The art of letter writing seems to be ebbing away, along with Blockbuster, saddle shoes, and the jitterbug. All of those are long dead but you never know… they could come back! So could paper and pen and a stamp. Maybe!
In my new book letter writing is front and center. My love of writing letters and receiving them hasn’t dimmed over the years but actually sending letters has, I’m afraid. So many easier, faster ways to communicate these days. Even in my books people are calling and texting madly. Rarely writing an actual letter.
I feel like we’ll regret all this electronic communication one day. (Some people already have regrets. Don’t be those people.) But seriously, what will fill trunks? How will your great-grandchildren learn about you and your life? Do you print out heartfelt missives from your relatives? My printer quit on me and I can’t seem to care to get it fixed!
When Merle finds the packet of letters in one of her cottages, it’s almost like finding a time capsule buried in the ground. The emotions poured out over paper and ink are preserved, as if they still existed. The writer of the letters, a British soldier in World War One, had no cell phone. He had no email, no way to text. (Did he have a carrier pigeon? Who knows). Out there on the Western Front he is cut off from his girl, his family, his home, everything he knew in England. It’s a bit scary, isn’t it, to think of being so far from home, under bombardment, and so isolated.
I often think of pioneers who came to America and other lands over the centuries. What did leave behind? They probably said goodbye to their mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, and never saw them again. Ever. They joined a wagon train west, or sailed on a boat across the ocean. Any contact they had with those they left behind would be months old, if it arrived at all. How brave, or desperate, they must have been to leave all they knew and strike out for the frontier. Amazingly, it wasn’t that long ago either.
The emotional wallop of the letters, for Merle, becomes almost an obsession. She also left her home and traveled to another country. She identifies with the recipient of the letters, an English woman, because of her long distance romance with Pascal. Merle, of course, has much more communication with him. They do write to each other, often an email. Does anyone send personal letters by international post these days? Please comment and tell us why!
The new book is now available on my website. Thank you to you intrepid readers who were the first to buy there! I see you, and thank you.
Want to read it over coffee — with a real live book? Can do! Available in paperback on Amazon now. CLICK HERE. Also PREORDER THE E-BOOK ON AMAZON HERE.
And lest we forget— it’s time for the Olympics in France! Men’s soccer is today, USA v FRANCE in Marseille. I’m excited about all the sports but especially synchronized swimming, now called ‘artistic swimming.’ I was in a club in high school and I know how hard it is. Like gymnastics while holding your breath for a couple minutes, while swimming upside down!
What’s your favorite sport to do, or watch? Tell us what athlete you’re following!
I do write real letters and also enjoy receiving them. I’ve read letters that my parents wrote to each other over the years and treasure their thoughts from before I was born.
Sadly, I doubt that the next generation will be able to read the few letters being written these days. For some unfathomable reason, educators have decided that children don’t need the skills of reading or writing cursive. So much to lose!
I do, both locally and international. It is fun to receive a letter or card, and know that someone thought about you and wanted to do the extra thing. Actually one of my international friends and I have a tradition that when we travel, we send each other postcards. Obviously not when we travel together - then we just share photos if we've each taken something different.
I vote, too, that we start a letter writing campaign!