Thank you

Well, its about time I updated!

I've received lots of cool stuff from you guys, thank you so much! Sorry, I've let the letters pile up for a bit!

Mel and Mary sent me the sweetest Easter cards, with Bunnies, natch! My fave time of year! Thanks ladies!

I got a Wonder Woman card from Lysa, thanks my fellow lady of letters! Check out her blog at: http://redspottedpatch.blogspot.com/

I've been getting these fabulous postcards from my friend Brenna, they were part of an art project she did for UNICEF. She just started sending them to me after I told her about the letter project. I didn't even have an address for her until recently, thanks Tara!


And of course I got letters from Tara, Sharli, Christine, Sandra, and Don.

Don's letter had a little somethin' extra in it, thank you for your continued patronage my friend, and I will abide by the guidelines outlined in your AWESOME 4 page letter! Thank you.

I'm certainly not back up to the blistering pace I set at the beginning of this project, but I'm def. rolling again. So more letters on the way! Send my your new addresses if you move!

xo
cb

Letters on the way! Slight change of plans though...

OK, so 500 letters in 100 days is totally not gonna happen, but I'm still writing 500 letters! So enjoy the letters for a few more months, And I'll focus on quality instead of quantity. Remember to let me know about any change of addresses as well please! I'll post more on this soon.

Gifts

This week I got gifts. I'm feeling like a very lucky girl. It's kind of hard to describe how it feels, so I'm just gonna say thank you.

Jana sent me a comic version of one of my letters, titled: The Clarinet. I'll post pictures, it's incredible. She makes my words look good.

Gabe sent a couple of CD's of music he's been listening to, which is really great because we haven't seen each other in about 15 years! What a cool way to catch up!

Christine sent me some stickers, or "seals" with bees and crows on them, you know me so well! No surprise really, when you consider we've known each other since kindergarten!

Nikki sent a writing assignment she did years ago, an autobiography, complete with a photograph. This one's a loaner, as it has obvious sentimental value. What an awesome thing to share. I can't wait to read it! And your handwriting is spectacular!

I also got letters from my dad (AKA Howard), Don sent me a letter and a postcard made out of a photograph, simple and elegant, I must say!

Last but certainly not least, through her incredible generosity, Sandra is making it possible for me to send out 200 more letters.

You can tell when I'm really emotional about something... it's the only time I shut up.

Thank you everyone.

xoxoxo
cb

200

Whew! I won't lie, I'm having a heck of a time keeping up. Feels good to be into the triple digits though, and almost half way there. I made and sent out about 50 postcards, just to change things up a bit, everyone on the list will get one I think, some will get 2. The postcards were supposed to help me catch up a bit, but I had so much fun making them, each one probably took almost twice as long to make and write as a letter. So uh, I didn't catch up, but I really enjoyed myself. Some of you will also be receiving some limited edition "5 minute drawings" done by Jim and myself, hopefully that won't be too disappointing, we tried to keep things interesting. I will be getting back to the actual written word very soon, promise. Part of me has just felt like I've had nothing to say lately. I've been a bit down and stressed about some projects for school, and I was getting tired of writing letter after letter about how "Meh" I felt. No one wants to hear that!

Anyway, One thing I've learned in this process is that even when I'm at my worst, the most tired, worn out, hungover, etc... there are still little moments of (relative) brilliance, little flashes of inspiration in between the "Meh", and those moments are golden. It teaches me not to pack it in just because I'm having a rough time getting started with the writing... don't give up so easily!

An acquaintance once told me that she loved to jog on days that she was hungover. I was a bit of a running enthusiast at this point, a lightweight for sure, but I did run three times a week. However, if ANYTHING was out of whack on a running day...headache, a little light headed, sleepy, I'd forget the whole thing, or go for a walk. So a hang over would be like... no way. But this girl was not a triathlete or anything, she just didn't place the same limitations on herself that I placed on myself. So the next time I didn't feel so hot on a running day, I went out anyway, and had a fine run. And it felt even better after I was finished!

