#write more letters is a ritual to step into the novelty of taking a precious moment to write, mail and give a letter to someone. Let’s step away from digital… and into the powerful pause of meaning. 

Inspiration:  My aunt has dementia and has no children.  My dad asked me to write her more letters.  Even though she won’t remember getting them, there are moments where she has joy of getting mail- opening a letter... she has a sparkle which we hope is a tether to her memory of being loved.  

Writing a letter to someone that you know will not remember the words you write, much less will never write you back is a complex way to sit down to a blank page.  We cannot email her, text or video chat.  The way to her is through writing letters... letters I know will be forgotten the moment they are set down.  

My life-partner has a practice of writing letters, of which I have learned so much. Birthday, Easter, Valentines, Congratulations cards were always a theme in my family growing up.

At the same time, I was looking to gather my communities in a new way, to offer a midway location in New York City at a timeframe that might be more convenient for working parents or a fresh start to an intense work day. 

Experiment: Everyone has time for coffee…. So I partnered up with Kopi Trading Co. in Flatiron.  For 2 hours in the morning, I set up “shop”- providing all the stationery, cards, stamps and pens (plus flowers)…. We’d chill with some of my friends for coffee to write a letter or two… but mostly it was the patrons of Kopi that sat down with us (or took one to go- with a stamp, no less!) to write their own letters.  

Impact: One letter write, Tamar, said it lead to a breakthrough with his wife.  The card he wrote arrived after a several days of friction.  Tamar had forgotten about mailing it, but when the letter arrived, it broke the ice and they made up!

Tony shared that it began an exchange with a long-time-college friend.  She kept with the theme and wrote Tony back a letter, rather than writing a thank you text.  They have continued to #write more letters.

I loved the little boy who put one in his backpack to write his mom for Valentine’s day.  Kopi was their usual stop on the school run… coffee for mom and pastry for him.  Such a sweet moment.

Then there was the executive who said she couldn’t attend in person, but took the idea and wrote a letter to a client in her company’s supply chain. The effort took their relationship to another level.  The colleague called her and they had an authentic conversation that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. 

One letter with a motivational message by Holstee spotted on Instagram impacted an entire company’s vision statement. No joke, I was blown away.

Oh- this was funny- A tech entrepreneur stopped in as a Kopi patron. He started to ask me all types of questions… why are you doing this, what is the angle, who is profiting?  I just smiled and said… I thought it was a cool idea to bring people together and get us analog while benefiting a woman-owned local business.  Needless to say, he wrote a letter and later connected with me on Linked-In.

Illuminations: There were curious moments when people said they couldn’t remember the last time they had written a hand written letter and they didn’t even know where to begin. Others said they struggled with their own handwriting. Or a quite a few folks who didn’t remember how to address an envelope. Still others said, I don’t know their address, so I cannot write it. I giggled and suggested they text them for the address and mail the letter later.

Vision: The idea of #write more letters is two-fold.  Literally, to break the cycle of the digital exchange and lean into meaning and reflection. Taking the time to write a handwritten letter is much more powerful than writing the “touch-base” or “thank-you” text. Writing a letter is a practice that simultaneously impacts oneself and someone else.  The second fold is the design to gather together intentionally.  To make time to say hi and connect in person- smile, possibly make new friends.  The process is deeply powerful, almost like group meditation or prayer, to come together yet do something so personal, so private. 

Pivot: We adjusted to Covid by doing our first virtual gathering for Mother’s Day.  A dozen people joined via zoom from 3 time zones, including a 14-year daughter of a fellow badass.  We wrote letters, we sipped tea, we connected virtually.  There are even some insta-stories of folks who couldn’t join but did their own letter writing.

The bigger vision of making it a #hashtag was that anyone can do this… anyone can organize an initiative with their communities to #write more letters.  Or a simple reminder to write more letters on your own.

My hope is that you will, too!