Welcome, all! You’re just in time for the
monthly (1st Wednesday) on-line gathering of the Insecure
Writer’s Support Group, where
you’ll find helpful tips, handy resources, the latest trends in publishing, and
a comfortable place for hundreds of writers – just like you and I – to share our
writing journeys!
Feel free to meander and mingle. Our
gracious co-hosts this month are:
If you’ve
ever found yourself stuck in a writing rut, or in need of the perfect
timesaving writing tool, this month’s IWSG Newsletter offers invaluable insight and
excellent tips for both!
Happy October! It’s
National Name Your Car Day!
Have you ever named a vehicle? I once had a Mini
Van that I named Tony, as in the tiger you could put in your tank along those
endless summer road-trips. Tony’s previous owners had evidently been on a road
adventure when they limped him into our parking lot one exceedingly hot summer
day. The knocking rod sounded ominous at best. When we handed the harried
owners an estimate, they handed us the title and walked away. It wasn’t hard to
understand their frustration, but they left behind a mystery I’ve pondered ever
since.
Under the passenger seat was a dusty unaddressed postcard
from Boston. The only words on the back were “The wind” That’s it. No
greeting, no punctuation. An unfinished thought on a card never sent. But why?
And whatever happened to Postcards?
An idea likely arising from the illustrated (picture)
envelopes of the 1850s, the Postcard didn’t exactly dive into the U.S. Mail
stream until Congress passed an act in 1861 allowing privately printed cards,
which eliminated the need for an envelope, to be sent by mail at the cost of a
penny each. It was John P. Charlton, a Philadelphia printer who copyrighted the
very first American postcard in December of that year. Not quite ten years
later, Charlton’s business associate began reissuing Charlton’s cards under his
own name; Hyman Lipman. Meanwhile, in 1872 the government began producing its
own “postcards” for a penny and raised the cost for non-governmental cards to
two cents each.
Nevertheless, thirty years and numerous acts and measures
later came the “Golden Age of Postcards”; the vast popularity of which led
quite naturally to the “Real Photo” era facilitated by the Kodak “Postcard Camera.”
And just when interest began to wane in sending as well as
printing the card-shaped carriers of abbreviated messages from afar, a new
printing process was devised using a higher rag content, and the Linen Card was
born. The linen cards achieved such worldwide popularity they remained in
circulation long after the advent of the colorful and enthusiastically accepted
Photochrome card.
Union Oil Company began selling the cards; depicting
realistic images, in their western service stations in 1939 and while sales remain
steady, it is attributed more to nostalgia than for the purpose of brief
communications.
Have you ever sent or received a postcard? I wish
I had, though brevity is not my strong point ; - ) In many ways I couldn’t do without today’s
technology, in other ways I lament the loss of the personal connection, the
genuine warmth that comes across in a hand-written note – even if my letters
often do exceed the limits of a short story ; - )
On the subject of Short Stories, a Portmanteau (or,
Collection) called The Haunted House was first published in 1859
for the weekly periodical “All the Year Round” It was conducted by Charles
Dickens; who wrote three of the eight stories compiled in the collection. Could this have been
the first-ever Anthology?
