“The one thing you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice. Your mind. Your creativity. Your vision. Your story, so write and draw and build and play … and live as only you can.”

March 4, 2025March 6, 2025 carolannmccarthyLeave a comment

These are the words of Ted Kennedy Watson. I met him by way of his book, Guide to Stylish Entertaining. I discovered Ted’s book when visiting the gift shop at The Red Lion Inn, my very favorite country inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Ted owns a retail shop in Seattle, Washington and has a blog, and a love for entertaining as I do. His book is very inspiring but his philosophy has been even more inspiring to me..

I thought about Ted’s words, “Live only as you can”. Do you stay true to your vision no matter what others think of it? I’ve been guilty of doubting my vision, my mission, simply because some people weren’t enthusiastic about it. I suppose I was expecting enthusiasm when I first announced what I was planning to do. But why should I expect anyone to get excited about my vision? They are not me. They have their own likes and dislikes. These things shouldn’t affect my vision at all. It’s certainly helpful when our ideas are met with enthusiasm, but we must not depend on the enthusiasm of others in order to press forward with our own ideas. I realize that now.

I happen to love the art of letter writing. I really, really love it, and I feel terrible that so many modern people are missing out on the pleasure of a letter, and why? I think it’s because people today don’t hear anything about this beautiful art. No one is talking about letters – not the post office or the stationery companies, not movies, magazines, or even my many pen friends who are simply enjoying their letter writing and keeping the fun to themselves. Therefore, most people never hear a word about this art. Out of sight means out of mind and out of mind means dead and gone. I have often lamented, “Somebody should do something about this” and then, as Lily Tomlin said, “I realized I was a somebody.” I realized it was for me to do something. I must be the one to spread the word, to share my joy, and sharing doubles the joy so I’m pretty joyful about now as I proceed with my mission to promote the art of letter writing.

Rachel Carson, the environmentalist wrote, “The subject chooses the author” and I’m quite sure the art of letter writing has chosen me to be its advocate. What subject has chosen you? Of course, when I would mention this, my letter writing mission, to people who had no interest in letters and may never have any interest in letters, I was met with a cool reaction. This dimmed my enthusiasm immensely, but now I realize letter writing has chosen me to be its advocate not these other people. This is a job for me to do and I certainly don’t expect every person to love writing and receiving letters as much as I do, but I’m quite sure there are many who would, and so I will proceed undaunted to spread the word about the lovely art of letter writing. After all, I am Carol Ann, Lady of Letters.

Ted Kennedy Watson inspired me with his quote and I hope sharing my reflections on his words have inspired you to move forward on your mission in life too. Ah life! We’re all in it together and we should encourage each other but even if we get no encouragement from others, we know in our heart what it is that we must do.

Are you writing and building and playing as only you can? Are you sharing your story as I’ve shared mine? The writer, Sark, wrote in her book Succulent Wild Woman, “A story can travel without you and inspire many. The tiniest story in your life can deeply touch another. You cannot know the affect your story might have.”

“Don’t be afraid . It won’t be perfect. The only thing to be afraid of, really, is that it won’t be.”

Stephen Sondheim

“Let your soul be unleashed by writing – letters, keeping a journal, writing whatever is on your mind without editing. You will experience many insights”

February 26, 2025March 6, 2025 carolannmccarthy1 Comment

These words were written by Mary Beth Janssen in her book Rejuvenation and I agree with her thinking wholeheartedly. Do you? Are you a writer? I am. I’m a letter writer. Most people think one must be published in order to call onesself a writer, but this is not true. To be a writer all you must do is write.

Though I’ve been writing letters for years, lots and lots of letters, I never realized I was a writer until one day when I found myself writing letters in a coffee shop when a very distinguised gentleman entered carrying a briefcase. This man took a seat, spread out his papers and made his way to the counter where he intended to order his coffee, but on the way as he passed me he looked down at my papers and asked if I was a writer too. Was I a writer? Of course I was a writer. I’ve written hundreds and hundreds of letters over the last few years. Without a moments hesitation I told him, “Yes. I am a writer!” and that’s the first time I fully realized it myself.

