I'm not a big one for stats - you'll notice I don't post my incoming or outgoing mail stats regularly. I don't post them because I feel like it then begs comparisons, and I know what I'm like. If I start to put pressure on myself to maintain some sort of average or keep the numbers up, then I'm just as likely to rebel... and the whole thing will fall in a heap!
It's just a personal preference, but for me it works better to keep my tally to myself. However, having said all that I am going to go against it... just for now. You see, I have just past my two-month blogging mark. I had no idea what I was getting myself into and didn't really know how it would go... but I have to say the last two months have flown by. So to celebrate all the changes this blog has brought in my life, I thought it might be worthwhile to share some of my selected stats with you. I won't be making a habit of this though!
This all is just for the last couple of months, as I didn't keep records prior to that...
I have received 27 letters and 19 postcards (16 were postcrossing cards). I am looking forward to reaching 20 postcrossing postcards so I can have six travelling at a time. :-)
My mail has come from:
Perth, Australia
Melbourne, Australia (2 writers)
Canberra, Australia
Brisbane, Australia
Delaware, USA
British Columbia, Canada
South Yorkshire, UK
Illinois, USA (2 writers)
California, USA (2 writers, 1 postcard)
Germany (3 postcards)
Birmingham, UK
Texas, USA
Massachusetts, USA
Michigan, USA
Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
Finland (2 postcards)
Taiwan
Pensylvania, USA (2 writers)
Korea (South)
Malaysia
London, UK (1 writer, 1 postcard)
West-Midlands, UK
China
Japan
Viriginia, USA
Oregon, USA
Kimberleys, Western Australia
Netherlands
Moscow, Russia
Thirteen of these were 'first' letters from people I didn't know at all, previously. I have also written 13 'first' letters. I didn't realise til now that it's the same number - what synchronicity! I sent my first letters mainly to people I found on the good mail day blog or sendsomething.net.
A couple of days ago I had a little whinge about a mail drought. It was real at the time, and I think this is part of the ups and downs of letter-writing. As any letter-writer will tell you, writing lots of letters does not guarantee you will receive lots of letters, all the time. I do know this though: if you don't write any letters you'll never receive any!
When I started this blog I hoped that I might pick up a few new penpals and make some nice connections. It has overwhelmingly exceeded my expectations. The mail I've received in the last couple of months is more than I have probably received in the five years preceding.
And a final note: since my last (whingey) post, I have received five messages - a couple from people who read the blog, the rest from other people - letting me know they are putting a letter in the mail to me soon. How nice is that? I feel blessed.
Love from Kaz.
Great job of keeping letter writing alive, Kaz. How important, sincere, and genuine an art. I'm glad to see the art form flourishing in your world even if it's struggling in others. Let me turn you onto something a co-worker directed me to last week: The Things Unsaid Project (www.thingsunsaidproject.wordpress.com). The creators insist on handwritten letters, not e-mails or texts and I think that's an important distinction here.
ReplyDeleteMay you all keep letter writing alive. Keep up the good work.
Hi Shawn. Thank-you for the lovely comments. I had heard of the Things Unsaid Project but haven't done anything about it yet... I will look into it again. It sounds very interesting...
ReplyDelete