National Letter Writing Month

“How wonderful it is to be able to write someone a letter! To feel like conveying your thoughts to a person, to sit at your desk and pick up a pen, to put your thoughts into words like this is truly marvelous.” – Haruki Murakami

letters insta

The Dempsey & Carroll Team has accepted the challenge of writing one letter per day for the month of April in celebration of National Card and Letter Writing Month. We always celebrate the art of the handwritten note throughout the year, but we are taking this challenge as an opportunity to reconnect with friends and family in the age of technology. It is always refreshing to see that people appreciate when time is taken to send a beautifully crafted note.

AJK stationery

We would love to see who else has taken up this challenge as well! Be sure to tag our Instagram handle @dempseycarroll and the #writeon and #dempseycarroll hashtags for the opportunity to be featured on our feed. Happy Writing!

How to Send a Thoughtful Thank You

A sincere and eloquent note of thanks will be remembered forever. Thank-you notes allow us to acknowledge deeds large and small, in a thoughtful and considered way. Here are a few of Dempsey & Carroll’s tips to perfecting this skill.

1) Set aside adequate time to think about what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it. If your note is rushed, it may come off as perfunctory or insincere.

2) Make sure your handwriting is as good as it can be. Warm up by drawing loops on scratch paper or by writing a draft of your note. If your handwriting is difficult to read, it’s fine to print.

3) Make a list of the things you want to mention or include. If you received a gift, what do you like about it? If you were treated to dinner, what was especially delicious? Was there an anecdote or funny story you want to reference?

4) Express your gratitude in heartfelt words. Good thank-you notes make the recipient feel special when you clearly mean all those nice things you write.

5) If possible, avoid leading with “Thank you for…” – your note will sound fresher and less formulaic if you start off with anything else. Try “Dinner was delicious!” or “Did you know red is my favorite color?”

6) Finish with a strong line, such as “I really appreciate your thoughtfulness” or “We hope to see you and Ted again very soon.”

Celebrating a Note from a Major Champion

A thank you note from this year’s Master’s Champion, Jordan Spieth:

Writing Notes

Repost from our friends at The Bouker:

I spend a good portion of my day sitting down to write notes to people. I believe the time taken to handwrite a personal note to someone means a whole lot more then firing off an email. Also, I hold those who take the time to write me a note in higher regard.

This is why I find this Edward Jones ad so powerful:

Why We Still Write Letters

Think of how many emails you receive in a day.

They come from family and friends to fill you in on their lives, maybe with an attached picture of their new home or their dog. They’re sent throughout the day at all hours, containing business proposals, updates, commands, changes, ideas. You type up your reply, brief and informal, using terms like “EOD” if you’re at the office and colons and parentheses to create a smiley face in an email to your dearest friend from college. You sift through spam to sort through companies advertising their latest sales, their newest products, how you have to have it all right now!

Just a click away.

Now—think about how many letters you receive in a week.

In the age of email and social media, letters are becoming increasingly obsolete. In a study published in the Telegraph, one in ten children has never written a note by hand. Yet there are still people out there (and I am certainly one of them) who are nostalgic for the handwritten note and yearn to preserve this tradition. We rebel against the conventions of our time, looking to tradition for ways to reinvent our self-expression. Writing a letter is a deliberate act of reflection, both of the relationship to the recipient and to ourselves.

With the plethora of emails I receive in a given day, I find solace in the discovery of a handwritten letter in my mailbox. I feel a wave of hope knowing people are still putting pen to paper and sharing pieces of themselves in the form of handwritten notes. It’s the experience of knowing that someone thought about you and took the time to create something special for your eyes only. With our Facebook or LinkedIn profile pictures as the new first impression, letters now become the true portals into the hearts of others.

A postcard I received from my dear friend Marine, who lives in France. She used up every inch of the card– I just adore that!

Send a letter to someone who matters to you. Make your sentiments known in the way you cross your t’s and dot your ‘i’s. Show someone you love them. Your letter is something tangible; it will be held, touched, and read over again and again for years to come.

Madeleine Garone,

The First Job Begins with a Thank You Note

Although the notion of less is more holds true in thank you notes, there is an art to writing them to a prospective employer. After a job interview, it is regarded as a courtesy to send your interviewer a thank you note within a few days. Sending a handwritten thank you note shows your prospective employer that you took the moment to reflect on the time spent with him or her as well as your commitment to the role to which you are applying. In an era that has given rise to the email as acceptable means of correspondence, you will be sure to stand out among your competition with a beautiful handwritten thank you note.

When writing a thank you note to a prospective employer, it is very important to weave unique elements of the interview into your note, especially a moment of discovering a shared interest or common experience during your conversation.
In addition to reiterating your interest in the job, the thank you note provides the opportunity to further highlight your qualifications for the role and to add in anything that you may have forgotten to mention during your interview. Be concise and confident.
To conclude your note, write that you look forward to hearing from your interviewer. Sign your note with a simple Sincerely, My best, or Best wishes followed by your signature.

The interviewer will be sure to take notice of your attention to detail, polite manner, and thoughtfulness—all qualities of an excellent future employee.