You can't reread a phone call

Letter writing is the only device for combining solitude with good company.
Lord Byron

And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart.
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
W.H. Auden

What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can't reread a phone call.
Liz Carpenter

I consider it a good rule for letter-writing to leave unmentioned what the recipient already knows, and instead tell him something new.
Sigmund Freud

Letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Politeness is as much concerned in answering letters within a reasonable time, as it is in returning a bow, immediately.
Lord Chesterfield

In an age like ours, which is not given to letter-writing, we forget what an important part it used to play in people's lives.
Anatole Broyard

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If you love LONG letters and you'd like to become a long-letters-writer, you could start by reading Joana's advices. The first part, and the second.
You can join the discussion in comments, or even here.

What's interesting, is the sort of "war" that seems to exist between long and short letters writers. I don't really like that. We don't have to fight. We all just have different ideas, tastes, requests. Penpalling is great because there isn't just a way to see it, but many. The thing is, the amount of people who can write a long letter is becoming smaller and smaller. Why?
Maybe our life pushes us to write less? We use cellphones, Facebook (well, I don't), Twitter, and everything around us is fast, we have to be fast too and use language in this rush. Not anymore to express our feelings, to open our minds... but just to update our status, to say where we are right now, to a world that doesn't really care.
Why, all around the world, young people seem to forget how to write in their mothertongue? Do we really need to be always so quick? What is the purpose of language, of writing, of penpalling?
Oh, no, I'm not against modernity... I love it. But I think that being smart means... to be able to keep the good from the past, and to use the better from the present. Don't you think?

Why, nowadays, everytime I say I keep a journal, they look at me like I was an alien? Is that so crazy? To indulge a bit, day by day, wondering about what I've done, what I lived... Yes, for sure we don't have a lot of free time now, and we have Internet, TV, and stuff. But I love Internet and still... I keep a journal.

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If you'd like to link my blog with a banner, you can use these:

(Do you need more sizes? Let me know!)

Once upon a time, when we had commercials about letters...

The lost art of massive letters

^ A super-cute envelope by Ria

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Talk in sheets please, not in pages.

What could we do, to be a perfect penpal? Well, we all have requests. I've learned to look at requests first of all, to understand what kind of penpal you could be.
I love massive letters. Not medium, not long, but massive. In a world where a long letter is five A5 sides (not sheets!), I can't say I like long ones.

What is happening, to letter writers? Why can't we write a bit more? Are you really happy, when you receive the "flat, sad envelope"?

Of course, I don't write 50 A4 sheets every time. It depends. I have a life too, and I need to feel ispired, to spend some time on my letters to make them grow and grow. So, I suspect that nowadays we have too many pals to concentrate on every single one. I always try to be quick, to write in a week and to not take months for my replies. But, of course, if I have let's say twenty pals... it could be hard.

Do you have too many pals? Do you focus on every single letter? Do you have the time to write? If not, think about it. What is it better... A very long letter written with heart and care... or two sides of paper with nothing inside?

What a "long letter" is, you decide. You're free, and that's the nicest thing about penpalling. You can search for friends who agree with your definition of "long". But, to start, I suggest to take the amount of pals under control.

Quality, not quantity!!

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And, about the books challenge, I'm going on!!

Progress: 09/50

What I recently sent