Hello, and happy February! It’s a short month but a busy one for me with reviews, projects, and snail mail! Snail mail, you ask? Yes, snail mail.

February plays host to an absolutely delightful event known as International Correspondence Writing Month, or InCoWriMo. Word nerds such as myself post our contact information on the address exchange forum, and then spend the next month—and often beyond—penning letters to interesting fellow word nerds the whole world over. So far I have sent letters and postcards to Italy, Germany, England, South Africa, Georgia (the state, not the country, but that would be cool), South Dakota, South Carolina, Connecticut (practically neighbors!), Texas, California, Maryland, and Michigan. I have come home to letters from California, Mississippi, and Concord, MA, another almost neighbor! I’ve visited her town, as a matter of fact. My all-time favorite author Louisa May Alcott was a long-time Concord resident and is buried there in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. Today I came home to a reply from my new friend in Maryland. A lovely person in California got an early start to InCoWriMo and I received her letter in mid-January.

I absolutely love the idea of a month dedicated to letter writing. I love letters and postcards. Maybe it’s the part of me that is enamored of the nineteenth century (i.e., extremely pre-texting), maybe it’s the writer in me, maybe it’s because it’s far more enjoyable to find a letter in the mailbox than the electric bill. Or it could be the life-long reader that I am. I love reading journals and collections of letters. Published journals, that is. I’m not sneaking into my kids’ rooms to hijack their diaries, ew. Etty Hillesum’s Letters From Westerbork, Krystyna Wituska’s I am First a Human Being, Emily Dickinson’s letters to Susan Gilbert, titled Open Me Carefully; My Dearest Friend, the letters of Abigail and John Adams (she is a particular heroine of mine); the Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott, the letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, and those of Elinore Pruitt Stewart are treasures that grace my bookshelves along with the journals of Alice James, Louisa May Alcott, Edith Holden, and Martha Ballard.

I think part of why I enjoy reading others’ thoughts, news, and gossip is because it allows you to meet the writer, to see the person behind the words. Martha Ballard was writing only for herself in her 1785 journals, so there is no pretense, no posturing or polishing. Elinore Pruitt Stewart’s letters were written for an audience, specifically Juliet Coney, and perhaps whomever Juliet might share them with, presumably acquaintances of both ladies. Elinore could never have imagined that her letters would be read by another woman, a stranger to her and everyone she knew, 114 years after the fact. (As an aside, her letters are delightful.)

The lead up to InCoWriMo is so much fun, looking up participants, visiting Etsy to shop for the most fabulous postcards to be found—I bought some lovely funky glow-in-the-dark bunny postcards that I never knew I needed. I have gleefully sent them out into the world for others to enjoy as much as I am.

On the subject of delightful things, while scrolling through back episodes of the Ologies podcast I came across an episode on Deltiology. Ologies is one of my favorite podcasts; each episode is a wander through the wonderful world of sciency-stuff. It is very listener friendly: I am a total science newbie, and I can easily follow along with the discussions. It is informative, and really funny. Check it out. So, back to Deltiology. There actually exists in this world the historical study of postcards. And yes, I flagged the episode to listen to on February 1^st, and it was delightfully fascinating. Fascinatingly delightful? Both? Yes. Go give it a listen: Ologies with Alie Ward, Deltiology from June 19, 2018 (I went way back).

If you are interested in diving into the world of snail mail (not to be confused with actual snails, as explored in the Ologies episode Malacology from July 17, 2018) visit incowrimo.org to join the fun. Some people are interested in quick postcard exchanges, others are up for long-term penpal conversations. If you are interested in meeting new people from the comfort of your couch, with the occasional trip to the post office, pick up a pen and write a letter.

Happy writing!

Ologies with Alie Ward is available from Apple Podcasts. It might be on Spotify as well; I think I have an account, but I never remember to log in….

InCoWriMo! http://incowrimo.org