For Love and Letter-Writing
A fond farewell to the Write_On Campaign, and a fresh hello to writing letters
Welcome! This week, I reflect on The Write_On Campaign, an invitation to write 30 letters in 30 days in April, National Letter-Writing Month. We are bidding farewell to the campaign, and saying hello to myriad new ways to send and receive hand-written letters.
Audio Version:
Like many of you, I keep a secret stash of letters and cards people have sent to me. In my case, it’s a woven basket buried in my closet, under the hems of summer dresses (wistfully purchased, but never worn because: Bay Area). The lid is bursting off, and I frequently feed it letters like some sacrificial offering to future generations. I sneak in thank you notes, quick hellos, and even heartfelt letters that I myself have written to my husband and children, snatched from the dustbin after a birthday or Christmas melee. I hold these letters dear, as more than just scraps of paper, but as Exhibit A in my life’s work: mementos of love – both giving and receiving.
My love of letters came more of a project than a byproduct of living in 2014, when Tess Darrow and I co-founded the Write_On Campaign, a challenge to write 30 letters in 30 days during National Letter-Writing Month, the month of April. It was Tess’s idea originally, and given that she is an exquisitely generous and talented artist, weaver, designer, gardener, baker, and mom — we spared no detail in getting it off the ground.
We designed and printed special letterpress card kits and offered them at cost to get them into as many hands as possible. We partnered with Sakura of America, who generously donated jelly roll pens to make the letter-writing experience more creative and fun. We wrote heartfelt extolling the virtues of hand-written letters and why we write.
The campaign attracted a wonderful community of letter-writing enthusiasts and, over the years, we explored every avenue we could imagine, including:
Hosting a letter-writing gathering with The Dinner Party, which supports grieving young adults, where we wrote and read letters, many to the deceased. We made this video, Dear You, to capture the experience.
Writing Happy Mail, a do-it-yourself book in which Eunice and I explored techniques for creating beautiful hand-made cards.
Writing a letter to a homeless man with my then 5-year-old son, and receiving the most beautiful response in kind.
Hosting Kindness Card Challenge Zoom calls during COVID with journalist Adrienne Bankert, with brought together artists and writers from around the world to share their stunning paper and calligraphy creations.
As time went on, however, we slowly realized that urging people to write 30 letters in 30 days is not just a challenge — it is verging on the impossible. The 30 letters was built on widespread wisdom that it takes that many days of repetition to build any habit. But letter-writing, in our era of instant gratification and distraction, seemed like a near impossible thing to fit in every day. If we were honest with ourselves, even we couldn’t do it.
Not to say that letter-writing is not still important. It is. As we experience overwhelm and loneliness, slowing down to write a letter is still one of the best ways to simultaneously reconnect with our own source energy and that of another. It is like meditation, but with benefits — the recipient gets a delightful card at the end. It’s just counter-productive to make letter-writing a “should” or add it to a check-list. Like any spiritual or creative experience, the motivation must come from within. It is not for me, or anyone else, to tell you when or where to write a letter.
As a result, this year we are bidding a grateful farewell to The Write_On Campaign, and saying hello to a new approach to writing letters. Again, led by the ingenuity of Tess and her Egg Press team, we are introducing a simple new way to write: The Write Me Back Kit.
The Write Me Back Kit is a simple letter-writing kit that includes two cards – one to send, and one for the person receiving the card to write back. Writing prompts, instructions for the recipient, and decorative stickers are all included. They can be sent whenever, wherever. The kits are $22 and will be available in April, and feature a variety of wonderful artists’ designs, including Ashkahn, Suzy Ultman, Egg Press, and Phoebe Wahl.
We’ll be giving the kits away at a Happy Women Weekend lunch at my house on Saturday, April 26th from 12 - 2:30 p.m. Together with Deborah Huber and Willow Older, creators of Today I Noticed: A Little Book of Mindfulness That Will Change the Way You See the World, we’ll reflect on mindfulness, write letters together, and enjoy the company of many wonderful women, in person. Registration is $150 and includes signed copies of Eunice and my book of gratitude, Thanks a Ton!, and Today I Noticed, plus Write Me Back kits and a delicious organic brunch. If you’re in the Bay Area, please join us and RSVP to jill@happywomendinners.com We’ll consider this to be a farewell celebration to the Write_On Campaign! ❤️
We are grateful to everyone who participated in Write_On over ten wonderful years and we look forward to continuing to support heartfelt letter-writing in the days and years to come! 💌