A reminder

Hello! Have you sent me your thoughts on snail-mail yet, for my new book? Just send me an email, using the subject heading "write_on," answering this question:

Who should you write a letter to today, and why?

Or this one:

What's so special about snail-mail?

I want to collect as many different responses as I can, so I'd really welcome your thoughts (and those of your Nanna, and your kid brother, and your Great Aunt Polly, if you'd like to quiz them for me).

I'll credit you if you want me to, or keep you anonymous if you prefer. Just let me know.

Thanks friends. This book is coming along really well, and I have discovered and interviewed so many amazing people who are doing incredibly creative and interactive things with snail-mail, open to all of us. Here's some more about what's in the book. I look forward to showing it to you soon!

Yours truly, Naomi xo

Zines about snail mail

Here is a thing that I didn't know was a thing, until recently: zines about snail mail. I wrote one, I know, but I thought I was the odd one out. Turns out there are other odd folks like me out there, making odd things like I do. Recently I ordered a bunch of these zines about snail mail. All in the name of research, you know?

^^ Good Company by Michelle from Busy Weekends: a little intro "how to" and ideas resource for people new to snail mail

^^ Winged Snail Mail (several volumes) by Sarah E Hoffman of Winged Snail Mail: a handy series reviewing other snail-mail zines (this snail-mail-zine thing is SUCH a thing. How did I not know?)

^^ Postal Embroidery by Britta Jarvis of Jaguar Snail: cute little snail-mail inspired embroidery ideas (not actual patterns)

^^ The Frequency Mailers' Club by Emily Alden Foster: a lovely and poignant story of a quirky pen-pal club between friends, and how friendships shift and change

^^ Parcel Ghost's Guide to Post (and other zines), by Marissa Falco: a series of fun and educational zines for children, starring "Parcel Ghost," a long-dead spirit who was once a postman

^^ Postal Adventures (vols. 1 & 2), by Marian Krick of Quietly Written: advice and creative ideas for getting started writing to pen pals

And that's just a start. There's more out there, folks. Zines specifically about snail-mail, made by these ladies, and others as well. I'm curious: who buys and reads these zines, other than me? I mean seriously? I want to meet them! Hello out there, fellow snail-mail-oddities! Thanks for making and writing and reading!

Dad turns 70: the party ideas edition

Here are some of the little party ideas we've been working on during the past several months, to create fun surprises for my Dad and his guests at his 70th birthday party.

Save-the-date cards

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ΔΔ I had some simple postcards printed up. On the front was a picture of Dad when he was about two, and a cryptic note at the bottom saying "Guess who's turning 70? Save the date 22 August 2015."

The clue was on the back. There, I wrote their addresses (of course), but those who looked carefully would also have noticed that the 70c stamp was actually a picture of my Dad today. Order personalised stamps from Australia Post here.

Invitations

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ΔΔ I shared some of the mail-art I painted for the invitations that you see here in an earlier post. This is what was inside the boxes I sent.

When Dad's invitees opened their mail, they found a plain, white box. Inside the box was an old View Master. As they held it to their eyes, it took them through a little seven-slide "This is your Life" for my Dad. So, for example, the first slide was a black-and-white photo of my Dad when he was only a few months old, sitting in a bucket on the verandah. I wrote "It was 1945. Baby Paul took a bath in a bucket." Then on the next slide, my pre-teen Dad learned to ride a bike. I showed him meeting my Mum, being a father, building our house, those kinds of things. The final slide gave all the details of the party.

I used Image 3D to create and order my View Masters and slides. I found them very quick and great quality, despite the somewhat dodgy looking website. We ordered one set first, just as a test, before placing the order for 55. They get significantly cheaper per unit the more you order.

Secret book

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ΔΔ Via a series of elaborate lies, I spent months collecting information and resources from Dad and the people close to him so that I could create a secret book for him about his life.

I collected old photos, mementos and newspaper clippings; recollections from Dad about his life and the lessons he had learned during the past 70 years; stories from Mum about their courtship and how Dad proposed (I can't believe I had never heard this story before!); and stories and memories from Dad's sister, my brother, and some of Dad's closest relatives and friends, so the book would be a warm and surprising read, both for Dad and for future generations.

The book is roughly chronological in order, starting with Dad's childhood upbringing, then meeting and marrying Mum, work, being a parent, building his own house, travelling, and becoming a grandfather.

I created this book using Artifact Uprising, since I'd used them before and loved the service and quality. This book was a 100-page hardcover book with linen cover and a dust-jacket, and I also ordered a box made out of reclaimed wood to store the book, with a photo of Dad printed on the top.

