Last year, I suggested using Postable.com as an easy way to exchange mailing addresses with other members. It’s a super-easy and free service that’s designed to make collecting addresses simple. It’s designed for people getting married, and I actually wound up recommending it to my brand-new sister-in-law when she and my brother got married last year.

This year, they contacted me and said they wanted to be involved, because they also love mail. Which is fantastic and really kind. And… they’ve also added a new thing since last year. They can print and mail cards for you.

But doesn’t that defeat the point of Month of Letters?

Actually, no. The point is to think about one person at a time and to put something in that person’s mailbox that will make them smile. Now, personally, I enjoy writing with a fountain pen, but there are folks who have carpal tunnel, arthritis, or other things that make handwriting hard. There shouldn’t be an entry barrier to participating. So having someone else print and send the card for you is totally fine.

It also, to be totally honest, will help the site because they are contributing a portion of sales that come in through this link. http://www.postable.com/partner/lettermo

But just to be completely clear — you don’t have to send cards through them to use postable.com. It remains the easiest way I’ve found to collect addresses. Check them out!

Let’s start easy, shall we? It’s Saturday and all you have to do is put one thing in the mail today.

You can write a long breathless letter to an old friend that you haven’t talked to in far too long, or just jot a quick note on a postcard. The key isn’t to dazzle with your wit — though feel free to do that if the mood strikes you — but to make a thought tangible. Whatever you put in the mail today represents the moment when you were thinking about a specific someone. Think of this a a month of sending 23 tiny gifts, and the gifts are you. 

And to encourage you, we have badges. You don’t have to play for these, but if you enjoy side challenges, then you can log what you sent on our “What have you sent?” form. 

One caution — only fill out the form once per day.

Now, go mail something.

This week we’re going to reset all of the badges and points — except the Winner! badge — so you can start February with a fresh slate. It should be fun to see who makes the top of the leaderboard this year. I’m hoping to have a couple of new badges for you, as well, so stay tuned for that.

We’re also trying to deal with the spammers, because, ugh.

And, you may have noticed some site fluctuations. As the month started approaching, the webtraffic shot up and my webmaster gently suggested that I move the site to a new host so it didn’t crash. That process is not going quiiiite as smoothly as we’d like, so bear with us. Everything should be in place for the month to begin.

February is fast approaching and it seems like a good time to remind our US participants that postage increases on January 26th. If you haven’t stocked up on your forever stamps, this would be a good time to do it.

Letters (1 oz.) — 3-cent increase to 49 cents
Letters additional ounces — 1-cent increase to 21 cents
Letters to all international destinations (1 oz.) — $1.15
Postcards — 1-cent increase to 34 cents

You can read the full announcement at USPS. com.

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I was interviewed for an article about letter writing that appeared in a recent issue of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“You forget the cool things about (letters),” Kowal said by phone before heading out to mail her output that day of 32 letters and postcards. “A letter is a tangible representation of that time in your life. When you send it to someone else, even to someone you don’t know, you’re making a personal connection.”

Most of the focus is on a gentleman doing a variant on the 365 Letters project, and it’s neat to see the discoveries he is making. Some of them may sound familiar to you as part of your own journey in postal land. You can read the full article here.