My Experience 4 Days Into InCoWriMo

I first learned of InCoWriMo, short for International Correspondence Writing Month, through the Instagram page for the company that I make all my pen-related purchases from (Goulet Pen Company). For those unaware, “InCoWriMo challenges you to hand-write and mail/deliver one letter, card, note or postcard every day during the month of February,” (from the InCoWriMo website). Being the greatest of all procrastinators and someone skeptical of making a commitment like this, but also someone of great curiosity, I told myself I would try it if I had time.

Well, here I am four days later and I’ve managed to write a letter every day for the past four days. In the following blocks of text, I will describe some of my findings:

• It’s best to write a list of the people you plan to write to before you start, so you aren’t scrambling for someone last minute.
• Make sure you have envelopes and paper to write on. This may seem like a given, but I had to make sure I had some fountain pen friendly paper and a fitting envelope to mail the letter in.
• Don’t forget stamps. Your letter is about as good as kindling for your fireplace if the person you are writing to is too far to hand deliver to.
• Mention that you are writing for #InCoWriMo, so everyone can join in on the fun of handwriting letters.
• Add some personal flair into your letter. At the end of the letter, I like to include one of my favorite quotes that I think adds to the content of the letter or that will add value to the other persons life.
• Take a little extra time and put more care and love into your letter. This isn’t some cheesy text message you are sending.

I encourage everyone to at least look into InCoWriMo. I can say that it has been a positive experience for me, and I will certainly be participating for the remainder of the month.

Until next time.

-Austin