Last updated on 11/02/2010
15 Days ago I challenged myself to write 30 Notes in 30 Days. Now that I am halfway through the project, I thought I’d post an update, just to let you know how it’s going.
So-far I’ve written 14 notes. We had a very busy weekend and I fell behind a little. Tonight I did my catching up at a coffee shop, but didn’t have enough cards with me to completely catch up, so I’m still one short. Tomorrow, I’ll write two.
This has been my experience so-far….
1. I love writing the notes, and am really happy that I started this project.
2. I try to keep a few blank notes with me all the time…some in my purse, some on my desk at home, etc. Good habit to always keep one with you. You never know when you might need it.
3. Sitting down with a pen and a note card, with a specific person in mind brings a level of intention that I hadn’t expected, and don’t experience with email or other online communications. It feels great to think about what I’ll write. Good memories, and things I’ve been wanting to tell each person, come rushing in. It’s a nice feeling.
4. Giving myself permission to write more than one note a day and to pre-address (and pre-stamp) envelopes were project-savers! Also, I’ve been surprisingly alright with emailing someone and asking for their mailing address. Not sure Emily Post would agree, but I think she’s dead, so it’s ok.
5. Writing in a relaxed setting is more enjoyable. Attempting to write authentically on my lunch break feels a little forced sometimes. I do it some, but prefer a more Louisa May Alcott-ish setting; snacking on a fresh orange while birds are singing outside the open window, gentle breeze, or maybe a candle burning late into the night. Oh, that wasn’t Louisa May Alcott? It was Winona Ryder? Well still, I loved that movie, and that’s how I love to write.
6. I’m really happy with myself for writing to people that I’ve been meaning to contact for months. Sending a note relieves me of that feeling of guilt. How many times have you said to yourself “Gosh, I really need to let her know I’m thinking of her….”
7. If you remember in my original post, my biggest obstacle was addressing the envelopes. I smile every time I address (or pre-address) an envelope, and then AGAIN when I seal it! I might even do a little wiggle in my chair at that point. Guess what. I smile a third time when I drop each note into the mailbox. What’s not to like about three smiles?
Those of you who’ve said you might try writing more notes…I think you should. Maybe you could try committing to one week, or 10 days. Make a list right now of 5 people you’d like to contact, just to say hi, or thank you, or I love you. I’m due to finish in mid-April…so join me for 15 days of notes, and we’ll finish up together.
Take good care,
Jane
p.s. Thanks to Lode at beanoriginal.net and Leo at zenhabits.net for inspiring me to set my goal of 30 Notes in 30 Days. Thanks guys…you’re the best!
See the guidelines that helped me through the first 15 days at “My 30 Notes in 30 Days Project”
Writing notes! I’m very proud of your accomplishment here and reviving an old habit.
When you and your siblings were young, I made a habit of going to a small table and writing notes and letters to my friends early in the morning when I had my cup(s) of coffee after your Dad had gone off to work.
I regret to say that it was probably done more often to my friends than to my family, except our parents.
How the country would suffer if that was the way of communication today because there is so little time for such things. E-mail is a blessing because it is the new brief form of communication, better than nothing, I’d say.
Once when I was moving away and leaving her, a friend said something in the way of “You know, we need to keep in touch because when people don’t keep in touch with each other, they don’t really have much to say to each other eventually.”
It stuck in my memory file and will always be there, I suppose. I’ve seen some old friends only once or twice in the last fifty years of married life and we know what’s going on with each other because we have communicated all these years with quick notes and letters. So . . . we pick up where we left off.
Of course, I’m sure you know folks who are so in tune with you that the two of you can always “pick up where you left off” and all is well.
There are probably others who are now strangers when once you seemed so close in thought.
There is nothing like a letter, a note, just something in the box. Time was when the mailbox was a highlight of my day. Now I will only trouble myself to walk to the mailbox when it is necessary.
Shall I look forward to a note?
Thanks Mom,
I didn’t know you wrote notes in the mornings. Thanks for sharing so much. I think you’re right about getting so out of touch that there’s nothing in common to talk about…kind-of like making conversation with a stranger.
Well, email does fill in nicely, and I’m grateful for the gifts it has brought to my life. So, we’ll type some, and write some, and call some, and keep in touch…and always have a little something to talk about, even when you “don’t know anything”.
🙂 Love you!
Hi Jane
I love writing notes. As we run a shop and the Christmas season is so busy I keep all the cards and then sit down on rainy days to pen a note together. Carefully chosen cards are great and as I am also a postmistress I get to use fantastic stamps when they come out which make the note so much prettier.
The art of letter writing seems like a good post to follow up with. I love the way you have put the pen in the post.( ha thats gotto be a pun!)
In my courting days I used to draw on the letters, write them upside down or back to front just to give the postman something to laugh about!
What a great goal! I recently had to write tons of thank you cards for my engagement… and then again for the wedding. I remember alternating my thinking between ‘Dear God, how many more, my hand is killing me!’ and ‘Wow, this feels so much more personal than an email or facebook comment! I should make a habit of this!’
This was a great reminder. Thanks!
Hi Jane,
I apparently collect notecards…. My intention is to use them, but I postpone the pleasurable experience for the perfect time: a sense of leisure.
I am in the process of reading all of your postings. You are doing what I have “thought about”…. Good for you!!
Thanks Edrie….it was a great project. 30 in 30 was hard to maintain, but I’m certainly happy that I stuck with it. I think I finished in about 40 days…but did actually mail all of them, except on the I wrote to Celine Dion. I was never able to come up with her address, and the last one was to God…but I’m guessing he already knows what it says anyway 🙂
I actually started out by making a list. I just brainstormed all the people I wanted to contact for any reason…didn’t have to be a good reason. That helped get the process moving, even before I bought the notecards.
Mom has my address….I’ll watch my mailbox. 🙂