Postcards

Short, sweet, super

I have made this letter
longer than usual,
only because
I have not had the time
to make it shorter.
—Blaise Pascal

I learned a new word this week. Deltiology is an entire discipline focused on collecting and studying postcards. This bit of news (initially discovered on Grammarly) sent me over to Webster’s, where I learned that the Greek word deltion is a diminutive of deltos, which means writing tablet: thus, deltion is a small writing tablet. English speakers added the “-logy,” which derives from the Latin dolare, “to hew.”

And there we have it: small things to write on. Postcards.

The All Stars baseball game is upon us, meaning we are halfway through the summer. How are your travels going, gentle readers? Have you been letting those of us at home know what a wonderful time you are having and that you wish we were there?

I hope not, because I would much rather learn one specific, possibly silly thing about how you are spending your time: “Rainbow-colored lizards greeted me at sunrise” or “Bought a red hat in the only store here” or something my friend Gary might write, like “home by 5. tired, had a swim, leftover frittata, glass of wine, in bed by 9.” Any of these would make me much happier than “Having a wonderful time”—although I’d be thrilled to receive any postcard from you, especially if it did not contain requests for money or petition signatures.

The how-to advice at the above-cited Grammarly page is not particularly inspired, but it does include lovely reasons beyond travel for sending postcards, including life updates or “thinking of you” missives. Or you could use postcards for new rituals—sending, for example, an annual card to a friend on your birthday.

Blogger Jennifer Petof, of Sidewalk Safari, offers a reason both poignant and compelling to write postcards at a time when digital is So Much Easier. (Is it? Ask George Orwell or Marshall McLuhan about that.) When her mother died, “I discovered a cache of postcards that I’d sent to her over the years. She hung all my postcards on a pin board above the couch where she liked to sit.” For heaven’s sake, is there a better reason on the planet to whing off a few of these small jewels of love?

After my mother’s health tumbled for the final time, a family friend I miss every day took to sending my father the odd postcard, plain but for hand-hewn daisies or trees drawn in the corners, saying things like, “Hey! It’s Tuesday!” After my parents left us, she started sending them to me until she, too, flew away. Would I rather get a 10,000-dollar pearl necklace? I would not.

For how-to tips, go here. The site advises you to begin “with a cheerful greeting”; make your card “shine with personality”; and allow yourself to “get sentimental” (hear, hear), along with other tips.  

It also offers writing triggers to get you started:

• a quick list of interesting facts you’ve learned about where you are

• a local traveling tip

• a funny or sweet anecdote from your life during the past few days

• an inside joke and what inspired you to think of it

• what you’re doing or seeing while you’re writing the card

This site’s page offers a great suggestion: go backwards. Start with the address (that space on the right half of the side that doesn’t have the image), then add a date (the top left half of that side, above where you’ll write your message), and then write your message. This way, you’ll avoid mashing your deathless prose into and over the address area that the mail carrier needs to read so that the card can, you know, get mailed. I used to forget that a long skinny thing gets pasted across the bottom of postcards and would squeeze my message along that spot, so my message was inevitably hidden by that barcode thingy. Don’t do that.

Visuals are essentially, and historically, the whole point of postcards. Of course you’ll pick cards with images and graphics that appeal to you and that you hope your recipient will enjoy. But also choose visuals that underscore the message you want to send. (With that gorgeous sunset on the front, you won’t have to waste words about Key West’s gorgeous sunsets.)

If you really like a card, buy a couple so you can keep one. A postcard from a history center or museum (as opposed to, say, Quik Trip) is Art that you can afford.

If you want to sell folks something, Postgrid tells you how, with tips on branding and messaging and all that good stuff. But even in the cold, cold transactional world of business, Postgrid echoes what the other sites say and what I say here: keep it short and simple, and avoid generic messages.

Postcrossings is a project that facilitates sending and receiving postcards from random people around the world. What a great idea! The site offers postcard-writing advice here.

The above-noted Thesaurus site offers more postcard-related tips:

• Always carry stamps on trips, so you can mail your postcards right away. (You’ll want to buy them special, because they’re cheaper than letter stamps.)

• Since you likely won’t be getting a response, don’t waste space with questions.

• Send postcards from multiple locations for an exciting daily or weekly surprise to recipients.

  ---

Lagniappe: I’m cheating with this issue’s “something extra.” I’m asking for your opinion. Well Worded began as an experiment in January. It’s now July. What do you think? Do you want to keep getting it? If so, why? If not, why not? If meh, why is that?

Which of the following topics most spoke to you—or didn’t?

1. Thank you letters

2. Love letters

3. Email vs. letters

4. Job-hunting thank you letters

5. Sympathy cards

6. Young Writers Day

7. Invitations

8. Recipes

9. Obituaries

10. Travel journals

11. Father’s Day cards

12. Letters to the Editor

Give me your feedback via the comments box or by email by July 24. I appreciate it. And I appreciate you.

Finally, if you do like Well Worded and you know others who might, please tell them about it.