Letters & Journals Magazine Update

The Letters & Journals magazine is starting to take shape. Kathy at Daisy Mae Design has been busy creating the magazine flag. After 3 weeks of submissions and tweaking, we believe we have found the design of the flag, mistakenly, but commonly, called the masthead. Next is cover and feature design. Can you feel the excitement building?

While Kathy has been designing, I have been in the planning stages of creating the web site for launch in 2010. My plan is to start small with a basic web site and grow as the magazine grows. If there is one piece of advice I have received from the various magazine publishers I spoke with, the common theme has been start small.

Where to Start When Building a Web Site
I'm lucky enough to be employed at iProduction, a company that builds and hosts web sites for mid-size B2B publishers, so I've learned A LOT over the years as to what goes into making a great web site.

My education started in 2006 with the Mequoda Method. Following their own practice of offering lots of free content to registered users, the Mequoda web site is a wealth of knowledge on where to start and what to do when creating or updating your web site. And if you want to follow Amanda MacArthur, Editor and Publisher at Mequoda, on Twitter, she is a hoot and updates a lot (@amaaanda on Twitter and @mequoda on Twitter)

Here is a starting point for building a web site (NOTE: This is just a starting point):

1. Decide the purpose of the web site (How will success be measured)

2. Find web site designs that you like (Design, Function, Artwork, Whatever)

3. Create your taxonomy (Define your departments and how information will be organized)

4. Hire somebody to bring it altogether

There is much more than this, but as I mentioned earlier, this is a starting point. At some point you'll need to consider how to handle site registrations, newsletter frequency, advertising, order placement, fulfillment, etc. But if you think of EVERYTHING that needs to be done, you will get overwhelmed. Much better to break it into chunks and manage them as you go.

Pens & Notebooks

I love the internet! How else can a person so easily find others who share their same interest? I love pens and notebooks. The feel of a generously inked fine point pen over smooth paper...heaven. Pictured here is a stack of my current notebook/day planner stash.

And here are some blogs I've recently discovered who pontificate splendidly on the pleasures of ink and paper.

Future: Nostalgic, a pen lover from the UK, writes about a great pen find in this particular post. I found him on Twitter (@futurenostalgic).

Unposted was also found on Twitter (@nrepose) and also writes about pens, notebooks and other miscellany. Both of these blogs have wonderful links to many other like-minded blogs, some of which are listed below.

Pen Chronicles
Pen Addict
Pen Archives
Everyday Correspondence
Whatever
Viva Snailmail

What's wonderful is that each of these blogs list other blogs of likemindedness (is that a word? Well, I think it should be if it's not).

Letter Writing in the News

Sunnygram
There is a new service that will print your emails and send them to your parents, grandparents or whomever you would for a fee of $9.95/month. The service is called Sunnygram and this article was recently featured in Time magazine. Sunnygram is trying to bridge the gap between those who only want to communicate in their computer generated environment and those who don't have or use a computer.

At first, I thought that was silly, and although I can't imagine ever having need of it, you have to admire someone finding a niche product to fill the communication gap. And if this is the only way for some of these people to get the emails and photos from friends and family, then it is worth the fee- especially considering that once the account is set up for the recipient you can have as many people as you want to send them email and photos for the price of just the one account.

One Husband, Two Kids, Three Deployments
On the other hand, an article more dear to my heart - letter writing. In this article the letter once again enriches lives of those it touches as written in this op-ed piece of the NY times. I actually came across this beautifully written piece while visiting the Green Paper Company blog.
Melissa Seligman talks about each of her husband's deployments and how the couple started with webcams and then found, eventually, that letters were more intimate. I won't say any more. You must read the article.

New Blogs

This week I've discovered some new blogs that talk about the things that I love to read about, such as a new stationery store, keeping a journal or finding the perfect pen.

Sara has a journal blog which she calls the Miscellaneous Ramblings of a Twenty-something DIYer. She has a lot of graphics, drawings and pictures in her journal which I really like. Her May 27, 2009 entry, Journal Freedom, is very appealing. She journals in a notebook and then includes pictures of the notebook in her blog.

