I am looking forward to this new course about letters! I used to be an avid letter writer. I started making a list of all the things I associate with letters and letter writing in my notebook this morning and was surprised at what connections were reanimated for me. Thank you for this post Jeannine!
Letters are so special…. I remember having several penpals at different points in my childhood and oh the magic of getting a freshly stamped envelope in the mail!
My last communications with my father before our estrangement were via letter. Should I choose to reach out to him in the future, it would still be via letter.
I will also say this (for myself and anyone else who might need it): I will be reading and following and will try to share/comment as I can, but with School starting, I know I need to be mindful of my capacity and limitations.
So, If I need to be more of a lurker please know I’m still there and very excited!
Looking forward to writing with you! And yes- I am aware of the tug and time, too. Thanks for saying that here. I am hoping to find a happy balance or just go full Odysseus/ Circe and convince Jeannine to make summer camp on an island year round…
Honestly, it feels like we are already there. So much great stuff. I like and admire the way we evolve as a group and the sense of time passing, new voices emerging, other voices ebbing and flowing. It feels organic and right, not forced. What a gift to be part of that evolution.
Excited about this, Jeannine. I confess that I am new to the WITD community, so...do we post our letters in the comments? How are the WIP shared?
Letter-writing was how I originally fell in love with this art form. In high school, I penned lengthy musings to friends, who often sought my advice. I simply wrote in what I now know (from my counseling background) as a form of free association, drafting whatever came to mind without censorship. And my friends, in turn, would often marvel after receiving what I wrote and tell me how personal, intimate, and wise (?) they found my letters to be. My best friend at the time, Amy, nudged me to consider pursuing a degree in creative writing, but I never did (biggest regret of my life). Instead, I went into the field of psychology, then got a master's in counseling.
But the intimacy of letters still draws me to hand-write my holiday cards, thank-you notes, and others. Sometimes, if I feel the urge, I will write a "just because" note to a friend I haven't seen or spoken with in a long time, to say "I am thinking of you." It's like a wink, a hug, a gift.
And I've been thinking about letters this week, anyway. My morning pages are filled with snippets from memories of both sending and receiving letters, of constructing letters to myself ("Dear 10-year-old Jeannie" or "Dear 35-year-old Jeannie," depending on the assignment to either write to your younger or older self), of furiously scribbling notes I knew I would never send to anyone, of letters to God. And, yes, to the dead.
Hi, Jeannie! Yes, we just post what we call snippets in the comments. I usually give a word cap, so sometimes that means you just post an excerpt of what you wrote. It's inspiring that your doorway into writing was through letters. And to me, psychology seems the field most adjacent to creative writing. Seems like with what you've been already doing, you are very well primed for this one. ❤️
Jeannie, I too started writing via letters to my nan, mum and dad whilst on a cycle tour way back in 1994 when the iphone was not invented yet. I wrote via postcards from the country I was in, it was away to express my feelings about what I was experiencing and hopefully allow them to experience it too. I received postcards from them too but had to let them know where to send it and wait for the next town. It felt so exciting 🤩 I miss that.
I can’t wait. This intensive made me remember the way my family communicated in letters even while in the same house, at least for my mom and me, and my sister and her, too. Going to church hearing the readings announced as “ Paul’s letters to the..” just made sense as a container, the way religion rhyme with home life as a child.
Maybe that’s why I love the comments? It’s way to keep the conversation going, but with written clarity.
Every letter and post card I ever sent to my parents came back to me when we cleaned out their house. As did the replies they sent while I still lived under their roof, because my mom never threw a letter away. Which meant I had to. I have the same plastic bin full of several winnowed lifetimes. My unsent ones are in my head, not in print. Yet?
Oh wow--they all came back to you. Yes, of course. And that's so powerful. Also, the idea of the comments, of course! This, too, is epistolary. I even sometimes sign off on mine (xoxo)! Because I know in my mind, I am writing to you. It is direct address, a form of a letter.
I've letters from the 1800s ...well copies now, originals sadly went to the local tip when my mother had a clean out. So glad I'd scanned them!! The social history is priceless.
