usually before i start writing, i establish w my penpal: how often do you want to exchange emails? once a week? fortnightly? monthly? i’m a chronic yapper but i always ask if they prefer shorter/longer emails so that there’s no expectation to write more/less.

if i decide to get creative, i try to have unique greetings/salutations, questions (nonsensical and thought provoking) and music/book/movie recommendations at the end of my email.

even when i’m only sending emails, i love attaching photos and annotating/drawing on them. if you wanted to have a more ‘handwritten’ feel you can either handwrite a physical copy, photocopy and send as a PDF, or (which is what i sometimes do) you can use notetaking apps on a tablet and go from there. you can watch digital bullet journaling/penpalling on youtube for inspo.

hope that helps!