I love to write and I especially love to write by hand. I write one letter with my first cup of coffee each morning and then later in the day, when I need a break, I’ll write another letter. If after I’ve accomplished a few things I may give myself a treat and write yet another letter or if not that, I may just write a blog post. Yes, I love to write. Maybe you do too.

Many insights, memories, creative ideas and interesting thoughts will come to me as I write just as Mary Beth Janssen stated in her book, but for me, a letter writer, the inspiration for these thoughts comes from my letter friends. You see, when I am about to answer a letter I usually have nothing particular on my mind, but as I read my friend’s letter it ignites my thoughts. Having a great many interesting letter friends who have a great many different backgrounds and interests provides me with a rich array of subjects to ponder and respond to. I never know what topic of conversation will pop up until I begin rereading a letter.

This makes me think of something the Irish American novelist, Flannery O’Connor, once said. She said, “I don’t know what I think until I see what I write”. Well, I don’t know what I’ll be thinking and writing until I reread the letter I’m answering. It’s so fun and exciting. Really. It makes me feel as I did when running for college homecoming queen and being asked questions I had to respond to “on the spot”, the kind of questions Miss America would have posed to her in competition. You think fast and respond and sometimes you’re surprised by what you say, or in letter writing, by what I’ll write.

Letter writing is such a rich intellectual activity, particularly if you are blessed with richly intelligent letter friends as I am. But all human beings are interesting living all sorts of experiences and as they share those experiences we get a glimpse of their lives. We may only have one life to lead but sharing through letters (and other ways too) grants us the pleasure of experiencing different lives and we return to our own with renewed contentment, rekindled memories and yes, some creative thoughts too.

What people are missing if they’re not letter writers. And that’s why I’m an advocate for the beautiful Art of Letter writing. If you are a letter writer as I am please spread the word. Letter writing is a complete treat, a rich physical, social, intellectual and even a great spiritual activity. If you’re not a letter writer yet, what are you waiting for? Write a letter ! You’ll be glad you did.

“Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless”

February 25, 2025March 6, 2025 carolannmccarthy1 Comment

These words were spoken by Mother Teresa, that tiny Catholic nun who founded the Missionaries of Charity in India. She is now considered to be a saint in the Catholic church. After reading Mother Teresa’s thoughts concerning the endless echoes of the words we speak I couldn’t help but relate the idea to the art of letter writing. What an opportunity we have to send kindness into the world with each letter we write.

I have the ritual of writing a letter each morning with my first cup of coffee. What I should ask myself each morning is whose life can I make brighter today? Sure, it’s fun to share what I’ve been up to and some days that can be pretty interesting and entertaining reading, but what does that sort of news really do for my friend? Not much I’m sure. If however I look for opportunities to say “yes” to their ideas or praise them for something they did, or encourage them for something they’re thinking of doing, well, those words could really make a difference in my pen friend’s day.

I’m happy to say I always have lots of wonderful letters waiting to be answered. I’m blessed to have many penfriends. I hope you have many penfriends too. Each letter friend is important to me. I love the one to one conversations and Mother Teresa was also about the one to one. She writes, ” I do not agree with the big way of doing things. What matters is the individual. To get to love a person, we must come into close contact with them. If we wait until we get the numbers then we will be lost in the numbers and we will never be able to show that love and respect for the person.

Every time we write a letter we have the opportunity to show someone the love and respect Mother Teresa talks about. In this way letter writing is more than a fun free-time activity. It becomes a ministry of love, a ministry we can carry on all by ourselves, in our comfy slippers, any hour of the day or night. While some people spew hate, fear and retribution around our world we can be working against those nasty efforts by sending out kind words which echoe melodiously all the way up to heaven.

Don’t just write any old kind of letters. Write love letters. What the world needs now more than anything is love sweet love and we are all capable of sending that needed love out into the world one letter at a time. Our penfriends may be so moved by our kindness they’ll start writing their own love letters too and on and on it could go.

Mother Teresa was only one person, and so am I, and so are you, but we just might be able to accomplish more than we think. Mother Teresa’s way was not in big things but in doing small things with great love. We should all try that too. We may never know the full extent of what our kind letters will accomplish until we get to heaven, but once there we’ll have to look up Mother Teresa and tell her how she inspired us. At least I hope she inspired you. She sure inspired me.

