dear letter,

I’ve realized something recently.

I see a pattern or an image that keeps popping up in my stories.

Letters.

Whether it’s the central image or a minor plot device, letters seem to always find their way in my storytelling. My characters are always writing letters: heartfelt confessional ones or a short scribbled note on a post-it. There’s always that means to communicate on paper. It’s amusing and also probably says a lot about my relationship with letters and writing.

The written word has always been my comfort zone. And this probably explains my affinity with calligraphy. And how quickly I’ve picked it up and how much I enjoy the whole process. How I forget the time when I do my calligraphy practice. That time I just do calligraphy for myself, not for business or profit. My best calligraphy time is when I just let my mind wander while I calligraphy random words, lyrics, or verses, and I just put them all aside. Not meant for posting or for selling. That’s the true joy for me. Just me and words, written in dipped ink. There is always a point when I’m in my quiet calligraphy practice, just when I’m dipping the nib in deep black ink, that I feel connected to writers thousands of years ago. Like I’m a part of this ancient practice, and. I help keep it alive.

***

I found some random letters stationery sets last week just lying around, and they made me want to write a letter. But not to anyone in my personal life. I just wanted to write A letter. Any letter.

If there’s any modern literature that used a lot of letters in their world, it would be Harry Potter. And it’s a plus that these letters are mostly delivered by owls. OWLS!

I’m a huge Harry Potter fan—that’s an understatement, especially if you know me IRL. And as an HP fan, my least favourite HP book is the Order of the Phoenix for two major reasons: 1. Umbridge, 2. Death of my favourite character. (No spoilers just in case you still haven’t read or watched HP).

Order of the Phoenix also sees Harry as a hormonal angsty teen wizard. He was isolated a LOT in this book, physically and mentally. He was cut off from his friends, Dumbledore, and adults he trusted. It was frustrating to read back then, but as an adult revisiting the book, what’s harder and relatable to read now is the isolation.

I’ve been staying home since the pandemic hit. Lost my full-time job and turned my church routines upside-down. My life is here in my room: where I do calligraphy, where I engrave, organize orders, attend church things, hold meetings, execute projects, package orders, take classes, learn new things, hang out and talk with my boyfriend and friends (virtually of course), etc.

I imagine Harry in isolation, writing to his friends, Ron and Hermione, a short but frustrating letter expressing how much he misses his friends. This wasn’t the exact letter he wrote to his friends in the book. (Just for any fellow HP nerds reading this: Harry did write to Ron and Hermione, telling them how much he misses them, while they were staying at The Burrow over that summer.)

It’s a universal statement anyone can say right now: I miss my friends.

In that we miss our friends not because they’re out of our lives, but we miss the way things used to be. It’s a life and a time past, we miss.

I very much enjoyed writing this fake letter as Harry. It was also nice to imagine Harry writing in calligraphy and not in scrawl which he probably did. I’m SURE this was not his handwriting.

Writing and setting this whole letter up was pure joy that evening. And pure joy for me is hard to come by these days. So I’ll take it.

For this letter project, I used all my favourite things:

Nib: Brause nib

Pen holder: Moblique

Ink: Moon Palace Sumi Ink on white paper; Dr. Ph Martin’s Bleedproof White on black envelope

Stationery: Midori letter set

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Do you like letters? What’s your favourite fictional letter? Do you like Harry Potter? What’s your most and least favourite HP book? How much do you hate Umbridge? Tell me in the comments! :)