Does anyone write cards or letters anymore?

My inventory for Christmas is nowhere near where it should be. After I paint the original watercolors, I send the .jpegs to a printer for reproductions into 5" x 7" tropical greeting cards. Going a step further, each one can also be framed.

Which makes me wonder about my marketing strategy. Does anyone write cards or letters anymore? My originals are usually reproduced into giclee prints-museum quality and archival prints made to last 107 years. (Don't ask why 107.) Since they are expensive, I decided to print a line of greeting cards to capture the low end purchases. That was in April of this year.

At the time, I was just concerned about the price tag, not about the future of greeting cards. Now I am curious.

What do you think? Are greeting cards like books? Will the popularity of greeting cards dwindle like calligraphy and long handwriting? Will ecards take the place of handheld greeting cards?

Quad identity

I feel like I have more than one personality every time I switch blog sites. Once I create a blog, I feel committed to it. It feels like, well, I started something, now I can't end it.

Luckily, I have a title for each site reminding me of what part of me is writing now. This here is the artist me.

Okay, I took the tape off the underwater watercolor I finished yesterday. The finished painting looks fine, but it resembles a landscape. Which it is, underwater though. However, I asked a friend what she thought of it. She said it looked like miles of Colorado fields.

My aim is to create underwater landscapes without fish, but that's not working at the moment.

Too many blog sites

jcarlin.blog.com - writer's blog including self-publishing experience

blogger.com - artist's blog starting now.

I suppose I should separate my creativity.

Updated blogging

Good grief. How many blogs does one person need? I've blogged regularly at two other sites, and happened to come back here in order to post on someone else's blog. That's when I remembered that I had an account here also.

Okay then. My other two blogs are at:

jcarlin.blog.com

and

jcarlin.aarp.org

Otherwise, I will return here as often as possible.

A blog here, a blog there

My recent blogs are at jcarlin.blog.com.

I suppose I could cut and paste and maintain both here and there, but that takes up a lot of time doesn't it?

How many blogs do you maintain?

New Submission

About to send in a 700 word fiction to a local magazine for possible publication. I usually write in first person based on nonfiction experiences. It's a habit that my fiction was also in first person. After the fourth reading, I changed POV to third person. The change seemed to read better. One more reading, and I'll send it out.

Blog change

I'm blogging at http://jcarlin.blog.com for general writing and painting.

This blog site is for autobiography, but I'm heading off to other avenues. I may return here, but as blogging goes, we'll see.

More writing

Since November of 2008, I've experienced more impulses to write in various modes. At the moment, I'm preparing a screenplay for a workshop I'm attending.

Never having done one before, it's a challenge but increases my experience as a writer.

Blog in the fog

I admit that blogging is vague to me, but I'm gradually getting to know what to do with it. Most importantly, readers need to know how to find my blog. So I'm working on making it easier for everyone...especially me. Therefore, I will be changing my blog address once again. This time, look for it at:

http://jackiepiascarlin.maui.net/.

New blog place

I've switched my blog to myadvertiser.com under the name "mauiwriter". See you there.

Warm Up

Whenever I begin to write, it takes a few minutes to warm up. My thoughts don’t flow well until I’ve jotted down a few paragraphs of nonsense or disconnected ideas.

It’s difficult to concentrate on any idea when you’re staring at that computer expecting the words to appear by themselves. The best thing to do is to start typing…anything.

Allow the words to flow, whether or not they make any sense. Turn off that little critic in your mind that says that every line has to be perfect. Trust your own desires. You’ll soon realize that what you initially wrote develops into something else entirely.

Soon enough, the words come out faster and the first page becomes the third before you know it.

Blogging

It is 5:00 a.m. Hawaiian Standard Time. I am not usually awake this early, but the moon is full and I will be going out for a run within the hour. Posting this now would be up to date for the rest of the day since we are few or more hours behind the rest of the world. Maybe some days it will be later; and depending on my schedule, it might be daily, or maybe weekly.

That is how writing goes. I encourage my classes to write every day. This writing time does not have to focus on the particular project that you are seriously working on. It can be time devoted to a blog, such as this, or your journal. Jotting down a shopping list is also writing. Organize the articles in proximity of where they are, such as the market, hardware store, or cosmetic counter. Then map out the shortest route to take in order to save time and gas. This mapped shopping list also frees your mind while driving.

It sounds anal, but this is a marvelous way to organize your thoughts…as in writing an essay or book. Organization enables the writer to group thoughts together for paragraphs or chapters. Like the shopping trip , organization is a map of ideas-where to go and what to do.

Time and Place

The time element in your story can be set without using a specific date. Your reader will have a sense of when your story takes place by using the news from your local paper or television newscast. The given information provides this association. Here is my example.

I drove the winding 56-mile road to Hana while Hurricane Ike hit Texas. The lush green rain forest had changed since I had last seen it just a few years ago. Clump of trees along arid streams looked brittle. Not long ago, fresh water spilled over ledges into deep pools at every turn. Yesterday, only one waterfall flowed. The lack of water was apparent.
Another subtle change was the familiar calls of birds and crickets. In former days, the forest noise began as soon as the road narrowed-at least 30 miles before Hana. But yesterday, it was not until I was about 10 miles before the town that they became noticeable.

Hurricane Ike caused flooding and devastation while "paradise" experiences a drought.

How are you?

I'm turning 59 this year. I'm curious as to how many bloggers are 55 years and older. If you are in this age category, could you write in? I've created this blog to encourage writing in creative and autobiographical pieces-thoughts, essays, manuscripts or explorations.


Whatever age you are, feel free to write in when you care to share thoughts or need a push with your writing.