Postcrossing Blog

The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

This month, thanks to Kompis-Ninna's suggestion, we’re asking you all about your favourite day of the year. Do you have a yearly tradition, something you look forward to and always remember fondly?

This is a bit out of season, but my favourite day of the year is probably Christmas Day! I always spend October to December trying to think of all the absolute best presents for my immediate family, and I love to spoil them, and Christmas Day is pretty much the culmination of that. Plus, even now I’m an adult, it’s a day to be with my parents and sister in the house I grew up in, and shut out most of the world. I think it’s the only day of the year that’s the same every time.

I do try to make my birthday special as well, of course, and it’s coming up this month, in fact! I usually try to do something nice for my birthday… One year when I lived in Belgium, we ate cake for every meal, starting with my wife making me Welsh cakes (which I ate hot right out of the pan)! But my birthday’s never really the same two years in a row, and sometimes we don’t do anything special and just take the time to relax. So Christmas Day is still my favourite!

What about you? Do you have any family traditions or national holidays that always light up the year, for example? Let us know about your favourite day of the year in the comments—and don’t forget you can use it as a prompt for what to write on your postcards this month!

The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

This month, we’ve chosen a prompt that Tomoe (aka Sleep) suggested in our writing prompts thread on the forum. If anyone is a fan of comics, you’ve probably thought about this one already, but it’s a fun question to ask anyone—and trickier than you might think to decide!

I am a comics fan, so I have a head start in thinking about this: I love Captain America, Captain Marvel, Wiccan, Hulkling, Spider-Woman and her fellow spiders, America Chavez… But would I want those powers for myself? Flight is cool, and I’d certainly feel better about my impact on the environment if I could just fly myself to the library… but it might not be much faster than walking, and it seems like it must be tiring!

In the end, I know what I’d choose. The first one would be self-healing abilities, so I can heal up quickly from any bangs and bruises (not to mention my persistent eczema) and work with infectious diseases in the future without fear. And the second would be time manipulation. Imagine if I could just stop time for everyone else and read a book? Imagine how much I could get read with an extra hour in the day…

I’d love shapeshifting too, of course, and more flippantly, I’d definitely love the superpower of making a cape look cool… but I can only choose two, and my heart is set on self-healing and the ability to stop time. What about you, fellow Postcrossers? Tell us about the two powers you’d choose in the comments, or write about it on your cards this month!

The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

This month’s writing prompt is a classic: imagine you’re about to be stuck on a desert island. If you could choose three objects to keep with you, what would they be?

I’m personally inclined to cheat and say a motorboat, along with an umbrella to keep off the sun and a way to store fresh water… but if I’m taking it seriously, and thinking about if I had to live on a desert island, the first object would have to be Helen Hippo, because we’ve not been separated since I was two days old.

After that… assuming that all the basic needs of food, water, etc, are already taken care of, the other two objects would probably have to be books. Unless there’s internet or electricity on that island, and then I’ll just take my laptop and my ereader!

But if you’re really twisting my arm and I have to choose two books, I’d choose Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor, and the illustrated edition of Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea books.

Alright, that’s enough of me—it’s your turn! What three objects would you take with you to a desert island? Feel free to be as practical or as wishful as you like. You can answer in the comments here, or use this prompt to guide what you write on your postcards this month. We look forward to hearing from you!

The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

This month’s writing prompt was a suggestion by HM on the forum. I’ve often found that people have interesting stories when they’re asked this question, so here goes…

My favourite animal is a hippo. Hippos have tough competition from hedgehogs: I’ve even helped rescue a sick hedgehog once; he stayed in my sister’s room for a couple of days while she was away, while we waited for an expert to pick him up. I was often the one to check on him, and can tell you that he snored when he was asleep… which is very cute, but doesn’t quite edge out hippos. Likewise, people might expect rabbits to be my favourite, given my little menagerie of three rabbits.

But no! Still hippos, and yes, there’s a story here! When I was born, my mother’s best friend bought me a teddy. As I remember, the story goes that she went into a shop and looked for the teddy that seemed to most need adoption, when her eyes fell upon a little grey hippo, and knew that was the right one. I’ve been inseparable from this hippo since I was two days old: she’s lost an eye, she’s had countless other surgeries, and we even had to sew an extra layer of fur over most of her body to protect her fragile, furless skin.

Given she’s been my constant companion for so long, I always said my favourite animals are hippos—and they are fascinating animals! Did you know that the US once had plans to have hippo ranches? I learned this from a book by Sarah Gailey, and it does make me wonder how it might’ve changed the world…

Now it’s your turn! What’s your favourite animal, and why? You can let us know in the comments, or write it on your postcards this month. Or both! Maybe you can even send a postcard showing your favourite animal to your next recipient, and then tell the story on the back.

The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!

This month, we chose one of Eva (aka lauranalanthalasa)'s prompts to spark conversations on postcards, which goes nicely with February’s theme of writing about comfort food. Eva suggested people talk about what they do for self-care or to treat themselves. It’s always important to do that when you can!

As usual, I’ll go first! For me, it depends on my mood. If I’ve just been stressed out and I need to wind down, then I’ll grab a book and either cuddle up in bed under my weighted blanket, or run a nice hot bath with some nice bubbles or a bath bomb. I have some favourite series which I reread when I really need a pick-me-up: I’ve talked about my love for Dorothy L. Sayers on the blog before, for instance!

Sometimes I need something a bit more active, though. Going for walks is nice, especially if I can get out somewhere where there are trees, streams, and birds/animals running around! The picture in this post is from a walk I went on earlier this month: it’s a little wintery, but I saw some squirrels and a pair of robins. It’s always nice to get moving, and to watch other little lives going on around you.

So how about you? Do you have special little rituals when you’re upset, or little routines you use to help you unwind? Feel free to share them with us here, and use this as a prompt for what to write on your postcards this month!