Snail Mail: The Art of Letter Writing

In the age of modern technology, everything moves at a faster pace. Some may say that letter writing is a lost art, but in the age of Covid, it’s been making a resurgence. There is no better feeling than coming home from a long, stressful day and opening up your mailbox to find a letter from a friend. Today I’m here with a special guest, Savindi my friend and fellow pen pal to discuss the impact of snail mail in our daily lives.

---

I met Savindi through being a part of the book blogging community through her former blog, The Streetlight Reader. We used to chat frequently by leaving comments on each other’s blog posts and developed a friendship through book blogging. When Savindi stopped blogging we lost touch but eventually got reconnected through social media again. It was as if we never stopped talking and soon she suggested being pen pals. I, myself had just got back into letter writing through a couple of pen pal programs so I agreed. And that’s what really started our friendship.

We would still chat with each other via social media, but I felt the letters were so much more. Social media moves fast and it’s quick and easy to send a text or message to someone on the app. But it’s another thing to receive a handwritten letter. I’m a sentimental person by nature so it’s special to receive a handwritten letter that someone took the time to write. With Savindi and I being such stationery fans, I could always look forward to colorful stationery that she took the time to decorate. Besides the letters, we would swap stationery goodies such as stickers or postcards, or a themed music playlist. It was a way for us to get to know each other better and find out how much we had in common. And over the years she’s become one of my close friends. I cherish our pen pal letters even we tell stories about the most mundane things or chat about what K-Pop songs we have on repeat.

Though people may think snail mail is outdated, I feel the opposite. With Covid, not allowing us to see our friends and family in person, snail mail has not only made its resurgence but also become even more significant. It’s another outlet to share our feelings during this difficult time and one way to bring each other closer.

A friendship can weather most things and thrive in thin soil; but it needs a little mulch of letters and phone calls and small, silly presents every so often – just to save it from drying out completely. 

-Pam Brown

---

Hello, Life of a Female Bibliophile Readers! 

Thank you so much, Rachel, for asking me to participate in this collab post!  Rachel’s already given you an introduction to our blogger/penpal friendship, so I thought I would share my journey into letter writing :).

My earliest memories of any kind of letter writing have to do with my grandma. She was a dedicated letter writer to her family and friends overseas. I think so many of my grandma’s friendships were sustained because of her dedication to writing letters. She would sit at the dining table with her stack of Aerograms, stamps, address book, and pen, ready to tackle the latest bunch of responses she owed to numerous people. I’m still in awe of hers and Rachel’s ability to write straight on blank paper. I would be lucky to have a few straight lines, even with using lined paper underneath blank paper. Rachel can attest to my very crooked writing, lol! But I was always entranced by the amount of information and emotion that could be conveyed on a few pieces of paper (in my grandma’s case, it was one very long paper). 

In 2002 my friends, brother, and I applied to be paired with potential penpals through the organization IYS (International Youth Service), based in Finland. It was founded in the 1950s, and it paired penpals from about 100 countries around the world. Sadly IYS closed its doors in 2008 due to the lack of demand for penpals. I was sad to hear about its closure when I found out. I still have the slips my brother and I received of the penpals we paired up with. I still have the letters I received from my penpals from England, Germany, Finland, and Greece. Sadly, I’m no longer in touch with these penpals; however, I revisit these letters from time to time. It’s always lovely to look at people’s handwriting and admire the effort put into the letters they wrote to you. Today I have one pen pal I met through a website, and the rest of my snail mail correspondence is with friends who moved overseas, friends I met through blogging, social media, and Grad school. 

One of my favourite quotes from the book Notes from a Public Typewriter is, “In person you can pretend, but in writing everything shows as it is meant to be.” I find this to be so true with letter writing as well. Sometimes there are things you feel you could discuss better in a letter than you would in person. As a friend of mine put it, letter writing forces you to be mindful. There’s no backspace or delete button. Instead, there is a bottle of whiteout you probably aren’t too keen on finishing as you’re writing a letter. You cannot write a letter aimlessly. If that’s the case, you should be prepared to be on the Staples website, buying that duo pack of whiteout and maybe some additional stationery goods. Liz Mcguire described pen-palling as an “endurance sport.” I think that is a spot-on description of letter writing in general. It could take hours to write a letter, and in the end, there is a beauty in it. 

To me, letter writing is about the vulnerability we share with people and, in turn, what they share with us. It’s also about the creativity and thought they put into the letter. Ultimately, I think it’s knowing the person you’re writing to and who you receive letters from is curious about you and cares about you. In these times, I think that’s a beautiful thing. 

“A letter is never ill-timed; it never interrupts. Instead it waits for us to find the opportune minute, the quiet moment to savor the message. There is an element of timelessness about letter writing.

-Lois Wyse

---

Q&A Time!

Savindi: What is your favourite letter you wrote to me and your favourite letter you received from me? 

Rachel: That’s a hard question. I guess it would be our first letter exchange. I can see how much my style of letter writing and stationery style has evolved.

Savindi: What is your current letter writing playlist? 

Rachel: I listen to so much music while writing letters, mostly a lot of lofi music. Here’s what’s currently on repeat:

• At Cafe lofi mix
• Swing Beats Lofi Mix (Jazz Hop)
• Moonlit Love Letters (Sailor Moon Inspired Lofi Mix)

Savindi: The best and worst things about letter writing.

Rachel: Getting to connect with friends outside of using digital media and having memories to look back on via paper. The worst? When letters (on the very rare occasion) get lost in the mail.

Savindi: What is your ideal place to write a letter? 

Rachel: At my desk, where all of my stationery is set up. It’s so cozy!

---

Rachel: Where is the farthest destination you’ve mailed a letter to?

Savindi: I have two destinations that qualify as the “furthest destination.” One of them is Australia, and the other is South Africa. 

Rachel: Your stationery aesthetic/style in three words?

Savindi: Colourful, Busy, Whimsical 

Rachel: Favorite places to buy stationery from?

• Stationery Heaven (Based in the Netherlands)
• LaPapierre (Based in Canada)
• BlackEnBlanche (Based in Canada)
• Paper Plus Cloth (Based in Canada)
• Stickii Club (Based in the States)
• The Washi Tape Shop
• Fox and Cactus (Based in Australia) 
• MaskingTapeWashiTape (Based in Hong Kong)
• Every Minute A Story (Based in Canada)

Rachel: What advice would you give to people who want to write letters, make pen pal connections?

• Don’t be intimidated by the colourful stationery you see on Instagram. It’s not a requirement to send letters to penpals. Lined paper or any kind of paper you have on hand is more than acceptable. It’s what’s on the paper that counts :).
• Be curious about the person you’re writing to. You can start off simple, like asking them about their hobbies/interests and sharing information you’d like them to know about you.  As your friendship grows, you can get into more in-depth conversations about what matters to both of you. 
• Instagram seems like one of the ways in which people can make penpal connections these days. I feel people also make pen pal connections through participating in #incowrimo (International Correspondence Writing Month)

---

Thank you again to Savindi for stopping by the blog and collaborating with me on this post. It was fun to share our snail mail encounters. Do you send snail mail? Have you ever have had a pen pal? Share your thoughts in the comments.