Stories and anecdotes

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ΔΔ Along with the secret book, I made a second book using Artifact Uprising that was the same size as the other, but in soft cover. I chose a cute photo of my Dad as a toddler to put on the front (how amazing is that technicolour yellow knitted jumpsuit! and those curls!), and then on the first page wrote some words inviting people to jot down their thoughts and memories of my Dad on the blank pages that followed.

We passed this around during the party so that people could fill the pages with messages for Dad. They shared some fantastic stories and moving tributes.

Famous RSVPs

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ΔΔ Back in January we wrote letters to a series of international dignitaries, inviting them to come to my Dad's party. Somewhat surprisingly, none of them could make it ;-)! I collected all the RSVP notes and put them in a folder to give to my Dad and display at the party.

So when people came to take a look at the folder on the table, they saw a letter from the Queen of England wishing my Dad a very happy birthday, a letter from the President of France expressing his deep regret that he couldn't join us for lunch in Katoomba, the International Olympic Committee President wishing his schedule could have allowed him to make it, and many more. The Mayor of the town in Brittany where my father's family lived for many generations wished him well, and sent me colour photocopies of a page in a Baptism Register from the 1780s, showing the birth of my father's ancestor Jean Louis.

Hand-lettered name-cards

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ΔΔ Never underestimate how long it will take to measure, cut, fold, pencil, erase and fill-in 75 place-cards, and don't leave this task until after dinner on the night before the party. That's just a tip from me to you.

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The Most Beautiful Letter You Have Ever Written

Come join me and a host of gentle, creative, like-minded people in my five-week letter-writing and mail-art course, delivered entirely online. This course is all about creativity, personal connections, and spreading joy to others through the old-fashioned postal service. Learn more or join in here.

It's in the mail

Are you waiting on mail from me? It will arrive soon, I promise! My to-write snail-mail list is loaded up as high as this little train full of stamps. In fact as of today I owe more than 40 people a letter, and that list grows every day.

I don't like to rush these things because when I write to you, dear stranger, I want to think about you. I want to tell you stories, little snippets from my life. I want to imagine your life: what it might be like, what your home might look like. I want to make a gift for you that is a bit special. And I want to paint up your mail with your address to make it interesting for you - and your postman - and to hopefully make you feel special. Because you ARE special. Your mail is coming, I promise. I haven't forgotten you.

Yours truly and most sincerely, Naomi xo

Labour of love

"Do you remember, all those years ago, we had the perfect chai?" ~ Shaw Hendry, Vitamin Ep.13

Do you have something in your life that you do purely for the love of it? It takes your time, it saps your energy, it probably costs you money. But you do it because you love it and you can't stop doing it because this is your passion.

If not, I highly recommend you find this something!

For me, this is writing and drawing and snail-mail. I spend hours of my time writing on this blog, and writing letters, taking photographs, and drawing and painting pictures on mail, even though I am a time-strapped working mother. I create zines and print them and post them out for free, each individual zine taking about three hours to make, not counting the original drawings. I spend literally thousands of dollars a year posting letters to complete strangers all over the world. I wake up at 5 or 5.30am every morning to write a book about snail-mail that I doubt will ever make money which means it will probably never find a mainstream publisher...

And I do all this because I love it. Because it is my passion. Because I never want to be NOT doing these things.

Adelaide local Shaw Hendry had a passion for art, and for the written word, so for six years he created, edited and distributed Vitamin, a free zine celebrating the visual arts culture in South Australia and beyond.

I recently discovered the online archive of Vitamin, and reading through all 13 "episodes" has been like falling down the rabbit hole into a surreal-yet-familiar otherworld of art.

Shaw told his contributors they could write "pretty much what they wanted, so long as it related somehow to South Australian visual culture." The only writing advice he gave was "say what you mean, and speak in your own voice." The result is a publication that shares and celebrates accessible art and personal philosophy, seasoned with a healthy, down-to-earth dose of uniquely South Australian culture and experience.

Vitamin is a beautiful read. Refreshing and real and...healthy. Like vitamins! It is, by its own admission, "a repository of small but powerful truths."

Sadly, Shaw passed away in April 2010. A final episode of Vitamin was published six months later, as a tribute to Shaw and the contribution he and his humble, handmade zine had made to the Australian arts community.

I feel the loss of Shaw, although I never met him. Reading Vitamin, you get a sense of the family he created, and the powerful impact that his labour of love had on the arts world that was clearly so important to him. It's a beautiful reminder that love, not money, truly does make the world go 'round.

Thank you for the lessons and the encouraging, edifying, inspirational read, Shaw. I wish I knew you.

