Postcards

AKA “How I started my latest writing art project: Postcards from Port Liberty.”

I love getting real mail. Not email. Not all the ads or bills. REAL mail.

Growing up without social media and email was AWESOME. It meant that every once in a while, when you least expected it, you’d find a letter written just for you in one of those special-paper air mail envelopes that saved weight and postage. Or better yet, when a friend went on vacation, you’d get a postcard from somewhere you’d never been.

The message was always short. Having fun. Wish you were here. Not much room on a post card after all. But story writing buddies sent the BEST post cards. A snippet of fiction they were writing on the road. Some weird fact or custom they just learned about that would make it into a scene at some point. All on the back of a picture that took you to an amazing place.

I still have some of the postcards my friend Kelly sent me from England in 1983. There was one of the druids at Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, and, of course, one with a real English hedgehog. All of them had adventures on them.

Travel doesn’t happen much these days with the Coronapocalypse. When it does, friends post selfies on social media rather than take a moment to write and mail something. It’s just not the same. So, I started a new project: Postcards from Port Liberty.

Art seems to be easier for me than heavy writing during lockdown. And the postcards do double duty. First, they help me build the vibe of my setting so I can see it in my head when I write, and second, you get to see and feel Port Liberty before the first mystery, Murder by Spandex, hits the shelves.

Added bonus! You can really send them to people. I put blurbs on the back, address lines, and even the little square where you put your postcard stamp.

Just for convention fun, I splurged on buying a postcard spinner. All twelve slots will be filled for Clockwork Alchemy in March. Come by and say hi!

Skip the selfie and the email. Give someone you love that squee feeling of getting a real piece of mail from somewhere they’ve never been. It may not be London or Tokyo, but there’s something for everybody to enjoy in Port Liberty. Stop by the diner and pick up your visitor’s guide.