InCoWriMo (Vintagel Social Media)

I honestly can't take credit for that title. I read it on a pen blog Anderson Pens website (yes, I read pen blogs...), and I thought it was too clever to pass up.

InCoWriMo stands for International Correspondence Writing Month. It was started by the Fountain Pen Geeks (FPGeeks for those of us in the know) last year as an off-shoot of NaNoWriMo. InCoWriMo takes place in February and tasks you with writing a letter or postcard a day to anyone. I participated successfully last year, and it was a blast. Not only did I receive letters from across the country, but also Sweden, England, Australia and Canada. I even got a letter back from the Prime Minister of Canada (with a signed photo), and a letter from Queen Elizabeth's Lady in Waiting.

This year I am broadening my scope. I'm in the process of collecting addresses from every state, as well as the Heads of State for various countries. I'd like to be able to send and receive a letter from all 50 states in the US (I only got 8 letters back from the US last year), as well as every continent (still waiting on that letter back from Antarctica).

If you are interested, I invite you to head over to the FPGeeks blog and check out their posts on InCoWriMo. There is an address share in the forums, and you can get lots of addresses there (and maybe even find a new pen pal). Additionally, Google is a wonderful resource for looking up addresses of just about any public figure you can find (I'm on the search for the Mythbusters' address...). If you really want to get into the spirit of InCoWriMo, head over to the Anderson's website (they are generous sponsors of the HMS Young Writers) and purchase the first ever InCoWriMo Writing Kit, where you get a fountain pen, bottle of ink, note cards and envelops to start your letter writing adventure.

I hope that some of you will join me in February as we send handwritten letters around the world. My address will be there, and I'd love to hear from you.