letter writing Archives

The Letters in My Grandmother’s Desk: What Seventy-Year-Old Ink Taught Me About Paper

Ellen Ashford · July 26, 2026

The Letters in My Grandmother's Desk: What Seventy-Year-Old Ink Taught Me About Paper

A Locked Drawer Came Down From the Attic With Everything Else The desk itself I was ready for — three pieces wrapped in moving blankets that reeked of cedar and old wool, exactly what you’d expect from an attic in November. What caught me off guard was the shallow center drawer, still locked, with a … Read more

Building a Stationery Set That Makes People Want to Write Back

Ellen Ashford · July 16, 2026

Building a Stationery Set That Makes People Want to Write Back

Turn a sheet of ecru stock up to the window and you can see it — that faint grid of fibers catching the light, the slight give when you press a nib against it. That’s what I’m doing right now, testing a stack of paper samples one at a time instead of writing the post … Read more

Pen Pal Culture in the Internet Age: Where to Start

Ellen Ashford · July 15, 2026

Pen Pal Culture in the Internet Age: Where to Start

Here’s the myth I want to dismantle straight away: pen pal culture is not some relic kept alive by retirees and typewriter enthusiasts trying on a personality. I bought into that assumption too, once. Then six years back, I mailed a handwritten letter to a woman in Kyoto after she’d left a comment on one … Read more

The Case for Writing Letters in 2026: Why I Send One Every Week

Ellen Ashford · July 12, 2026

The Case for Writing Letters in 2026: Why I Send One Every Week

Collector forums love to argue about whether physical media is dying or making a comeback, and on the subject of letter writing the advice splits into two camps: one says it’s a dead art not worth reviving, the other insists any handwritten scrap counts as a real letter regardless of paper or ink. The second … Read more