InCoWriMo 2017 Review

Happy Monday!

February was such a fun month, and I have so many wonderful memories and had such fun experiences. First, I traveled a lot, which is always fun, but it was also quite a special month for stationery lovers, as February is a month known as International Correspondence Writing Month, or InCoWriMo.

2017 was my first time ever taking part in InCoWriMo, and I am so glad I decided to do it. The goal of InCoWriMo is to write a piece of correspondence, such as a letter, postcard, or note, every day and either mail it or hand deliver it. I opted for the mail option, and gathered my stamps, pens, and postcards in preparation.

For my first time participating in this challenge, I decided to go the postcard route. I knew that February would be a busy month with traveling for about two weeks, so I wanted to make sure that I was able to write to everyone and mail it within the time frame. By the end of the month I had fallen a bit behind, but managed to get every last postcard and letter in the post box by March 3. I even sent some postcards to friends from the places I visited, like Ghent and The Hague.

Overall, I would say that InCoWriMo 2017 was a great success! I felt quite accomplished having sent out more than the initial 28 postcards I promised. Throughout the month, I added people who I had told about the challenge, and friends who knew of my love of stationery and volunteered to receive a letter or postcard from me.

Like most month-long challenges, by the end you learn a little something about yourself. InCoWriMo was no exception. Here's what I learned in my 28 days of sending mail to people around the world:

• How to ask for stamps in different languages. At the French post office, I ask for "timbres mondiales, pour aller aux États-Unis" (although really, they are just global stamps that I used to send letters to every country on my list). In The Netherlands, I asked for "postzegels." 
• It takes much longer to write a letter or a postcard than you think. I write by hand a lot, as I journal and plan on paper. But writing a letter or a postcard for someone takes quite a long time, especially since it is much harder to be succinct in a postcard with a finite amount of space than in an email or Facebook message.
• Receiving mail is such a fun experience! I live at the school where I work, so I was only able to check my mail a few times a week when I went in to work. And while I was traveling, I obviously didn't have access to mail for two weeks. It was so lovely to return from my holidays and have my mailbox full of letters and postcards from old and new friends. 
• Writing letters is a sort of meditation for me. While I was writing each letter and postcard, I spent those minutes completely devoted to thinking about the person I was writing to. As a result, I found myself calmer, happier, and more reflective. 
• You can learn a lot about a place from a postcard. I received postcards from places I had visited, as well as places I didn't even know existed. One of my favourite cards I received was from a small town in Ohio, and the sender even wrote a little bit about the historical mansion featured on the card. It was so nice, thoughtful, and beautiful. It's hanging on my postcard/inspiration wall now. 
• Wax seals are so much fun. I will not send a letter without a wax seal anymore. 

This was such a wonderful experience, and I definitely plan on doing it again next February. Until then, I found some wonderful pen pals that I will be writing to diligently, and hope to make some more analogue friends in the future.