Letter Writer of the Month - Katherine
The London Letters Pen Pal Club began its life in 2019 with the hope of bringing together letter writing enthusiasts from across the globe to celebrate the joy of receiving letters and the power of the written word.
Over the years we've grown slowly but surely in numbers each week, and we're so proud to now be a 750+ community of snail mailers! We have members from different countries, ages, religions, sexualities, political views, careers, disabilities, and genders - and whilst our differences vary dramatically, we are all united by a love of letters.
'Letter Writer of the Month' is a monthly journal entry where we invite one member from the club to give us an insight into their journey with letters. Some have always been letter writers from a young age, others only began when they signed up to the club. Our members all have a unique story to tell, and we hope you'll love getting to hear it.
Our Letter Writer of the Month for April is Katherine.
Name: Katherine
Age: 59
Job Title: Nurse Anaesthetist
Location: Texas, USA
Member since: January 2025
Tell us a little about yourself and how you became interested in letter writing?
I come from a family of writers! My mom and grandfather were especially passionate about hand written letters. To this day I still have most of the letters they have sent to me during the last five decades. These letters will forever be saved and savored!
I retrieve them out of their special box every so often just to re-read, remember and connect with the memories and experiences echoed from my past captured for all of my eternity in the blue, gold and black inks.
They were also amazing calligraphers so their letters are even more special because they are not only intimate and personal but also very beautiful! It’s as if they are small works of art! Right down to the seals that decorate the outside of the envelopes! They are gifts that keep on giving.
What is it about letters that you think makes them special?
I have always felt hand written letters were one of the more personable exchanges between two individuals. Hand written letters hold the power to move us to tears, emote an array of our emotions we perhaps would not otherwise access and in an instant can simply leave us gobsmacked.
Some letters are powerful enough to break our hearts. Some offer its writer ample room to explain, share or construct their unique point of view. Then there are those extraordinary letters that can alter our world forever in the very moment of the reading.
Letters hold this very magical power woven in each and every line exacting its intended spell upon its beneficiary.
What type of things do you write in letters, compared to digital communication?
Because letters feel so very intimate and almost like a sacred exchange between two individuals - I tend to be much more emotive and vulnerable in a hand written letter. I find I have a tendency to share things that perhaps I would not dare expose in an email or in a social media messaged setting.
Letters carry our stories, secrets, hopes and dreams. They are like vision boards in a word format! The allowance a letter offers us is limited only by the restraints of the scribe.
Do you have a favourite letter, either a famous one or one you’ve personally received?
My most favorite and modestly famous letter came about when I decided to make a huge career change back in my late twenties. I was the National Director Of Sales for my company and traveled the country doing my job. To an outsider looking in - it looked glamorous. I traveled to amazing cities. I experienced so many wonderful cultures and communities. I met people from all over! So many things were wonderful and even though I was uber successful - I felt lost and lifeless. I worked nonstop! I rarely could be home for special or even the ordinary events. I got on a plane to go to work more than I did my car. All the travel that came along with my position apparently appeared “cool” to so many that touted I should be happy to travel like I did - over 50 cities in a year usually. However to me …the one that was living it... it became anything BUT glamorous or cool!
It was just one big logistical trouble shooting headache after another! The burdens were abundant, the competition fierce and successes only allowed a few moments of joy before I turned to face my next uphill battle in another new city! I kept thinking that this just couldn’t be all that life had to offer! Work hard, fly from city to city to up a clients net operating income and then land at home for 24-48 hours before it began all over again! This was not the life or the feelings of dismay that I intended for myself at 28 years old! Then to think about doing it for another 30-40 years made me nauseated - there had to be more! I knew I needed to discover my purpose on this planet and find it quickly.
And I did! I decided to find a profession where I could utilize my number one personal asset of compassion and apply it under my acronyms! I wanted to go hold a patients hand! I wanted to become a nurse!
I didn’t know any nurses in my family or friend circles so I decided to reach out to nurse managers in hospitals in my area. I found out the names of said managers and wrote them a letter asking to take them to lunch to find out about nursing. I knew nursing was tough- but how tough was it? I knew nursing was rewarding on many levels but how rewarding? I needed insight and needed to know so many answers! So I wrote letters! And nurse managers responded! I took several to lunch or to coffee and through our conversations I found my answers!
My letters opened the door to allow me to peek inside a profession I knew absolutely nothing about but realized quickly I wanted to be a part of - nursing called my name!
