365 Days of Personal Correspondence - 6 Months Update

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As the end of the first half the year arrives, it's time to share an update on how well my goal of writing 365 pieces of personal correspondence in 2011 is going! After getting ahead of schedule in January and February, my pace slowed in March (29 cards and letters sent), April (11), and May (21) then rebounded in June (39 so far). Altogether I'm only a couple short of my one-a-day goal (178 of 181 complete!).

As the photo suggests, I've had fun sending cards for lesser holidays like St. Patrick's Day and Easter. I've found it helps to have cards, stamps and a pen with me, either in the car, when running errands, or in my bag when traveling. I'm looking forward to the second half of the year!

365 Days of Personal Correspondence - 2 Months In

I had another good month keeping up with my 365 Days of Personal Correspondence project. As the picture, at left, suggests, I sent a small pile of Valentines! And received four! Thanks, friends, for the nice cards!

Overall I sent 35 cards, letters, and packages during the month of February. A little slower than my January pace (when I sent 42) but still quite respectable. The mix was similar to January's:

7 thank yous

8 condolences

10 Valentines

3 congratulations

2 engagements

and the rest a mix of things - happy new home, just because, happy birthday...

This month I got a lot of great feedback - in addition to the four Valentines we received, I've gotten nice emails, comments and even two tweets thanking me for notes I've sent. I'm glad the mail I'm sending out is being well received! (pun intended lol)

I feel like I'm really back in the swing of things, enjoying writing and thinking of others, and getting a lot out of the process. Thanks for following along with me!

365 Days of Personal Correspondence - 31 Day Update

mmmcrafts

It's the end of the first month of my year of personal correspondence and I wanted to share how it's going so far. The good news is I am ahead of schedule! I mailed 42 notes, cards and packages during January!

I thought the breakdown would be about half thank you notes and half other items but it hasn't played out that way thus far. In fact I only wrote 7 thank you notes this month. (Yes, my to-do list is waiting for me to catch up!)

In case you're interested, I also sent

• 10 happy new year cards
• 6 condolence notes
• and the rest were a mix of just because, birthday, new home, engagement, retirement (etc.) cards

I feel a little like I'm exercising muscles I haven't used in awhile - sometimes the writing is easy and other times it is more a struggle and I have to start over fresh. But it feels good to be back in the game, and I'm looking forward to continuing to correspond!

365 Days of Personal Correspondence

Empress Stationery

Instead of trying a 365 Days of Thank Yous (which you can read about here and here), I am going to attempt 365 Days of Personal Correspondence in 2011. I'm hoping this will turn out to be about half thank you notes and half cards and notes for other reasons (birthdays, condolences, new babies, etc.).

I am following a format similar to the one John Kralik used in 365 Days of Thank Yous:

• I've sent up an Excel spreadsheet to track the cards I'm sending. It has columns for the date, reason, name and address. I'm even drafting the thank you notes, and I have to say I enjoy revising - finding a new turn of phrase or extra bit to add makes the process even more enjoyable. I did not expect that to be the case.
• I am not pressuring myself to write a card every single day; it's ok to do several at one time.
• It's ok to write to the same person more than once.
• I'm going to try to be as green as possible. That means using the cards I have before I buy more, and when I buy cards, looking for ones made from recycled paper or recycled materials.

If you're hoping for a card from me, please comment below! I don't want anyone to feel left out!