The Art of Hand Writing

February 9, 2020February 23, 2025 carolannmccarthy14 Comments

I love to write by hand. Do you? Handwriting is personal. It’s expressive. I wrote my 244 page book, “The Art of Letter writing” by hand. You see, since I love handwritten letters I wanted my book on letterwriting to be hand written too. Publishers did not agree. They insisted it appear in type, so, I printed my book myself, my way. It was a labor of love.

Every day I enjoy handwriting at least two letters. I write to my sons, to in-person friends, and to my many pen friends who live all over the world. As a result of all this writing I receive many letters from many people. My mailbox is happy and so am I, but I’m most happy when the letters I receive are handwritten. That’s because handwriting is an art, and I love art! I also love to get to know people from all sorts of different places and I love to see the script that each of these persons has invented. Yes, invented, for though most of us may have been taught the same method of handwriting we each will put our own personality into our writing and each script will evolve differently.

The other day I was looking through a book called “Handwriting of the famous and Infamous” by Sheila Lowe and it got me thinking about the handwriting of some of my pen friends and how their handwriting resembled the writing of famous and important people. No two handwritings are ever exactly the same, but many have similar characteristics.

Take the handwriting of Princes Diana.

Diana’s handwriting is large and rounded with an openness that suggests to graphologists she is someone who was always ready for something new and exciting. This is also true of my pen friend Bonnie and her handwriting. Bonnie lives in Lancaster, New York. Her script is large and rounded too. Look at Bonnie’s handwriting.

Handwriting experts say large and open writing suggests the writer is motivated by a need to serve those she loves. This was true of Diana and it’s true of my friend Bonnie.

Now a very different writing style is that of Hillary Clinton. Take a look.

Hillary’s handwriting has an airy appearance too, which is often seen in highly progressive people, but it’s not as open. People with this airy characteristic in their handwriting are driven to make improvements in their environment and in the world. My in-person and pen friend Barb, from Hudson, Ohio, has handwriting similar to Hillary’s – at least I think so. What do you think?

Edgar Allan Poe, Poet (1809-1849) was born in Boston. I love Boston. I used to live there, but that’s neither here nor there. Getting back to Poe, it’s sad that he was orphaned at the age of two. He was sent to live with the Allens, thus the Allen in his name, but these people never adopted him. One wonders what kind of relationship he had with this new family and if that relationship influenced the type of fiction writing he would pursue. Take a look at Poe’s handwriting.

Experts say one of the signs of a strong intellect is the sharply pointed letters in the middle zone and a well-developed upper zone. This handwriting belongs to a person who would not simply accept what he was told, but had to examine the facts for himself. This also sounds a lot like my pen friend Rebecca who lives in McKee, Kentucky. Take a look at Rebecca’s handwriting.

Now we come to one of my favorite composer/performers. It’s Paul McCartney. I love, love, love his music. Take a look at a page from his notebook showing an early draft of the lyrics to “hey Jude”.

In his writing McCartney strips away most nonessential loops and strokes, leaving only the basics necessary for legibility. This is a sign of a swift fluent thinker. I think my pen friend Natalie must be a swift fluent thinker too. She taught English at The Ohio State University and her handwriting makes me think of Paul’s. Below is a sample of Natalie’s script.

It’s so fun to look at everyone’s very different handwriting. Don’t you think so too? Well, another very popular musician was Elvis Presley. Like Paul, Elvis had millions of fans and like Paul he changed the face of popular music in his day. Unfortunately, to me Elvis’ handwriting is not as handsome as Elvis. Here it is.

Presley was motivated by the need for constant action, as seen in the uncontrolled writing movement and poor rhythm, even if this action did not actually lead anywhere. He thrived on excitement and adventure. I wonder if my pen friend Markell who lives in Laurel, Maryland seeks excitement and adventure too. Her thoughts are clever but her writing has that uncontrolled look reminding me of Presley. What do you think?

A very different style of hand writing belongs to William Faulkner. Though he was a high school drop out he went on to become one of America’s best-known authors. Faulkner’s writing is unusually small. Minuscule writing suggests extreme need for privacy.

