How To Set The Mood For Letter Writing...

Letter Writing Rituals...

Do you ever find yourself in a frame of mind where you just can't make yourself sit down and write a letter?  Did you know that writing a letter requires a great amount of mental energy? An article I read recently talked about the relationship between creativity and mental and physical energy ( article ).  It all made sense to me.    I guess what I need to say to myself is to SLOW DOWN.   I know it's cliche to say, "slow down and smell the roses"...but there is much wisdom in that saying.  The other morning, I was sitting in my living room with a cup of hot tea  just gazing out the window.  I don't know how long I sat there just gazing, but it was so peaceful and re energizing.  The above photo was taken after I got up.

  

So, Step 1. Slow down, clear your mind of "the tyranny of the immediate".  It also helps to make sure you are getting proper rest and nutrition. 

Step 2.  Declutter your work area.  "A cluttered workspace evokes a distracted mind." was straight out of the article.  For me, not only the immediate work area needs to be neat and tidy, but also the entire room.  

Step 3:  Have supplies at the ready.  I usually spend a craft session or two making envelopes, or the bones of  several flip books.  It is a good idea (if you make your own stationery) to also have plenty of that available ahead of time.  I like to rubber stamp my sheets, but wouldn't that take an immense  amount of time if you were going through that process for each letter?  I also try to have "happy mail" packets ready to go.  I truly dislike searching everywhere for supplies.  It is draining .

Along with general supplies, stationery, envelopes,  stickers are a nice touch, and require no artistic talent.

Step 4:  Let's not forget to stop and take a break for tea!  A little refreshment along the way will recharge you!

Along with step 3, and having some "happy mail" (little paper gifts such as stickers, die cuts, etc. that you can share with your pen friend), be on the look out for items to "enclose" in your letter.  I found these sturdy scripture cards that I have started to enclose with  my letters.  

Once you have finished your letter by putting it in the envelope and sealing it up,  you may find it evokes a sense of accomplishment. For me, that includes the thought that  I was able to give the gift of a letter to someone.  This gift not only  was a tangible item of which I may have spent quite a bit of time creating, but it is a gift in another way.  It is a gift of my time in which I have  focused solely on them.  

Thinking about all of these things, makes me more aware of how I might learn to be more productive in my life in general, not just in letter writing.  I hope it has helped you too.   Please leave your comments below, and be a part of this conversation!  I would love to hear from you!

Write Letters,

Write Often,

Lady Pamela

The Art Of Keeping Warm

The Art of Keeping Warm, Literary--ily Speaking!

The east coast, and possibly much of the country is under a storm warning...we may get up to 8 inches of snow.  I know, I know...you folks in the north and midwest are crying out at a mere 8 inches.   However, Richmond IS the gateway to the SOUTH!  It shouldn't be that cold here!  So it is time to break out the socks!  And not ANY socks will do... especially when these gorgeous Jane Austen quotation socks are available!

I had to grab my "Emma" from my 16 year old son's room.  Yes you heard that correctly, my 16 year old son is taking British literature and was assigned to read Emma last semester.  He was nearly finished with the book when we decided to watch the  1996 Gwyneth Paltrow movie together.  He absolutely loved it, and it cleared up some of the nuances  of language that he wasn't quite getting by reading.  Actually, I didn't know he laid hold of  my favorite edition....the edges are curled a bit, but that is a SMALL price to pay to have a 16 year old boy read Austen!  

The Jane Austen Quote on the sock reads:  "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like 

reading." Jane Austen  

I couldn't agree more!

Teavana White Chocolate Peppermint Tea (to die for, delicious!)

After taking this picture....I had to grab a mug and fill it to the brim to warm my hands.  That is the down side to living in a 100 year old Virginian farm house.  So grab your socks, hot beverage, a favorite Jane Austen Book and hunker down...that's the art of staying warm!

Stay warm!

Write Letters 

Write Often,

Lady Pamela

The Model Letter Writer

Are you a Model Letter Writer?

