For the Sender Giveaway

WINNER - Lily Anne is the winner of the giveaway! Lily, you have until Monday, March 11 to contact me with your mailing address at Jackie (at) LettersAndJournals (dot) com.

If the winner doesn't respond, then I will draw another name from the remaining 5 entrants.

Thanks, everyone!

For the Sender: Four Letters. Twelve Songs is a book and CD written by songwriter Alex Woodard and Grammy-Award winning artists about real-life letters.

The book came out last year and has gotten a lot of positive press including a recommendation by Wayne Dyer.

Letters & Journals has a new copy to give away to one lucky reader! Woo-Hoo!

To enter you can

1. Leave a comment OR
2. Send an email to Jackie (at) LettersAndJournals (dot) com.
3. Earn additional entries for ONE tweet and ONE Facebook mention- just be sure to leave the link for each one in the comment or the email. Thanks for spreading the word!

Deadline is midnight Feb, 28 and the winner will be announced the week of March 3.

Letter News (Sharing Other Blogs)

Time to share some of the blog posts that have entertained me this week. I hope you'll enjoy them too.

Handmade Journal from Jesse Aston by Whatever
Aerial Envelope Rubber Stamps (Member Exclusive) by Letters Writer Alliance
The Gift of Correspondence by Quo Vadis
Looking for Entries (on how a pen has made a difference in your life) by Nancy Olson, Ink
League of Extraordinary Penpals- A new blog and member website

Have you seen any good blog posts you'd like to share?

Letters & Journals Print Magazine Update

I've had some inquiries into the status of the print edition of Letters & Journal. There is good news and bad news. The good news is that the print edition is still being created and will come out as an annual edition initially and then may increase to 2,3 or 4 times a year in the future. The bad news is that it most likely will not come out in 2013.

This could change if an investor or sponsor stepped up to help with the initial costs of the launch. I was in discussion with one potential investor/publishing company last summer, but, in the end, it wasn't a good fit.

The website is being redesigned and needs a new host. I'm excited about the new design and have a lot of fun things planned.

My current position as owner/publisher of Natural Awakenings Twin Cities doesn't allow me as much time as my previous job did to spend on Letters & Journals. But I know that will change as I become more familiar with the running of the business and it won't require as much.

In the meantime, I'm keeping a list of people interested in getting the magazine. So far I'm at just a little over 4,100 names. Let me know if you'd like to be added or if you want to check to see if you're already there.

Letters to Sandy Hook

The gift of mail. 

Helping lift someone's spirits if even just for a moment. Giving them something to focus on to help take them outside of their pain. Offering a distant hug written on any note card or paper, wrapped in an envelope and stamped with love.  Do not think these things don't matter.

 The tragedy at Sandy Hook broke my heart: the senselessness of the act, the terror of the victims and survivors, the sadness and confusion of the families and the nation.

What can we do? Pray? Send flowers? Sign a petition? Participate in the #26ActsofKindness (Twitter)?

I chose to send letters. Somewhere I came across this post office box that was set up for the families of the victims:

PO Box 3700, Newtown, CT 06470

So I looked up the name and photo of each victim and began the process of saying a prayer and sending a card with just a short note letting the family know that we're thinking of them. I am doing this over the process of weeks so that I'm not hurried. I like to spend time in silent meditation for each soul. 

Susan Piver has a beautiful blog post on another way to help the victims and their families, as well as yourself and anyone affected by this tragedy.

I was reminded of the movie Calendar Girls where one of the women was helped through the grief of losing her husband to cancer by reading and responding to the massive amounts of mail that was sent to her. Anything to just get through the days when you're in shock and your grief is raw.

TUL Pen Review and Giveaway

Dec. 11, 2012 Winner Update - Sandra S has won the set of 4 pens from TUL. Congratulations, Sandra!

TUL pens has offered to host a giveaway of the set of four pens I am about to review. I must admit I've been a fan of the TUL pens since they first came out in 2006. TUL pens is a brand of OfficeMax and are only available there.

I thought it might be easiest to write my reviews with each of the pens and then post the review with the scanned photo.

For details on the Giveaway, skip to the bottom of this post.

 Ballpoint pen review (Medium point)

Rollerball (Medium)

 Gel Pen (Medium)

 Marker Pen (Fine)

Like most pen enthusiasts, I like my pens a certain way- rich flowing ink, a fine point and a weight that's not too light and not too heavy, although, sometimes heavy is good if it's weighted just right. These pens all had a smooth flow and except for one, they had a generous and even flow of ink. Two of the pens were fine point but the one I liked the most was the medium ballpoint pen.

I tested on two kinds of paper. In the photos above, I used Rhodia's Ivory High Grade Vellum Paper (heavenly to write on with anything) and in the photos below I used a regular notebook.

There was slight bleed-through with two of the pens on the notebook paper, but not with the Rhodia.

 Here's more of a close up with the four points.

Giveaway Information

You can win your own set of these four TUL pens featured here just by leaving a comment. The contest is open to US residents. Leave a comment by midnight Sunday, Dec. 9 and the winner will be selected and notified on Monday, Dec. 10. If you don't want to leave your email address in the comment, then just leave your comment and EMAIL me your email address.

You can earn additional entries by promoting this contest linking to this blog on FACEBOOK (Letters & Journals) or TWITTER (@LandJmagazine). Total entries possible are 3. Just leave a comment for each one.

Disclaimer: I received the TUL products mentioned in this post from OfficeMax in order to facilitate my review. The items featured in this giveaway are also provided by OfficeMax and will be sent to the winner directly. Opinions expressed in this post are 100% my own. I have not been compensated for this post in any other way.

Leather Journals

I saw these awesome handmade journals at a local home show in Minneapolis a couple weeks ago. Don't you love how they're displayed in old and worn crates?

Handmade by Nicole Aufderhar, these journals come in a variety of sizes and colors.

One of my favorites is the use of an old photograph to create even more character. Don't you just want to head to the antique store and find a photograph to use in creating your own journal or notebook?

How can anyone resist these minis? Although I love the idea of them, I can't imagine writing in something so small.

 You can see more and order your favorite journal at her etsy site, WayfaringArt.

Letter Links for October 15

Now that the cooler weather has arrived in Minnesota, it's easier to find time to spend reading blogs and magazines. So much of my time these days is spent on Natural Awakenings. As there's just a few of us to do all the work, there ends up being a lot to do- find local articles, sells ads, update the website, do social networking, write articles, etc. I sure do miss my Letters & Journals!

We finally got some rain after months with very little.I took this picture on Sunday to try to capture some of the autumn colors before the leaves all fall from the trees.

The view from our front door (Oct. 14, 2012)

Here are some highlights from my recent web reading:

365 Letters- Matching Your Letter Topics to Your Stamps
Penchant for Paper- Pages from the Travel Journal
Cappuccino & Art Journal- Travelin' but not Light
Leaving a Paper Trail - More Mail

Enjoy! And if you have time, tell me what you've been up to this beautiful October.