Saving a letter from an old friend doesn't exist anymore. Everything is texted or emailed.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Sadly, e-mail has triggered the decline of the handwritten note; I have seen its near-disappearance in my lifetime.
Sending a handwritten letter is becoming such an anomaly. It's disappearing. My mom is the only one who still writes me letters. And there's something visceral about opening a letter - I see her on the page. I see her in her handwriting.
The digital native doesn't send a letter to the editor anymore. She goes online and starts a blog.
In old age we are like a batch of letters that someone has sent. We are no longer in the past, we have arrived.
Letters are something from you. It's a different kind of intention than writing an e-mail.
I tried to write with someone else once before, but it was not successful.
A good many young writers make the mistake of enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope, big enough for the manuscript to come back in. This is too much of a temptation to the editor.
You can't write about a friend, you can only write about a former friend.
No texting. What happens then? Good old-fashioned letters.
I save her marked-up manuscripts as an unluckier husband might save love letters.