Pen Pal Hack: How to Remember What You Wrote in Your Letter
Hi everyone! I haven't blogged in a month because things kept popping up all of April, but I'm back with a fervor for May!
Last week, I ran another ad on Instagram calling for pen pals and have already received more than 20 new entries! Plus, I am going to run another ad next week that will target different areas around the world. There seems to be a lot of people asking to connect with someone in Korea or Japan, but I don't have anyone on my list from there. My next campaign will target those two areas, along with Scandinavia and different parts of the U.S.
The Find a Pen Pal program continues to grow and bring me lots of warm, fuzzy feelings. The messages I've received from some of the participants are just lovely, and I've even exchanged letters with a few. We also got our first pen pal from Slovakia a couple weeks ago, which means there are something like 10 countries represented in the program :)
While some of you are new, others have already been corresponding for weeks. Since the start of the program in December of 2020, it has been an interesting road and longer than I imagined, but what's lovely is knowing that despite many pen pallers falling out of contact with me and then getting taken out of the program, still, for a few, it has made a world of difference and even made their lives better. I couldn't be happier about that, and that makes it all worth it.
But to get to the point of this post, since some of you have exchanged letters back and forth a few times, you are probably dealing with the short term memory loss I often suffer from when it comes to pen palling. Remembering what you wrote in your letters. This is something I hope I don't struggle with alone.
That's why today I have a hack for you. It doubles as a great memory-keeper that you can look back on possibly years from now, when you've been exchanging letters with your pen pal so long that it has become a habit and a friendship.
What I do to keep my memory fresh on what I've written in my pen pal letters is keep an archive, both of the letters I sent and the ones I've received. A while ago, I discovered Adobe Scan, an app that allows you to take pictures of documents, notes, or pages on your phone and turns them into an editable PDF document. It also allows you to edit the document after you've created it, adding pages whenever you need to. It changed my life!
Check out these photos to get an idea of how it works. Thanks Nadia for sending me such a short letter so full of personality!
When you first open the app, it immediately starts searching for a document to scan.
Once it detects one, you can adjust the edges so it's just right.
Once you've saved it, you can easily add more pages by clicking "Add Page" from inside the document editor. It asks you if you want to use the camera or choose a photo from your photo album.
That's what I did with my response letter, because it took me a little while to write back.
You can, of course, rename the file as well.
And access it and edit it at any time. Add pages, crop pages, view pages, or export it if you want.
Do you like my stationery? I have a reel on Instagram that shows me making it. I am working on stationery kits that come with stickers, matching paper, an envelope template, and other goodies, so you can also make your own. So make sure you're subscribed to the email list that way you know when they're available for sale!
As always, reach out to me if you have any questions. Comment below if you'd like me to write about something in particular on the blog.
Keep writing and stay curious!!
Xx, Alison