The Art Of Letter Writing

When was the last time you sat down and wrote a letter to a friend or a loved one? I'm not talking about an e-mail or even a note to be hand delivered, but rather a letter that goes into an envelope, slapped with a stamp and then dropped into the mailbox.

Because the handy nature of technological communication (e-mails & text messages) letter writing has turned into a novelty and with that fewer and fewer people are writing and receiving traditional letters. I would have to admit that it has been sometime since I have composed a letter and sent it off.

The reason I bring this subject up is because I will be relocating for the summer and a friend of mine, also relocating, thought it would interesting to stay in touch by writing letters back and forth during this time. This is a grand idea in my opinion because writing and receiving letters is more of an intimate experience than the more "modern" forms of written communication.

With a handwritten letter you get to express your personality not only in handwriting but also in other ways like colors, texture (of the paper), size (of the writing), smell, noise (of the paper), envelope and choice of stamp. None of this can truly be duplicated in an e-mail on a computer screen.

• Photo By CRBarnett