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It’s a sad fact that the art of letter-writing is slowly being lost with the advent of email and social media. But in some quarters it’s alive and well, and not just among the older generation, in the form of penpals. A penpal is someone you’ve never met before, with whom you exchange letters; you get to know them during the course of your correspondence. As well as giving you loads of practice at writing interesting letters, it’s also wonderful to get a friendly letter by old-fashioned ‘snail mail’ (if you opt to correspond in this way – you can still do so by email if you really want to), in an age in which the only things we seem to get in the post are bills or junk mail. Here are a few pointers to get you started:
– A number of websites exist to put you in touch with penpals, such as InterPals Penpals and PenPal World.
– Pick a pen friend who lives in another country – it’ll not only give you practice at writing letters, but it will also teach you about another culture in a way no tourist trip really can.
– Don’t put off replying – make sure you set aside time soon after you receive a letter to reply to it, otherwise you’ll quickly forget to reply and your poor penpal may be waiting weeks or months before you get round to writing.
– If you’re over 18, you could even write to a prisoner, which, according to this site, helps inmates “keep a positive attitude and focus on the future”.