I wish I thought of things before other people did. Mary Robinette Kowal, award-winning writer and puppeteer has conceived a lovely idea for the month of February: call this month Letter Month and send a letter or postcard every day of the month. That’s 24 things, that is.
I’d been wanting to start writing physical letters to friends and family as a gesture of love and regard, but now Mary’s gone and come up with a great idea and I’m in.
But I also know how… the Portuguese word is mole… I am and so I’m coming at this challenge with my eyes wide open. I know if I don’t have a plan and a logical approach to this, one that short-circuits my distractible nature and behavior, I will let it slide after a week or so.
My approach is to have a spreadsheet with a list of the people I’m going to send letters and cards to. I will also maintain a buffer of two letters so that I always for sure have something I can send on each day. What’s more, I have a plan in place just in case I get in a bind and don’t get to it on a certain day. The plan is to buy a card and send it to my wife, with a note about how much I love her.
Yes, that’s very sweet. But what it also is, is a plan. A good one.
So far so good.
This morning I kicked off Letter Month by sending a letter to my Grandma in Lexington. She’s, I think, 90-ish. Tomorrow I will be sending a letter to my dear friend Jena, who lives in Austin. The day after that I will send a letter to a girl called Seraphina I. who lives in England and whom I found on Postpals, a site devoted to having cards and notes sent to kids in England who are in hospital for one reason or another.
And so on! I’m excited about this month and I don’t think I will mind the 10 bucks or so that I spend on postage.
How about joining me and the many others who are taking up this challenge? You can visit the LetterMo site to get more details and join others who are going for it.
I’ll report on how it goes for me a few times this month. Stay tuned.