Image credit: Rajesh Pamnani, licensed under Creative Commons

Find time for yourself

Find time for yourself. Feel it no shame at proper periods to be doing nothing. Make seasons for leisure and for recreation. Climb the hills; scour the valleys; row on the river; stroll along the beach. Cultivate the friendship of the fields and the ferns and the flowers. Laugh with the young folk and romp with little children. Be at your ease. Let the mind swing into an easy balance, a natural poise, an attitude of perfect repose. The restless soul, eternally doing something, never accomplishes anything. It is the person who can sometimes be at rest who produces the finest work in the long run. Find time for yourself!

FW Boreham

This piece was shared by Pip Lincolne recently at the end of a fun (and timely, for me) list of pick-me-up things to do when you're not feeling so great. FW Boreham was one of the most prolific and celebrated Australian authors of all time, although he is lesser-known today, and Pip recently discovered he was also her great grandfather.

I hope she doesn't mind me sharing his words again here. I found them so refreshing: the permission and indeed encouragement to take time out. To do nothing. Recognising the value and importance of down-time, not only for productivity (which is of course important), but also simply for happiness!

When you consider that FW Boreham was writing from a Baptist perspective during a time when the Protestant work ethic was at its height, you can perhaps appreciate even more how revolutionary, intelligent and kind those words must have been to those who read them back then, as well as now.

And I have been taking time out. I've been coughing and crafting and reading and writing in not-quite-equal measure. I've been romping with little children. I've been going to bed early. Sometimes. I've given myself permission to not have to update this blog quite so often, although I miss it, and hopefully soon all that "time out" will lead to more productivity, here and elsewhere. We will see. I'm not pushing myself!

In the meantime, THANK YOU Pip and Frank (FW). This was exactly what I needed to read this morning, to start the day in the best possible way. I hope it helps you guys, too.

Photo is by Mikael Kristenson, and is licensed for use under Creative Commons Zero

Hey letter-writers: do you want to be in my book?

I think I might have mentioned but I haven’t really explained… I’m writing a new book! It's about snail-mail.

It’s been a long time between books for me - Airmail came out in 2011 and I wrote it a couple of years before that. I started and didn’t finish another novel in the interim, and I haven’t entirely given up on that but then I moved internationally, then I moved states six times, I got married, I had two babies within 18 months of each other, and, you know, LIFE got in the way.

In my naivety about life with kids I kept thinking “when the dust settles I’ll get back onto this or that creative project,” but now that my oldest daughter has reached the ripe old age of three, and my step-daughter is 17, I have realised that when it comes to parenting the dust NEVER settles and if you wait until life begins to resemble the way it was BC (Before Children), you will a) be doomed to creative-project purgatory and b) be wishing your children’s childhoods away.

So… I’m writing a new book. Busy life, work, children and all. AND… I want YOU to be in it!

My book is about snail-mail. I like to think of it as a companion to the growing number of snail-mail books that are beautifying our shelves. You know, the books that talk about how snail-mail is a dying movement; and the books that talk about the revival of snail-mail; the books that celebrate the history of snail-mail and its impact on human communication and connection; the books that talk about how snail-mail feeds the souls of both the senders and the recipients; and the books tell those of us who want to know WHY we should pick up a pen and write a letter, and HOW to go about making it extra special.

My book is the next logical step to those books. It doesn’t pit snail mail against email, or fast against slow. It celebrates the way the two can work together, to promote connection, creativity, purposeful communication, genuine thoughtfulness, and a sense of play, celebration, surprise and joy. In my book I celebrate the “mail heroes,” folks who are doing amazing, creative, surprising things with the post that inspire the rest of us. I introduce you to mail communities you can join (both online and offline); clever and creative projects you can be part of; and quirky resources and playful toys and activities that all put the joy back into writing and sending a letter.

It’s a little bit like the book version of my zine 19 ways to make snail mail (even more) fun, except at last count I had more than 100 snail-mail-esque goodies to write about in the book, every one of them with a “call to action,” a way you can get involved or create something or in some way enhance your own experience of and joy in writing letters.

Do you want to be in this book? I really hope so! Following are two ways you can be part of it (there may be more invitations to follow, but I’m not sure):

1. Tell me in one or two sentences, who should you write a letter to today, and why?

2. Did you participate in the write_on “30 letters in 30 days” challenge this year or last year? Please share in one or two sentences: “What I learned / gained from writing 30 letters in 30 days”

Email your answer(s) to me at nabulger (at) gmail (dot) com, and use the subject-heading “write_on" so I don’t lose you in the chaos that is my inbox.