The Model Letter Writer

Or, Art of Polite Correspondence 

For

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Containing A 

Complete Essay on Letter Writing,

Also A Course Of Interesting Letters On

BUSINESS, LOVE, COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE

BY:  NELLIE GREENWAY (c.  1910)

This book is AMAZING!  Never mind that the book is literally  crumbling in my very hands, it is a gem in the rough.   What really caught my eye was the introduction which is a 28 page Essay on Letter Writing.  Oh yes, this is definitely up my ally.  

I hope to give my readers little snippets of this charming book over time.  But, dear reader, be sure to have a dictionary close at hand.  You will find, sadly, that our vocabulary has quite shrunk over time.   So let us begin with a portion from the Essay.

CONCISENESS OR PROLIXITY OF STYLE

Conciseness is one of the charms of letter -writing: we do not mean to say that a letter should not contain sufficient facts , ideas, and feelings; but they ought to be as briefly expressed as perspicuity and elegance will permit.  If we encounter an idea with verbiage, it loses it power.  There are some persons who, when they express a feeling or a thought, of which simplicity should be the charm, clothe it with all the verbs they possess: this is like wearing one's whole wardrobe at once;the figure is lost in the mass of drapery.  Lengthened periods are as much out of place in a letter as they would be in conversation, of which letters may be called the prototype; for they tire the reader even more than they would the hearer : when written, their faults are also perceived with much less difficulty than when spoken.  Our style of course, may rise with our subject: but all parade of words should be dropped in a familiar epistle.  The death of a friend  or relation , a calamity, or any circumstance of grave importance should not be communicated in the same manner as a trifling occurrence , or even a happy event: brevity, in these cases , is beauty; in those it would be deemed unfeeling and abrupt.  "You ask me to send you news of your favorite school-fellow, Harriet:--she is married."  This mode of communicating such an even is unexceptionable: but it would be most improper to state the death of a person in the same manner;that is, by merely substituting "dead" for "married."  In announcing the death if a friend, we should communicate the fact in a way comporting with the gravity of the subject as thus--"It is with melancholy feelings I reply to your inquiries respecting our old school-fellow, Charles Grosvenor.  A few weeks ago he was the animated and intelligent companion of all around him,but he was seized with a typhus fever , the violence of which baffled the skill of his physicians, and terminated his life last week, at the house of his father."

But in aiming at the acquirement of an elegant and easy brevity, it is incumbent on us at once to avoid falling into a rugged or an enigmatical style, and becoming so concise as to be unintelligible.  Boileau, echoing Horace, says, "J evite d'être long ,et je divines obscure."  This is a fault which must be avoided; it is even better to be prol 'x and intelligible than brief and obscure.

To an absent friend, an elaborate letter will be most welcome: a stranger, a superior , or a person of whom the writer is seeks something, will recoil from a "folio of four pages" and, perhaps, throw it aside unread ,or, at best, but slightly skimmed over.  When the party, to whom a letter is addressed , is uninterested in the subject on which it is written, the writer  of it should display a brevity, which will attract attention, and insure a perusal :  no unnecessary ornament should be used, nor , in fact, anything introduced but what is important and bears strongly on the case stated, or the inquiry made.

All these little personal details and trifling circumstances which are so delightful in a letter from a friend, would fatigue and disgust a stranger, or a superior, to whom they are destitute of interest.

Lessons I learned from this portion:  

1.  Too  much flowery talk in a letter loses power.

2.  There is a balance between too much information and too little.  Avoid coldness with excessive conciseness.

3. Be sure to approach subjects of gravity (death of a friend, calamity ) with great care and sensitivity.

4.  Be conscience of your relationship with  the  recipient .  If the recipient is a total stranger,  then there needs to be brevity and  a "getting to the point" in the letter.

I hope you have enjoyed this little lesson on letter writing from the past.

Write Letters,

Write Often,

Lady Pamela