain pen enthusiast called Eric Schneider and unashamedly tipping its hat to NaNoWriMo, InCoWriMo is short for International Correspondence Writing Month. Participants pledge to spend the month of February handwriting one letter a day to recipients of their choice. This came a year after a similar challenge, A Month of Letters, was launched by author Mary Robinette Kowal when she took herself offline for a month. Continue reading →