I will quote you using your first and last name, unless you advise otherwise (I’ll follow any requests for pseudonyms etc you desire). If you’d like a bit of a plug, I’m happy to include ONE blog URL or social media link per person, so include that if you’d like to see it in the book.

I look forward to hearing from you, and please share this with your friends. It would be fabulous to get as many different responses as possible.

Yours truly, Naomi xo

(Image is from the Smithsonian Institution, on Flickr. No known copyright restrictions)

Do you want to know how letterpress works?

Every time we learn something new, we gain more than skills and knowledge. Often we gain confidence, or a sense of purpose, or a sense of achievement, or creative inspiration to do more, try more, experience more, learn more. Learning brings SO MUCH GOOD, even learning things we don’t necessarily want to learn, or think we need.

Like that time my friend Cara was having a birthday and she had always wanted to learn the trapeze so I bought her trapeze lessons… and then she insisted that I be her buddy (because the lessons were for two). And I didn’t want to do it because learning the trapeze was her dream, not mine, and, if we were going to get down to the nitty-gritty, I was afraid. But I loved Cara and Cara wanted the buddy to be me, so off we went on the train, giggling nervously.

And the next minute I was climbing that ladder and it didn’t look so high from the ground but as I was climbing it just kept going up, up, up and by the time I got to the top and was leaning out over the platform waiting to catch a flimsy metal bar as it swung towards me over the abyss (go with me here, I’m talking about FEELINGS), I started shaking uncontrollably. I mean my leg was visibly quivering, like an Elvis dance in fast-forward. And the acrobat behind me was yelling “GO NOW” but I couldn’t make that shaky leg shift, and timing was everything when it came to catching a trapeze, so the next time the swing came back towards me I felt a massive shove behind my knee* and launched forward, catching that bar with my chalky, sweaty hands just as my toes touched air.

It felt like an impossible task but two turns later I was back up that ladder, launching out to catch the bar, swinging myself upside-down to hang by the knees, arching backwards, reaching out, and flying - momentarily - through the air, before catching hold of the strong hands and wrists of somebody else, also upside-down, in a perfect combination of timing and trust.

On the way back home on the train, Cara and I felt invincible. We were gods! We could do anything! And I thought, what am I doing here? I have been talking about moving to New York for SIX YEARS. Why do I keep talking about it? What’s the point of talking? And so that very week I gave notice at my job, bought a plane ticket, and started packing. Sure, I was making an international move with no money, no visa, no job and nowhere to live… but I could FLY. What’s a move to another country, when you put it all into perspective?

So far nothing QUITE so life-changing has followed my lesson in letterpress, but as I drove home through the rain I was reminded of the trapeze lesson all those years ago, because as I drove it was with that same elation of having learned something new, having set myself a task and achieved it, and of having new creative opportunities opened up to me. And just like the trapeze, I never would have done this without a bit of a shove.

In the lead-up to Mother’s Day we did that old dance, the one where Mr B says “What would you like?” and I say “I don’t need anything, just let’s go out to lunch and spend time together as a family,” and I mean it because OF COURSE there are lots of things I would like: I’d like a pony, for instance, also a million dollars, but, well, you get my drift. And then his face lit up and he said “I know!” and he pulled out his iPad and before I knew what was going on, Mr B had sent off an email to Dianne Longley, who he had met at the Lost Trades Fair, asking her about giving me a private lesson in how letterpress works, and helping me understand what methods I might want to pursue. It was done before I knew what it was, and a few weeks later I found myself driving alone through rain and fog to Dianne’s wonderful, warm studio up in the Central Highlands of Victoria, ready to spend a day of learning.

I’ve often wondered, not in a keep-you-up-at-night way but definitely in a passing “wait a minute” way, how all those letterpress cards you see with beautiful, whimsical drawings work. I mean, my understanding of letterpress was that it was a mini printing press, right? So you place all those little metal letters into reverse order, ink up a plate, and press them through the ink onto the paper. So… how do they get the drawings?

The night before my lesson, I sketched up a picture of a butterfly that I wanted to use on the cover of my little zine on practising kindness (the butterfly effect, you know?), and brought it with me, just in case. With Dianne’s help, I created several covers of the zine, which I’ll start sending out to people soon. (Once it was printed I realised I’d made the butterfly too big, and too close to the edge of the page. If you get one of these, you’ll be holding onto my FIRST EVER letterpress attempts, so please forgive me my mistakes in the learning process).

