For the Love of Letter Writing

The goal for 2014 was small; find balance, connection and calmness of mind.  Regain courage (for I discovered along the way I already had it).  Share my voice even if contrary.  I’m being facetious about the size of the goal for it is lofty indeed and not easily achievable in one year’s time.

The desire for change started me on the path and once on the path there was nowhere to go but forward.  Patience and faith is crucial, for the steps along the way are revealed only to those who are looking and the pace is slow, slower than the speed of this crazy chaotic instant gratification world.

Creativity presented itself as an invaluable instructor.  What better way to let go of the things that can prevent one from reaching those goals – comparison, perfectionism and fear of not being good enough – than painting or drawing when you have no skill.  Singing when you can’t read music.  Dancing when you don’t know the steps.  Writing when you don’t know how to put your thoughts into words.

Creativity is about doing something.  And the willingness to do something badly is far better than doing nothing at all.  After all, who’s to say it’s bad?  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and each of us view the world with a different set of eyes.

So if Creativity is my instructor why have I not written a blog post in 4 months?  I’ll be honest.  Life intervened and I lost focus.  There’s the butterfly angle, both scientific and inspirational.  Fall migration and Winter overwintering is an important and symbolic part of a Monarch’s life.  But these events don’t occur in my atrium.  Writing about something that is not in front of me, that I have not experienced, feels pedantic.  My focus could be inspiration without any reference to Monarchs.  But that feels too broad and too forced.  The best gems are stumbled on, not sought after.  So I let it go and took a break.

But writing, the art of expressing myself with the written word, is always on my mind.  And just because I’m not blog writing doesn’t mean I’m not writing.  I have been writing in one form or another since I was young.  In elementary school I wrote and illustrated stories.  Am I too embarrassed to say that I still have them?  No!  And they are fun to go back and read!  Journal writing and poetry were significant junior high and high school activities; they got me through tough years.

I was and still am a prolific letter writer.  From pen pals to a very long term correspondence with a dear friend that amassed hundreds of letters.  I can’t send out a holiday card without hand signing my name and writing a short note.  I write postcards when I travel.  There is something about a letter that is very personal.  A phone call requires such an immediate and spontaneous response and what’s being said can oftentimes get lost in the dynamics of the relationship.  A text is too short and cryptic and is often written hastily and while multi-tasking.  For the period of time in which a letter is being written you focus on nothing but that person and you say what you want or need to say as your best possible self.  A letter makes you think about language, about words and their meaning.  A letter is a little piece of history; a document that can be referred to over and over again.

After completing my formal education I dreamt of publishing something.  I took a creative writing class and joined a writer’s group.  I wrote and submitted short stories for publication (unsuccessfully) and even started a novel.  I quickly learned that this type of writing was not for me; it wasn’t personal enough, I didn’t know how to translate my experiences into stories.

I brought my love of writing, quite unintentionally, into my career writing newsletters and user manuals for people learning how to use software.

In 2014 I started writing a handwritten journal.  It feels important to say that it’s handwritten since everything is on the computer these days.  Oh I admit my handwriting is sloppy and my hand cramps up; but there is something different about the way the mind thinks when putting pen to paper, and there are days when doing so feels more real than typing.

In 2014 I started this blog.

In 2014 I joined an online community of people working through Brene Brown’s Gifts of Imperfection eCourse and Julia Cameron’s Artist Way program. In those programs I learned to listen to people through their writing and to translate the garbled thoughts in my head into meaningful, supportive words.

In 2014 I made a new friend with a similar passion for letter writing.  This is the best of all for I am rich in friendship and in the re-discovery of an old love – letter writing.  Okay, we email.  But in my mind, an email written like a letter is a letter.

A letter can be a novella.  A letter can be a memoir.  A letter can be a journal entry containing your deepest thoughts, a description of the most perfect tree you saw while out walking, a sharing of a joyous or shameful moment, a poem, a conversation, a tribute, a farewell, an inspiration to keep going, a mere “Hello, I’m here thinking of you”.

So here is an idea that I’m mulling around in my head.  Tell me what you think.  What if my blog posts are letters.

The word that is heard perishes, but the letter that is written remains.   ~ Proverbs

Letter writing is an excellent way of slowing down this lunatic helter skelter universe long enough to gather one’s thoughts.  ~ Nick Bantock