Faulkner’s small, upright printing reveals someone who made decisions based more on his head than his heart. His thinking style was logical and he communicated his thoughts directly, with no frills. My pen friend Evelyna from North Olmtsed, Ohio is logical too and she communicates with authority. When I get her letters I need to find my magnifying glass for even with eyeglasses I find her tiny print difficult to read.

Now let me show you Thomas Edison’s handwriting.

I like Edison’s writing. It combines strength and flexibility. His neat, well-organized writing reflects an organized mind. The spaces between words, letters, and lines are clear, which is sign of an ability to see the big picture but also to keep all the constituent parts in their proper perspective. I see this neat organization in the writing of my pen friend Wendy too. Wendy lives in Battle Creek, Michigan. Observe Wendy’s handwriting,

So many people. So many styles of handwriting, I could go on and on with hundreds of examples. Handwriting is truly a beautiful art form that connects us to one another. Your handwriting is an irreplaceable extension of yourself and that’s why handwriting is so important even in our modern age of technology.

So I hope you slow down, pick up a pencil or pen and write. It’s function and enjoyment rolled into one action. If you have a craving for beauty and creative expression; if you would love to be an artist but you can’t paint, sing or write music, well, have I the art for you. It’s . . .

The Art of Handwriting

The Art of Creating Stationery

October 23, 2019March 6, 2025 carolannmccarthy6 Comments

There’s the Art of Letter writing and there’s the Art of Handwriting, but there’s also the Art of Creating Stationery. There’s just so much art involved in writing letters. It’s wonderful – so creative. We can find papers for sale to use for the letters we write, but what fun to create our own stationery. We don’t have to be brilliant artists. We just have to let our creative juices flow. There’s inspiration everywhere.

We could create a simple sketch describing where we’re sitting as we write our letter or we can focus on a favorite thing, study it, and try to capture it on paper. I happen to love wildflowers so I’ve created a line of wildflower stationery. Here is one of my designs. I like to write a little information about the flower I’ve drawn around the edges of the paper.

I love writing letters on large sheets of paper because then I’m able to form the letters of my words larger too and this helps make my hand writing more legible and attractive.

But variety is the spice of life so sometimes I create cards 4 by 6 in size and I add blank pages inside so thoughts can flow, not be hampered by a shortage of paper. Who likes a short letter? I tie the pages together creating a sort of booklet.

Sometimes I’ll draw my fountain pen with a hello and a flourish at the top of my letter paper, a few pretend drops of ink to add a fun touch. You see, the most simple ideas can make for interesting papers.

This is a page from the book I wrote, my book of letters, and the art for this particular letter was simply flowers created by pressing my finger into ink pads and pressing the ink onto the paper. You see, you don’t have to be able to draw to create fun designs for your stationery. Creativity comes in lots of forms.

Clipping pictures from children’s books and adding a bit of colored pencil or chalk can create a nice touch for a letter – a little whimsy.

Adding press-on flowers that are purchased can be fun especially if you add a little of your own flourishes around them. There are a lot of great do-dads to attach to letter paper – feathers, dried herbs, flowers, even weeds; You can create collages using articles you find lying around your house – ticket stubs, candy wrappers, colorful designs on packaging, leaves, anything and everything – just arrange them in an artistic manner onto your paper.

One of my standard designs is a simple flower I create on paper.

I create this basic flower design using two ingredients. The stem, leaves and grass are cut from a handmade paper I found in a paper store. The blooms comes from a pack of scrapbook paper containing many sheets of various colorful circles. It’s fun and quite easy to whip up this design and for pennies I can create lots and lots of stationery. The basic design is always the same, but the blooms are different.

A little creativity goes a long way in creating your very own unique stationery. The Art of Letter writing has many components – your handwriting, your stationery and then of course your thoughts – all this shared with others. It’s all Art and it’s all wonderful fun.

So go ahead and buy stationery if you can find it or use plain paper if you like, but don’t miss the chance to exercise your creativity. Dress up that plain paper if the spirit moves you to do so. You’ll amuse yourself and your pen friends will enjoy seeing what you come up with too.

Enjoy!