Also, new to me is Parcel Post. I love the name and design of the blog. Audrey and her husband have two stores. One is Urbanic Paper Boutique (Don't you love the name of that? Me too!) and neighborhood. One of my favorite blog entries for Audrey is Post No. 164 Paper Basics (June 4, 2009). Lovely.

And, finally, for the pen enthusiast, please check out An Inkophile's Blog which discusses subjects such as fountain pens, ink, paper and more. Pure Joy! There are a ton of links to pen blogs and stores and much more. I will visit this site again to check out the links from other pen and paper enthusiasts.

Magazine Update

Daisy Mae Design has been busy! I started reviewing potential flags (logo/branding) of the magazine this week. It's very exciting trying to bring together what's in my mind- as I envision this book like quarterly magazine- with the reality of what's available outside of my mind. I also want to find the balance between current trends and classic styles.

Letters & Journals will contain articles on all kinds of writing related products and activities:

Letters Today/Yesterday
Different types of Journals- Art, Nature, Family, Historic, Blogs
Love of Pens and Notebooks
Mail Art
Best Stationery Stores in the area
Profiles of Artists who have created their own card/stationery line
Penpals
Postcards
Stamps
Reader's Desk/Writing Area (send in your photos and tell us about it)

So many subjects related to the same thing- writing and sharing. If you come across articles that you think may be right for the magazine, please share that info to the comments section on this blog or forward them to me at jackieflaherty@yahoo.com. THANK YOU! And thanks for visiting.

Internet Brings Letter Writers Together

People say that email has killed letter writing, but the fact is that people still write letters. Not everybody writes letters, but they didn't before either. When television came into our homes they said it would the end of radio, but it wasn't. To survive each medium must find a new way to invent itself.

I think the internet is helping to bring letter writers together. There are many web sites and blogs that promote letter writing and share the appreciation of the hobby. Here are some of the sites that I enjoy and a little bit about each one.

Missive Maven posts pictures of the mail she sends and receives and she explains what it is and how she got it. It makes you want to send her mail (her address is on the site) to see if she will publish and write about the mail you sent. She has mentioned my blog a couple times and has sent many people to take the quick letter writing and journal writing surveys that I'm conducting to gather feedback for the Letters & Journals magazine. If you have not taken it yet. I would greatly appreciate getting more feedback.

Inky Trail News is a bi-monthly newsletter that you can subscribe to if you're looking for penpals or interested in reading light articles about the hobby of writing letters as well as general interest articles written by some of the subscribers. Wendy is the publisher and she also has a blog and a web site.

Carla, at 365 Letters, is writing a letter a day for 2009. She has some interesting insights and articles that she links to on her blog. Carla's most recent blog has this wonderful note:

“Why are you capable of imagining a world without letters? ... A universe in which all is said dryly, in abbreviated fashion … without art and without grace?” (Pedro Salinas, 1948, quoted in Ivask, 1990.)

And there are many groups at Yahoo, MSN, Google that promote letter writing, friendship books, mail art, postcard swaps and so much more. So don't believe that the love and art of letter writing is dead. It is not.

I Love Mail!

I love getting mail! I love reading about how a letter can make a change in the world. I love sending mail. I love postcards. I love the nostalgic idea of sitting at a desk and writing a letter. I love mail art. I love reading about mail. I love touching other lives through thoughtful gestures. I love stamps- not that I collect them, but I enjoy seeing fun and different ones. Did you know that you can order stamps online from the USPS? They have a great selection and it only costs $1 to ship your order.

I am so excited about my magazine, Letters & Journals, that will cover all of these topics and so much more. There will be articles on

Pens & Stationery
Product Reviews

Letters in the Armed Services
Has email replaced letters? Not yet!

Wax & Seals
Letter Embellishments

Letters in the Attic
The role of letters in your family's history

Exotic Postmarks
The allure of faraway lands

Even as I write this, Kathryn Forss at Daisy Mae Design is working her artful magic in creating the branding logo which is one of the first steps necessary for getting the magazine off the ground. Kathy has a strong background in magazine publishing and I have none, so I think that is a good combination. Don't you?