And a very Happy Valentine’s Day, dear readers!  Whether you are the type of person who buys heart-shaped confetti and cuts out little silhouettes of cupids, or…not, I thought today would be an ideal one to share with you a little something I learned this weekend.

Did you know that February is InCoWriMo?

InCoWriMo stands for International Correspondence Writing Month, a month-long celebration of “vintage social media”, or letter-writing.  The goal, as stated on the InCoWriMo website, is to “Hand-write and mail/deliver one letter, card, note or postcard every day during the month of February.”  The goal of the project is to celebrate the beauty of hand-writing letters, and the wonderfully personal bonds that are built through the process of letter-writing.

Now, I only found out about InCoWriMo a few days ago when a friend of mine, who is a participant, told me about in (in a letter, as a matter of fact).  And I love it.  As a dedicated letter-writer myself, I find that sitting down and crafting a letter to someone is something that benefits us both.  In a communication-heavy world, we tend to say things quickly, more eager to get the information to another person.  But letter-writing gives you the time to think about how you want to say something, and why it is important to say something.  Also, I really like thinking about the person to whom I am writing–it makes me feel a lot closer to them than shooting off a text.

Unfortunately, I only learned about this great project halfway through the shortest month of the year, but that is no reason not to get started anyway.  And today, I would encourage you to send a letter to someone you love, as well.  The strict rules of InCoWriMo state that letters have to be hand-written, but I know that’s not easy for everyone.  So if you’d like to type, or dictate, or even sketch, we won’t tell.  And if you are looking for someone to whom to send a letter, InCoWriMo has also collected a list, which includes pen manufacturers, CEO’s, J.K. Rowling, and Michael Phelps, who are all eager to receive a letter from you.  So why not give it a try.  Today, of all days, is a good one to tell someone you think they’re worthy of a letter.  So is tomorrow, as a matter of fact.  As Heloise, a scholar, Abbess, and stellar letter-writer of the Middle Ages wrote to her love, Peter Abelard, “…what cannot letters inspire? They have souls; they can speak; they have in them all that force which expresses the transports of the heart; they have all the fire of our passions, they can raise them as much as if the persons themselves were present; they have all the tenderness and the delicacy of speech, and sometimes even a boldness of expression beyond it…We may write to each other; so innocent a pleasure is not denied us.”

And if you need some ideas, here are a few letters from history.   It’s become a little Free For All tradition to share famous love letters on this day, but this time around, I tried to stick to the informal, or the unconventional, to show that “love letters” can take any kind of form you might like or need:

Here is a cartoon written by E.C. Segar, the creator of Popeye to his wife, Myrtle, while he was traveling for business, entitled “Gee!!  I wish Myrt was here”:

This short, but perfectly-worded note from Mark Twain to his wife, Olivia Louise Langdon:

The text of the letter: Livy Darling, I am grateful–grate-fuller than ever before–that you were born, & that your love is mine & our two lives woven & melded together!  –SLC (Samuel Longhorn Clemens)

And, finally, this birthday note from Johnny Cash to June Carter Cash on her 65th birthday, in 1994 (which was voted the greatest love letter of all time in a 2005 poll):