17 August 2016

Philofaxy PenPals

About 4 years ago we had a small group of readers taking part in 'FiloPal' a pen pal group. It was a great excuse to practice my hand writing and to exchange some correspondence with a few readers away from the computer.

Ever since I first bought a Filofax nearly 30 years ago I've always carried some writing paper with me incase I needed to leave a note through some ones letterbox if they were not at home!

I find letter writing quite relaxing. It is nice to get away from a screen, kill all the distractions and focus your mind and attention on writing to a friend somewhere in the world. There is the pleasant surprise when you receive a letter too.

I created my own writing paper with the address details at the head of the page and punched it to fit an A5 organiser. I actually set up one of my A5's just for this task, it was useful to keep previous letters filed and a supply of paper and stamps to hand in the one place together with a pen. I will most probably do the same again.

Emma contacted me the other day and asked me about the idea of setting up a pen pal exchange. I don't think she was aware of the old group, but I've not heard from anyone for 2 years or so.

So Emma has set up a new group on Facebook to facilitate putting people in contact with each other so they can then exchange addresses and start written correspondence again.

Please feel free to join the group: Philofaxy Penpals and introduce yourself.

For those of you who are not on Facebook, but would still like to take part we will work out some way of sharing your details with the group so you don't feel left out.

So let us get writing folks.

10 comments:

  1. On my last trip I had an idea, an epiphany of sorts;-)...wouldn't it be fun to exchange postcards with pen pals from all over the globe. After being recieved these postcards could then be hole punched, corners rounded, laminated, scrap book adorned (or whatever embellishments our heart desires) into interesting dashboards/dividers for our planners...especially the A6/senior size. Hopefully, the group won't think me rude for asking for postcards!

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    1. That will be fine, a good idea I think.

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    2. Great idea! Philofaxy's own Postcrossing - I'm in! :-)

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    4. I also exchange postcards with people you could even just request to do one off postcard exchanges and collect postcards from different countries.

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  2. For the love of writing! Wonderful idea. New podcast idea!

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  3. I would love to participate, but I don't use facebook. Especially like the idea of using A5 paper and file everything in a dedicated A5 binder. Exchange would be about Filofax ideas and life in general, right?

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    1. Hey Marcia, if you would like to write a brief introduction to yourself and some of your hobbies and interests I could post it onto the group and if people would like to contact you I could privately send them your email address (or alternatively if you don't mind it being posted directly onto the introduction I can do that too). That way you can get in contact.

      The only downside is I don't see how you can see the other introductions and find people the other way round. Maybe Steve will have an idea for that.

      You can write about anything - it's generally a good idea to pick someone who have a few similar interests so you have common ground to write on.

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  4. Filopal was one of my better ideas. And as I recall it got quite large. I met a lot of amazing people. I actually just my found my old blog post about it. Life just got in the way. I am glad someone has decided to revive it. Can't wait! Thanks Steve and Emma

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