Heads up

Once again, just 2 days away from posting this years list of participants, we’re taking a couple of minutes to stick our heads up from all the data sheets, calendars, text blocking, postal addressing standards and documents to let give everyone a bit of a heads up about what’s going on.

Needless to say, we’ve been faithfully collecting and processing every one of the contacts submitted and re-submitted to the join in page along with all those who have been thoughtful enough to submit their updates and corrections (much appreciated by all).



We’ve been acutely aware of how little has been published up front over the past two weeks, and we dearly wish it was otherwise as you’d think there wasn’t much happening.

Meanwhile backstage, it looks like the additions, corrections and general mayhem is going to continue right to down to the wire.

As of today, we are estimating a little over fifteen-hundred participants for incowrimo-2019. And again, if past years have been any indication, this number may rise substantially over the next couple of weeks.

Visits have been streaming in from all over the world and a substantial number have evidently signed up. This is a good thing all in all, but  you might want to start thinking about how you want to choose who to write. There are plenty of methods and contrary to popular belief ..the one that works best for you is ideal!

Many people continue to write throughout the year and there is nothing stopping you from writing more than one letter during the course of the day. The only goal is to have a letter postmarked every day between February first and the twenty-eighth. (getting it into a letterbox counts)

Which brings us to a little comment that needs to be brought forward every year.  Please keep in mind that incowrimo-2019 is not a project for submitting your name in order to receive mail!    Quite simply — the numbers are against it!

This is a project where each person sets out to send a handwritten piece of correspondence (a card, note, letter, monologue, commentary, poem, story …) each day for the twenty-eight days of February.

The important parts being international, correspondence, writing, month. Otherwise known to many of the early correspondents as inky-rhino for short.

Keeping this in mind will help reduce the disappointment that comes from signing up with the assumption that twenty-eight people are certain to send you a letter.

That being said. If you managed (as most veteran correspondents do) to avoid sending appeals, diatribes, sermons, general hot air and unpleasant opinion; at some point there’s a very good chance you’re going to receive a wonderful reply from the person you wrote.

Writing back is apt to start an ongoing correspondence that many previous participants have found to extend throughout the year and beyond. Some of us have developed great friendships that, believe it or not, are now approaching half a decade.

Once the ball’s rolling, you’ll quickly understand why people have been returning year after year.

A number of people have expressed worry that with no movement on the site, they’ve missed the boat. Be assured if you signed up last year and asked for your name to be added to this years list or just submitted, updated or corrected an address; we have it.

All addresses will be posted alphabetically this Friday, January 18, on our address book page in order that you can find yours and start choosing the 28 people you’d like to write.

The join in page will stay open until the 31st of January and the updates and corrections will remain open and attended to throughout the year.

Thanks and best wishes to all.