Plus others, originals, from my long gone grandmother. She write what I call The Silver Fairy stories to me and my brother, as part of her letters.
I’m very excited for this course. It seems to be dropping at the right time in my life; as a subscriber who has stood on the margins of several of your recent WITD offerings and watched the writings and comments swim by, this time I’m determined to write something, and write deliciously imperfectly.
Thanks Jeannine, really looking forward to this. I had wished I had sent letters to my father. Maybe I could have reached his heart that way.
I am intrigued on what you will teach us regarding "How expansive is the idea of a letter" is. You had me wondering about "What about messages in bottles? Or missives to the dead? Or our past or future selves? Or to lost friends, places, or dreams?".
I have written letters to my future self before in terms of how I want be as a person in say 1 years time, what I have achieved, where I am living and who I am with , what success I've had and life lessons etc, like a goal to go for.
It's magical when some of it comes true or a version of it comes true.
I have considered writing letters to my past self (my inner child) for reassuring and support in the times of suffering and insecurity to heal. Or write letters to old acquaintances and friends I lost to reassure me, it was not me, but allowing them to move on.
And also writing to the deceased members of my family who were both my "best friends" or "worst enemy" to say what they meant to me and how they influenced my life and for the sake of feeling better right now and shaking off the shame, guilt or 'what if's" so I can release, heal and forgive.
Anyway, so looking forward to your teachings as always ❤️
I am looking forward to this new course about letters! I used to be an avid letter writer. I started making a list of all the things I associate with letters and letter writing in my notebook this morning and was surprised at what connections were reanimated for me. Thank you for this post Jeannine!
That's so synergistic, Tammy. I'm excited, too. I'm really open minded about what we might do, and just want to explore. Let's see!
I’m very much looking forward to this ❤️
Letters are so special…. I remember having several penpals at different points in my childhood and oh the magic of getting a freshly stamped envelope in the mail!
My last communications with my father before our estrangement were via letter. Should I choose to reach out to him in the future, it would still be via letter.
I will also say this (for myself and anyone else who might need it): I will be reading and following and will try to share/comment as I can, but with School starting, I know I need to be mindful of my capacity and limitations.
So, If I need to be more of a lurker please know I’m still there and very excited!
Oh, how I feel the father aspect. Love to you. And lurking is always invited. It can sink in slowly, this work, and it's always there.
Looking forward to writing with you! And yes- I am aware of the tug and time, too. Thanks for saying that here. I am hoping to find a happy balance or just go full Odysseus/ Circe and convince Jeannine to make summer camp on an island year round…
How amazing would that be?!
Honestly, it feels like we are already there. So much great stuff. I like and admire the way we evolve as a group and the sense of time passing, new voices emerging, other voices ebbing and flowing. It feels organic and right, not forced. What a gift to be part of that evolution.
Excited about this, Jeannine. I confess that I am new to the WITD community, so...do we post our letters in the comments? How are the WIP shared?
Letter-writing was how I originally fell in love with this art form. In high school, I penned lengthy musings to friends, who often sought my advice. I simply wrote in what I now know (from my counseling background) as a form of free association, drafting whatever came to mind without censorship. And my friends, in turn, would often marvel after receiving what I wrote and tell me how personal, intimate, and wise (?) they found my letters to be. My best friend at the time, Amy, nudged me to consider pursuing a degree in creative writing, but I never did (biggest regret of my life). Instead, I went into the field of psychology, then got a master's in counseling.
But the intimacy of letters still draws me to hand-write my holiday cards, thank-you notes, and others. Sometimes, if I feel the urge, I will write a "just because" note to a friend I haven't seen or spoken with in a long time, to say "I am thinking of you." It's like a wink, a hug, a gift.
And I've been thinking about letters this week, anyway. My morning pages are filled with snippets from memories of both sending and receiving letters, of constructing letters to myself ("Dear 10-year-old Jeannie" or "Dear 35-year-old Jeannie," depending on the assignment to either write to your younger or older self), of furiously scribbling notes I knew I would never send to anyone, of letters to God. And, yes, to the dead.