In case you’re wondering too, here’s what you have to do to turn a picture of a butterfly into the cover of a zine, using letterpress (the basic version):

1. Scan the drawing in very high res, then open it up in an editing program 2. Reverse the image so it looks like a negative 3. Print the negative image onto clear plastic (like one of those overhead-projector sheets) 4. Cut out a piece of photopolymer plate slightly smaller than your drawing, place the drawing on top of the plate, then expose it to UV rays. You can do this outside on a sunny day, or use a UV light box. The light will burn away the negative parts of the image, creating a relief in the shape of your original drawing 5. Gently wash away the residue from your plate, in a basin of lukewarm water 6. At this next stage, Dianne put the plate in some other kind of machine for a few minutes to harden it. I can’t remember what that was 7. Depending on how many prints you want to make, you’ll choose your letterpress machine. I had unwittingly drawn my butterfly a few millimetres too big to use the antique tabletop platen press one would usually use for a job like this. So instead, we mixed up some ink with fixer, and used a bayer (roller) to evenly cover the plate with ink. Then I carefully positioned my paper over the plate, and pressed it all between some sheets of thick cardboard in an antique, cast-iron book-press. Doing this one at a time was pretty slow, but I was only making a few covers so that was OK

The end. You can see my butterfly print in the photographs above.

I was so inspired by this lesson (learning does that, I told you!), and I am saving up for another lesson. The next time, I’ll hone my drawing for the cover, AND I want to print it onto thicker paper-stock to get that embossed feeling that I love about letterpress (incidentally, Dianne told me the embossing/de-bossing is a modern phenomenon: way back when, that was considered a mistake, which makes sense when you consider letterpresses were used to print entire books), and Dianne tells me we might be able to letterpress my entire zine!

What about you? Have you learned anything new lately?

* The next day later, wondering why I felt so stiff and sore behind my knees, I looked and found big bruises where they had actually kicked me to make sure I leapt off that platform in time!

What are the words to that song?

Let's talk about song lyrics, for a minute. Specifically, song lyrics that you get wrong, with somewhat hilarious consequences. I'll start.

1. In high school, I thought Madonna was singing "Dress you up in Milo" rather than "Dress you up in  my love." (Non-Aussie friends, Milo is a kind of chocolate drink powder that you mix with milk. It's a bit more crumbly and a lot more delicious than normal chocolate milk powder.) I thought it was particularly gross when she sang "I'm gonna dress you up in Milo / all over, all over / from your head down to your toes." I mean, how would you ever get that stuff OUT? (Don't answer that.)

2. Once my friend Rachael told me, her tone dripping with derision, that her little brother had thought John Travolta's lyrics in 'You're the One that I Want' included "I got shoes, they're multiplying." Picking up on Rachael's tone, I said "Pshaw, what an idiot," but that was just to save Rachael's feelings. Secretly, I was pretty sure Rachael's little brother was right. I mean, it made perfect sense! "I got shoes, they're multiplyin'" (because, you know, he was dancing SO FAST) "and I'm losing control" (well of course you would - if your feet were moving so fast they looked like they were multiplying, you probably WOULD lose control at some point. It's just physics, Rachael.)

3. When I went through my Jem phase about 10 years ago, I could have SWORN that after the chorus in 'Them,' some children started singing "Ooh Jackie Chan, dum-de-dum-dum-dum Jackie Chan." You know exactly the bit I mean, don't you. Don't you?

Ok your turn. What song lyrics do you get wrong?

ps. I am not alone. Behold!

30 letters in 30 days

I've just signed up to join Write_On, a fun challenge to write 30 letters in 30 days, during the month of April. Already I'm making a list in my head of the people I want to write to. There's you guys, of course. My parents. My best friend from high school. My children - I think they would love getting special letters in the mail.

Maybe I'll write a fan letter or two, to someone I admire. I've never written a fan letter before. Not one! Who else? Who would YOU write to? There's still time to join Write_On if you want to take part.

The organisers have compiled a list of "30 reasons to write." Here are some of my favourite "reasons" from last year's campaign:

+ To send a re-thank you for a gift you received, have already thanked for but use so much you want to thank again.

+ To send a cheer up message– a note to a friend who has had a tough go of it lately.

+ To send a note to a business where you recently received great service.

+ To send a letter to your roommate, partner, or spouse – someone who lives in the same house as you.

+ To write a nice note to teachers of all kinds: your kids teachers, your yoga teacher, an old boss who taught you something.

+ To write a letter to your future self.

+ To write a letter to a neighbor telling them how much you enjoy their tree, garden, house.

What do you say? Are you with me? If you need more reasons to write, go here. If you want to join the Write_On campaign to write 30 letters in 30 days (and you'll get some free snail-mail swag), go here.

Image credit: photograph of Edward VII postbox by "Lincolnian (Brian)" on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons