Penpal Nation - Safety Guidelines

Hi Friends.

The importance of safety as regards pen pals cannot be overstated.  Please take a few minutes to read the following safety guidelines. They are an important tool, one to keep in mind always.  Safety on the Internet is paramount especially as it pertains to the hobby of writing to pen pals.  You are putting your trust in a stranger, whose intentions you may not know, but you can use your instincts and common sense as well as safety guidelines to help protect your personal information.

Please, use your common sense when inviting others to become pen pals. Think, be careful, quiz potential pen pals before you give up any information, like an address or even your email.


Do not give ANY private information, for example birthday, especially the year; information about your family.  Do not give information about your work-- this includes the name of the company for which you work, telephone, email.

Absolutely no information about your children--no names, birthdays. No information about your spouse. Please don't give any information about your home, especially if you work from home or a stay at home parent. Do NOT post your address or email address on the site. It would be wise to use a separate email than one you use for your personal life. DO NOT POST ANY OF THE ABOVE ON YOUR FACEBOOK WALL.

Take it slow and easy when you start a pen pal relationship. Stay focused, don't let your imagination get the better of you.

If you can, use a P.O. Box for your mail, and not give out your home address or work address.

Remember predators, identity thieves, hackers troll the Internet for victims, and they don't respect anyone.
Above all, use your common sense and trust your instincts. If your gut tells you that something is not right, go with it.


Thank you for your cooperation  and stay safe!.

Penpal Nation - Why Penpals

Hey Friends:

In one of my previous blog post, I alluded to the fact that I have created a group on Facebook called "Penpal Nation".  The creation of this group is my contribution to keeping the art of letter writing alive, as insignificant as this group might be in the galaxy of pen pal groups, sites, and organizations that exists!  Having said that, I think it is only natural to tell you why I like pen palling.

I read an article today, which stated, and I am paraphrasing here, that pen palling is no longer relegated to inmates.  Of course, I don't agree with this statement, because long before emails--which when you think about it, is not so long ago--people wrote letters, and they still do.  But, in my opinion, writing to pen pals was always around and popular, but it was not "glamorous" and "sexy" like emailing and textting.

I like pen palling because I like to write.  I much prefer writing a letter than talking on the phone, sending emails or textting.  Nowadays, sending letters by post is called "snail mail," which conjures up a slimy looking creature, with a shell on its' back, creeping ever so slowly along a wall, leaving a slimy secretion behind with a letter on it back!

When I sit down to write to a pen pal, it is pure joy!  I can be as creative as I want. I choose my own stationery or I can make my own! I can make the letter as long or as short as possible.  I can choose what I want to write about from a number of topics, many of my own choosing.  I get to know people from different nations, countries, culture, socio-economic backgrounds, races, sex, age groups-- learn about them, their country, and culture in detail.

I can also discuss hobbies that I have in common with a pen pal.  For example, I like to read, and so I  can discuss books I have read; authors whose writings I like to read again and again.  I can even  learn about authors whose writings I would never have heard about, had it not been for "penpalling."

In addition, I can exchange postcards, items of news that are interesting or even quirky, clippings of comic strips, crossword puzzles, maps, brochures, stickers, magazine articles, scrapbook items, greeting cards, even recipes, refridgerator magnets, key rings, the list is endless.

So writing to pen pals is not dead, it never was, and it gets more exciting everyday--at least in my view!

Not enough postage...yikes!!

Today, I posted several postcards and a letter. Well, so what? I realized after all mail had been picked up that the letter, which is destined to a land "across the pond," did not have the correct amount of postage, and will perhaps come back--I hope it does--or worst case scenario, it gets to its' destination and the recipient must pay to receive!! Not a good thing. No! No! No!.

I thought to myself, "this is really not good," because the recipient is my pen pal. Yikes! I was disgusted with myself, and was perturbed that, I'd stayed up half the night writing the letter-- that it would be lost and I would never get it back--that I would have to write it all over again--blah, blah, blah. By the way, I write all my letters by hand and I don't keep a copy. But, then I realized that with a return address the letter would be sent back to me and I could resend it. Or, and I cringe when I think that if it slips through, my pen pal would have to pay, and that is so embarrassing! I immediately, sent her an email, explaining what had happened, and that I apologize in advance if she receives a letter from me and had to pay to get it out of the post office, that I would refund her the cost of the postage with interest!

I know this happens to every person who writes and sends letters via snail mail, if it has not happened to you yet, then you are lucky! I have noticed that people will write on their Facebook wall about having to pay for the postage from a sender who forgot to put enough postage on the envelope. In those instances, I want to hide my face when I read it, because, it is not something I would want plastered over Facebook!! I would rather, get a note via email and handle it privately, but that's just me!!

Note to self: If unsure about the amount of postage to be used on any letter, always check with the post office. Do not be in such a rush to send a letter, that in the end will cause hard feelings, embarrassment, and allot more money, than if I had checked the postage in the first place.

I had mentioned that postcards were among the pile, well, those will be lost forever! I will have to resend those. I am not happy with myself, but I have learned a valuable lesson, one that I won't soon forget, and one that is worth sharing!

Penpal Nation - The Group

Pen palling is very popular especially on Facebook. Every day new pages and groups pop up. I started a group called Penpal Nation. This group is for women only. Having said that I got an email once from an individual, who said, that "I was rude" because I did not include men!! I guess, he is entitled to his opinion, and I am entitled to exclude men from my group!

Having a group such as this, is not hard to maintain, and people seem to visit often. I maintain it by adding links, that I think pen pals are interested in, and also will find useful. In addition to adding interesting and relevant links, maintenance includes, but is not limited to, sending reminders to members about safety; encouraging them to invite other friends to join; as well as, thanking them for their patronage.

Penpal Nation allows other similar groups on Facebook to post information about their site. In addition, sites that offer stationery, labels, stickers and most any type of supplies that pen pals need, and use, are allowed post.

My hope is that pen pals will not only keep alive the art of the hand-written letters, but start to include other types of written communication such as journalling in its various formats.