Get a real letter in the mail. Write back with a memory.
Once a month I write a letter and mail it to you. Real paper, real stamp, and a card inside so you can write back.
The first two letters are free. All I need is your address.
Somebody asking about your life.
A letter written to you
Not a bill, not a flyer. A real letter, once a month.
One good question
The kind that takes you back to a kitchen, a car, a person. Twenty minutes off your phone.
Someone who reads your answer
The envelope back is stamped and addressed. I read every card.
Here's all you do.
- Give me your address, right here on this page.
- One Friday a month, a letter shows up. Letter one goes out October 16.
- Write your card whenever you like and drop it in any mailbox. Or don't. Next month's letter comes either way.
We save everything. We open nothing.
Dear stranger,
Your phone has ten thousand photos on it. When did you last scroll back past this year?
Nobody asks us to look back, so we don't.
Mailbox Memoirs is a letter that asks.
Your life is already full of stories. Someone should ask you for one. Wade Sellers
Yes, I write my letters on a 1947 Royal typewriter.
What's a smell that takes you back to your childhood?
My answer
The smell of my childhood is our basement. Cold concrete, a little dust. I loved it down there.
Years later, at Coast Guard boot camp, the barracks stairwells smelled exactly the same. We ran them all day. Every time, I'd breathe in, and for a few seconds I wasn't at boot camp anymore. I was home.
What's yours?
Wade
What's a smell that takes you back to your childhood?
This one comes straight to me, Wade. I read every one.
Mailbox Memoirs
PO Box 387
New York, NY 10150
Who's writing you every month
That's me the day I bought my first typewriter, in a shop in New York. Now I have a few, and I use them to write my letters to you. I live in Astoria, Queens, with my partner Jacky and our two cats, Jellie and Tuna. You'll usually find me training for a marathon, sitting in a cold plunge, or fixing something around the house.
We all have interesting stories in our lives, and I'd love to hear yours. I hope you'll write back to me.
Fifty envelopes go out on October 16.
One of them is yours, addressed by hand. Get on the list by the week before and it goes out with the first batch.
Things you might be wondering.
Is it really free?
The first two letters are, October's and November's. In the second one I'll ask if you want to keep going, and it'll cost about what a paperback does each month. You can decide then, not now.
Where does my address go?
Onto your envelope and into a spreadsheet only I can see. I don't share it, sell it, or send you anything you didn't ask for. If you ever want it deleted, ask and it's gone.
What if I don't write back?
Nothing happens. You still get next month's letter. The card is there if you want it.
Who sees what I write?
You pick, on the card: you can share this, you can share this anonymously, or please keep this between us. If I share something, it's a few sentences in the next letter with a first name and a city, at most.
Do you mail outside the US?
Not yet. The reply envelope has a US stamp on it. Leave your email and I'll tell you when I've figured it out.
Where should I send it?
Letter one goes out Friday, October 16, with a card and a stamped envelope inside so you can write back if you like. Free, and your address is used for that and nothing else.
You're on the list.
Letter one goes out Friday, October 16. Give it a few days after that, then check the mailbox.
One favor. Everybody I've told about this has said "my sister would love that." If you have one, send her this page.