I’ll spare you the journey of interviewing nursing schools, quitting my “glamorous” profession and constantly explaining to everyone around me why I would enter a profession I knew nothing about! I had to take a little office job where I could work 9-5 so that I could attend community college four nights a week for two years just to be able to apply to the private diploma nursing program that I knew I needed to attend!
When you find your calling - there is nothing that will get in your way! Absolutely nothing!
Once I was accepted into my chosen nursing program - the financial aid officer had a meeting with us incoming students. We were told that since most of us were non-traditional students we could not and should not rely on loans and grants for our private nursing schooling. We would have to find non-traditional ways to pay for our tuition.
And so I did - I wrote a letter! To over 900 companies and industries in the large city I lived in asking for a small donation to help make a nurse for our community -specifically to help ME become a nurse to serve our community! I wrote that one page letter from my heart asking for help.
In the beginning I sent out five or ten letters to owners and CEO’s of businesses in our area. Within the course of several months I ended up sending over 900 letters out to the community. I had interviews with CEO’s and business owners, had multiple job offers for marketing position and when all was said and done - I raised enough money to not only pay my tuition but to also start a non-traditional fund for students coming behind me to have some financial aid assistance in their pursuit to serve as nurse and go hold a patients hand!
All because of a one page heart centered business letter asking for help from my community to help make me a nurse!
There are so many more amazing miracles that I could share here but the bottom line is this- that one page letter changed my life in innumerable ways and to this day - 30 years after becoming a nurse and then going on to becoming a nurse anesthetist- I still get the honor of holding a patients hand and sharing my compassion under my professional acronyms!
To this day I am thankful to that one letter that altered my life forever and one that I get to pay forward every day I get to go to work and serve my patients!
All because of ONE LETTER!
Do you feel any positive benefits to your mental health when you write?
Absolutely! Writing is cathartic in its nature! The process of writing gives us permission to purge our thoughts and feelings and display them onto the pages through our words. Writing is censored through our senses and filtered with our head, heart and soul! We are never the same person after the writing of our letters. We have literally transferred and transmuted something from within ourselves and externalized its final form in ink for our intended recipient to absorb!
Describe your letter writing set up. Do you have a favourite pen or paper? Where are you when you're writing?
My writing usually takes place in my office which feels like my sanctuary. I have made sure to surrounded myself with my books, meditation music, vibrant plants and lots of art! Usually there is one to perhaps three of my Yorkies near by chewing a bone or napping in the sun. It’s a peaceful organized milieu that allows me the space to compose and create whatever I choose! It’s intentional and deliberate by design with a palpable positive energetic flow. It’s one of my many happy spaces!
What made you sign up to our pen pal club and take a leap of faith by writing to a stranger?
I have been a member of Post Crossing which is an international post card exchange group! I enjoyed this sharing but always felt I couldn’t say much on such a limited space! Plus it certainly isn’t as intimate as a longer hand written letter! I like the space a letter offers verses the confinement of half a postcard!
I began googling “how to find a pen pal” and VOILA! I found London Letters and the rest is history!
Do you believe letters still have a place in modern society?
Letters will always hold a special place in my heart and soul for so many reasons. Therefore in my opinion there will always be a very special place for the hand written letter! I will confess they are more rare these days but when I walk back from my mailbox and lead through my mail- the first opening will always be the letter hand written waiting to share the secrets from within!
What role do you think letters will play in the future?
I have a sense that letters will become more and more rare in the face of our socially mediated instantaneously gratifying society! A letter is anything but instantaneous. It’s like a fine wine! Much thought, care, time and preparation has gone into its formation.
Letter writing allows us the time and space to internally inspect our thoughts and feelings. We properly get to evaluate our responses and reactions! It slows us down to have the bandwidth to interpret the meaning in which we want to share our sentiments.
Hand written letters are usually braved only by those willing to look within in order to create an external testament of said process.
I have discovered that the individuals who carry on the art of handwritten letters usually resonate and mirror one of my favorite quotes -
“Know Thyself And To Thine Own Self Be True !”
What would you say to someone to encourage them to give letter writing a try?
Be brave! Grab your pen! Give it a go! You will always be surprised at what comes forth.
A huge thank you to our Katherine for her time, and we hope you enjoyed getting to know her! Why not be brave like Katherine and join our pen pal club? We're always open to new members, you can learn more about the club here.