I find the same thing with my writing, sometimes I'll try to write the whole day off just because I had a crappy sleep, or I'm feeling bitchy, and I'll sit down to write a few letters and be really happy with the results. Most of you who know me well know that I'm often at my most charismatic when I'm ranting about something. I'm a natural born ranter, like Rick Mercer, only less educated and WAY less political. I'm cuter then he is though.

Ok, enough yammering, its time for the List of Gratitude. I came home to THREE letters in the mailbox today, OH WHAT A FEELING! I love you guys.

More great letters from Wendy, and she included a schedule of Olympic events in with one of the letters, which made the envelope MASSIVE and made me think she had written me a novel. My writin' hand hurt just thinking about writing her back, I was a little relieved to see this was not the case.

Sharli had promised to write me back when she signed up, and she made good on her promise! Shared some of her favorite Christmas memories with me. I can't believe you knew what that weird thing with the candles and the propellers was!

Got a great letter from Stephanie, an awesome stream of consciousness kind of letter. Those are great to read, really put you inside someone's head and let you have a look around.

Don, who I keep having to remind myself not to call Mr. Delong, since he hasn't been my Socials 11 teacher for nearly fifteen years now, sent me two awesome letters; I think he should be a writer. I think you should call your first book of short stories: Songs from the basement.

Christine sent me a fabulous letter on stationary to die for, bunnies AND little toadstools with a bit of an Asian theme... It doesn't get any cuter than that. She works at the library, so we've been recommending books to each other, she knows her stuff!

AND, as I mentioned, I just came home from a wet and mushy walk in the forest to find THREE letters in my mailbox, from Sandra, Lysa, and Krystal, that I haven't even had time to read yet, so thank you ladies, and thanks to everyone! I better go play with the bunnies now, or they're going to be pissed!

Good night all!

xo
cb

80

I've fallen a little behind, I had to put homework ahead of letter writing for a few days, so I'll be writing like mad this weekend! I wanted to say thank you to everyone again, and a big thank you to those who have sent ME some stuff, it DOES feel great to find real mail in the box, doesn't it!

Lee sent me a great postcard and an awesome anecdote about restaurants in Germany on lovely stationary, I'm so jealous!

James and Stacey sent me a letter with some words of encouragement, thanks guys! Its actually 500 letters in 100 days, not 100 letters. 100 would have been too... sane.

James and Stacey's mom Wendy, who is officially our "landlord" but who is really more like family, heard about my little project and just went ahead and sent me a letter, what a great surprise!

Nikki made me a wicked postcard, got it on my way to class, so I took it to poetry class and passed it around, people were so jealous!

My dad Howard has written me a couple of letters, what a guy!

And I've also received a lot of really nice feedback, so thanks for that.

So last week I took a break from writing actual words and made some collages, I mistakenly thought I could catch up a bit that way, but it actually takes quite a bit longer to make a collage then to write a letter, even with my MAD COLLAGE SKILZ. I had so much fun making them though, so I made about 15, they will go out this weekend, as I have to buy bigger envelopes for them. I also sent out a lot of poems by some of my fave poets, but I'll be back to writing real letters this weekend I think. Maybe a few more collages.

xo
cb

50

Just hit 50 letters! Well 49.5 actually, my writing hand hurts too much, so I'll have to write 5.5 tomorrow. I think I'm going to make a few collage letters for the next few days, this project won't really be pretentious enough without a collage or two. And it will give my fingers a chance to rest.

Many thanks to those who have sent ME some mail, Lee sent a wicked San Fransisco postcard (Thanks Lee!) And my Dad wrote me a huge letter that I haven't been able to read yet because I've been so damn busy writing. (Thanks Dad!) I know I've been asking a lot of questions in some of your letters, obviously you don't have to respond, but it would be awesome it you did! I think I'm going to allow email responses, if you'd like to drop me a note but getting to the damn mailbox just doesn't work for you. So keep that in mind.

Thanks everyone! This has already taught me a lot about the writing process, I'll write more about that later.

xo
cb

Its on.

Saturday January 16. I wrote all five letters before 8 am. Its on.

xo
cb

What 500 letters look like

Before they put the words on.

xo
cb

Here we go.