Hi, Jeannie! Yes, we just post what we call snippets in the comments. I usually give a word cap, so sometimes that means you just post an excerpt of what you wrote. It's inspiring that your doorway into writing was through letters. And to me, psychology seems the field most adjacent to creative writing. Seems like with what you've been already doing, you are very well primed for this one. ❤️
Jeannie, I too started writing via letters to my nan, mum and dad whilst on a cycle tour way back in 1994 when the iphone was not invented yet. I wrote via postcards from the country I was in, it was away to express my feelings about what I was experiencing and hopefully allow them to experience it too. I received postcards from them too but had to let them know where to send it and wait for the next town. It felt so exciting 🤩 I miss that.
I can’t wait. This intensive made me remember the way my family communicated in letters even while in the same house, at least for my mom and me, and my sister and her, too. Going to church hearing the readings announced as “ Paul’s letters to the..” just made sense as a container, the way religion rhyme with home life as a child.
Maybe that’s why I love the comments? It’s way to keep the conversation going, but with written clarity.
Every letter and post card I ever sent to my parents came back to me when we cleaned out their house. As did the replies they sent while I still lived under their roof, because my mom never threw a letter away. Which meant I had to. I have the same plastic bin full of several winnowed lifetimes. My unsent ones are in my head, not in print. Yet?
Oh wow--they all came back to you. Yes, of course. And that's so powerful. Also, the idea of the comments, of course! This, too, is epistolary. I even sometimes sign off on mine (xoxo)! Because I know in my mind, I am writing to you. It is direct address, a form of a letter.
I'm looking forward to this!
I've letters from the 1800s ...well copies now, originals sadly went to the local tip when my mother had a clean out. So glad I'd scanned them!! The social history is priceless.
Plus others, originals, from my long gone grandmother. She write what I call The Silver Fairy stories to me and my brother, as part of her letters.
Invaluable.
I'm keen to write letters as part of memoir. 🩵
The Silver Fairy stories 🥰🥰🥰
What a treasure!
Every Substack post I send out is a letter written from the heart. I’m really looking forward to the letter intensive!
I’m very excited for this course. It seems to be dropping at the right time in my life; as a subscriber who has stood on the margins of several of your recent WITD offerings and watched the writings and comments swim by, this time I’m determined to write something, and write deliciously imperfectly.
Deliciously imperfectly — yes yes yes!
You might appreciate tomorrow’s post, which touches on delicious imperfection ❤️
Can’t wait!
This should be interesting. I’m thinking I may do letters to heroes or letters to those gone. But I don’t want to predetermine.
Right, stay open, because the exercises will nudge you in new directions, too! You can always do more and other than what's invited, too.
yeah I just jotted down possible lists of letter recipients or subjects to myself to get that out of the way
Tilling the soil ...
My favoriteeeeee🥰✨🖊️ So Excited for this!!!!
Thanks Jeannine, really looking forward to this. I had wished I had sent letters to my father. Maybe I could have reached his heart that way.
I am intrigued on what you will teach us regarding "How expansive is the idea of a letter" is. You had me wondering about "What about messages in bottles? Or missives to the dead? Or our past or future selves? Or to lost friends, places, or dreams?".
I have written letters to my future self before in terms of how I want be as a person in say 1 years time, what I have achieved, where I am living and who I am with , what success I've had and life lessons etc, like a goal to go for.
It's magical when some of it comes true or a version of it comes true.
I have considered writing letters to my past self (my inner child) for reassuring and support in the times of suffering and insecurity to heal. Or write letters to old acquaintances and friends I lost to reassure me, it was not me, but allowing them to move on.
And also writing to the deceased members of my family who were both my "best friends" or "worst enemy" to say what they meant to me and how they influenced my life and for the sake of feeling better right now and shaking off the shame, guilt or 'what if's" so I can release, heal and forgive.
Anyway, so looking forward to your teachings as always ❤️