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!

Learning a new language is a common goal, so we think that HM’s suggestion of sharing what language you’re learning, or the languages you’d like to learn, should be fascinating!

Personally, I speak a little French and always mean to practice: I have a copy of The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien) in French, and I periodically open up apps like Duolingo and Clozemaster to practice a bit… but that’s mostly just because that’s the language I learned in school. I know my accent is terrible, and there’s not much reason in my day-to-day life for me to speak any French, so it’s more of a mental exercise than anything.

It’s probably not too surprising though that I’d love to learn to speak Welsh. My wife used Duolingo to get some vocabulary, and is now using an app called Say Something in Welsh to practice more. I haven’t joined in yet, but… it’s tempting! I’d be starting from zero, really (I can count to ten in Welsh, and say a couple of phrases by rote), and I’m not sure I have the time yet. One day!

How about you? What languages are you studying, and which ones would you like to learn? You can share your thoughts in the comments, and/or use it as a prompt for something to write on your postcards!

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!

I’m a big reader of sci-fi books, and the way they end up predicting the future (or not predicting it at all!) can be surprising. The most unexpected things come true, and then at the same time we don’t have the long-promised flying cars! What’s going on? Anyway, science fiction aside—what are your predictions for the future?

In some ways, my predictions are a little pessimistic (sorry!). For example, I think that worldwide trends are leading towards a higher likelihood of humans coming into contact with new-to-us diseases, as our habitations push further and further into the habitats of animals that humans don’t normally come into contact with. On the other hand, I think that science is going to come up with some great answers for that: mRNA vaccines are a great start, and I think we can make it faster and safer to produce them all the time.

I think we’re also going to get better at treating all sorts of other conditions, partly with vaccines, partly with medication, and partly with gene editing. (There’s a great tool called CRISPR which can edit DNA, and I read the best joke about it the other day: KFC has asked scientists to edit the chicken genome—they want to make it CRISPR! Okay, it’s a bit niche, I know.) The things we’re going to be able to understand and fix and improve are going to be astounding.

I also think that no matter what, humans are going to come together and support each other. A lot of people take a pessimistic view of humanity, and I can see why… but in every terrible situation, there are also amazing people, and I think those people will always rise to the challenge.

Now it’s your turn! You can write it on your postcards this month, or just answer in a comment: what are your predictions for the future?

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!

We have a forum topic where members can make suggestions for things they’d like to see in our writing prompts. Among the great suggestions people are making, Sabrina (aka Albion) has a question about mantras.

I don’t really have a mantra myself, at least not one that’s motivational or uplifting. I do, however, have a choice saying from my grandmother that I use when I’m getting overly emotionally involved in something that doesn’t really need my input, or where my opinion isn’t going to change anything… Does that count?

It’s really simple, in any case: “You can’t educate pork.” It means, basically, “there are some people you just can’t reason with; no matter how much you explain, they won’t learn/won’t see your point of view.” When I look it up online, there are a few results, but most people I know only know this saying from me! When I’m getting caught up in some silly debate online, I’ll take a deep breath and remind myself that “you can’t educate pork”… and step away. (Mostly!)

So in a sense I suppose I do have a mantra, albeit one that only applies when I’m getting myself overly involved in trying to change someone’s mind about something! What do you think? Do you have a mantra? What does it do for you? Share your answers in the comments, or perhaps use it to inspire your postcard messages 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!

We have a forum topic for people to contribute writing prompt suggestions for us, Jane (aka MostlyMess) suggested a classic conundrum: if you had a time machine, what time period would you visit, and why?

For me, it’s pretty difficult to say! I have a lot of questions first: how long would I have to stay? Would I be able to interact with anything, and if so, am I well disguised? You can see I have a practical sort of attitude to the problem… But if I’m just daydreaming, and I could choose to go to any time period as an observer (and return whenever I choose), then there’s one obvious answer for me. I want to see dinosaurs!

My favourite dinosaurs are probably ceratopsians (like Triceratops) and stegosaurs. Those two genera of dinosaurs never met, unfortunately, so I’d have to pick just one… If I want to see Triceratops, looks like I’m headed to the Late Cretaceous! I’d probably have to be very lucky to catch a glimpse, but hopefully my time machine would guide me to the right spot.

If forced to pick an era of human history, I’d quite like to go wander around Castell Coch (my favourite castle) when it was newly decorated by William Burges, and no one could stop me wandering into every room!

How about you? Would you join me on a trek back into the Cretaceous, or are you happy with human history? Is there a place you want to visit at a specific time, or something you’d like to find out? Let us know in the comments here, or write about it in your postcards this month (or both!).

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!

We have a forum topic for people to contribute writing prompt suggestions for us, and Heather (aka HeatherSuncoast) picked a fun one. If you look at the dictionary Merriam-Webster’s website, you can find out the words that entered the English language in the year you were born.

Perusing the year I was born, there are a lot of worthy candidates. I’m quite taken by the word “bombogenesis” (the rapid intensification of a storm caused by a sudden drop in atmospheric pressure), and as a biologist, I’m fascinated to see that we started talking about "DNA phenotyping“ (the process of predicting various things about an organism, such as how it will look, based on a DNA sample alone). It’s also the first year the word ”cybernaut" was used, which seems pretty old-fashioned now.

But the one that surprised me was the word “extremophile”. An extremophile is an organism that lives under extreme environmental conditions, like in a volcanic hotspring or under the ice caps, where most organisms wouldn’t survive. They’re pretty astounding when you think about the kind of conditions they live under, and they’re also responsible for some really beautiful sights, like the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone (pictured), because they create such vivid colours. I was surprised that we didn’t have a word for this kind of organism until 1989!

What about you? Did you find a word that you love, introduced in the year you were born? Or something that seemed appropriate? We’d love to hear your stories, in the comments here and on your postcards this month!