I have 500 envelopes, three dozen pencils, 550 sheets of looseleaf (in case some of the letters ramble on a bit), and 500 stamps. All I need now is a whole lotta words.

I wanted to clarify things a little for anyone who is interested (and again, THANK YOU to my participants) in knowing a little more about the project. So here goes:

I’m not 100% sure why I’m doing this, what I hope to gain from it, or what I’m going to do when it’s over… how’s that for clarity? Seriously, I find that having expectations and planning outcomes for your chosen mode of expression just kills things. I get my hopes up about where something creative is going, I start stressing about everything not going as planned, and eventually I give up altogether. So in this case, I welcome the ambiguity.

BUT, there are always some expectations when you plan a project, or a vacation, or a party or whatever… So here’s what I’ve been thinking about.

I’m interested to see what will happen when writing five letters a day inevitably becomes a bit of a chore, how can it not? Not many of us would choose to spend a day corresponding with friends if we have a vicious hangover, or we’ve had a terrible argument with our partner, but I’m making the decision to do it anyway. It will be a test of my will at times, for sure.

Another thing, those of you who know me well know this, I’m a total hermit. And although I am obviously a very emotionally driven person, I maintain a pretty big distance between myself and others, even those I care very deeply about. It’s something I don’t entirely understand, but it’s me. However, I feel very comfortable expressing myself through writing.

My letters to you:

Might be very structured: “Hello, how have things been…” and they probably will be that way at first. My plan it to write two letters first thing in the morning, two after breakfast-ish, and one just after noon, then mail them before 5pm. I’m hoping that as I get more comfortable, I’ll just start writing anything that comes to mind: thoughts, grocery lists, whatever. These letters will obviously be a bit confusing to receive, but as I said, you do not have to write me back if you’re not interested. I have a mandate against emotional dumping- that’s what my journal is for- so you will not get any “woe is me” letters, I promise.

Your letters to me:

Should you choose to send any that is… can be anything you want. Postcards, photos, rants, poems… sky’s the limit. Maybe you’ll want to send me your morning thoughts, or the drawing your little one made yesterday because your fridge is already overflowing with his masterpieces. You may want to write about how the loss of a friend or family member feels. All I ask is that you don’t send anything you might not want to share with the public, in case I use the letters for a book or an installation. And if you don’t want to send anything at all, that’s OK.

As I mentioned, I’m hoping that you will be willing to send my letters back to me when the 100 days is over (or if we live in the same city you can just give them to me), but part of the exercise is giving up my control, once the letter is written it’s gone. It’s yours now. If you want to keep them, that’s pretty cool too. If you lose them all, well they weren’t mine anymore anyway.

Ok, that’s enough for now. I’m starting on Saturday, January 16. I’ll try to keep the blog updated, and you can always email if you have any questions. Let’s see where this goes.

xo

cb

Call for submissions

Facebook post: Jan 12 2010

I want YOU. For my pretentious letter writing art project.

I need to write 500 letters in 100 days, so send me your mailing address (privately please) if you have been missing the feel of a warm envelope in your hand. You do not have to write back, but you can. I’d love it if you did. I only ask that you save the letters and mail them back to me eventually. Not one by one, you can throw a bunch in an envelope to save postage.

Part of the idea is that you might lose some letters, or get some that you don’t want to mail back, or you might forget all together, so I will not hassle you about it. You can make notes on the letters, whatever… the content might be “Hello how are you today.” stuff, or it might be stream of consciousness stuff, or a finger painting, I told you this was a PRETENTIOUS art project. They won’t usually be longer then one page.

I’ll officially start the 100 days when I get enough addresses, anywhere from 10 to 30 people or more I guess.

Don’t be shy, even if were just casual Facebook friends, or if we see each other often, I would love to write you a letter or two…or 500. You can email me your mailing address, or it you’re really keen, a postcard with your address on it would be extra crunchy. I won’t sell your mailing address to any marketing companies, but I may send you helpful material about enlarging your penis and the secret to a flatter tummy for the next 60 years.


If you would like to send me a postcard, email me and I’ll give you my mailing address.

Thanks!