*Note: Please rely on the electronic text version of these guidelines. There are a couple of additions in the text that were forgotten in the hand-written version. The electronic text version will supercede the hand-written version.
Overview:
The
objective of this project is to...
The
“Paper World” reached its zenith in the late 1980's and early
1990's, just prior to the advent of cheap – relatively – personal
computers and affordable dial-up internet.
The
written communication media of choice for long distances was
hand-written letters on paper. Cheap pens and pencils were available
everywhere. So were spiral notebooks, and three-ring binders full of
loose-leaf paper. Postage stamps were a few cents. Paper envelopes
were everywhere.
E-mail
didn't exist yet. Phone calls outside your local calling area cost
0.20¢
per minute, and international calls over a dollar a minute. Air mail
could be sent overseas for about $2.50 per letter.
To
a child in the world of paper, having a friend move to another town
or State often meant never seeing or hearing from that friend again.
No email. No cellphones. No text messages. No Facebook. No internet.
A
typewriter was prohibitively expensive for most kids. The only way
that a child could possibly keep in touch with a friend that moved
was by hand-writing and mailing letters.
Few
kids had that kind of perseverance or follow-through. You might get
one or two letters, and then you grew apart and grew up. The things
you have in common at eight years old matter less each year.
However,
there were a few unique kids who became “pen pals.” Some were
kids who moved apart in childhood. Some were kids who signed up to be
a pen pal to another kid in another State or country.
Those
few amazing children around the world – and I and one of my oldest
and dearest friends were two of them – are the main reason that I
was able to even conceive of this very unique book project.
Overview
continued:
The many
international poets who have been writing to and with each other on
internet poetry forums since the 1990's are also due credit here. I
learned to do collaborative writing projects on those online poetry
boards. One of those poets – John Hindle – and I were having a
discussion online about our respective childhoods. That conversation
inspired me to conceive of this book project.
You see, our
generation is the bridge between the digital and paper worlds....
Possibly the most
difficult objective of this project is to highlight and make
glaringly obvious the critical and increasing difference between the
digital and paper worlds. The crux of that difference is this: the
opportunity
to engage in long-term, sustained focus and concentration on a
single subject for an extended period of time.
We as children and
young adults were able to read a book or magazine on paper for hours
without a phone call, text, or other notification intruding. That is
a seeming luxury in the digital world. It has also been de-emphasized
to an extreme in the modern workplace.
The change from the
paper world to the digital world also brought into the modern
workplace the concept of “multi-tasking.” This is something that
study-after-study has shown that the human brain is not evolved to
do. Yet technology makes it seem like it should be doable. After all,
if information is coming in from a hundred sources at once, shouldn't
workers be force-trained to adapt? Especially if it will mean less
workers, and more money for executives?
Granted, there were
telephones in the workplace long before there was an internet. Yet
prior to the early 1900's, all
business was done either by mail or in-person. Craftsmanship – the
highly-knowledgeable and well-thought-out execution of a job or
commission was prized.
These changes have
been reflected in every aspect of modern life. The effects are
noticeable beginning in school, and extend well beyond.
Overview
continued:
Have you noticed
yourself losing patience with the length of this piece? Would you
have done so as easily in 1975?
This is what this
project is attempting to make relateable to audiences who have never
experienced – and never will – the full-on paper world. If our
generation – the bridge generation – fails to point this out, no
one living after us will know.
What we have given
up of the human condition will not only be lost, any potential to
retrieve it will be as well... It is in our hands, literally.
Daniel A.
Stafford – 2017
Guidelines:
Try to begin your
series of pen-pal letters as
if you were eight
years old, and writing to your pen pal about once per month. This is
a believable frequency of correspondence for a child or teen in the
paper era. Actual
frequency is up to you and your pen pal.
Work in teams of
two, as pen pals have traditionally written. Pen pals of the same
gender would have been most common, yet opposite-sex pen pals are
also an option.
When posting
(sending) a letter, please scan the paper copy, and post (send) the
scan and a keyboarded text version as well. *The point to first
writing – or printing – your letters by hand is two-fold: 1) To
give the book the look and feel of the paper world. 2) To get you
mentally and physically in the “zone” of the paper world. 3) The
keyboarded text is for future readability.
Should this book –
or series of books – go to publication, all proceeds will be
evenly-divided among participating writers, less and documented
expenses incurred to achieve publication.
Literary credit
will be to the writer of each individual writer.
Copyright of
submitted letters shall be retained by the original author. However,
right of first publication shall be granted to the4 collective group
of contributing writers, with Daniel A. Stafford having a
tie-breaking vote in any decision on publication.
Guidelines
continued:
Right of secondary
publication shall be given collectively to all participating
authors, and shall require the majority consent of all surviving
authors. Daniel A. Stafford shall have a tie-breaking vote in all
such decisions.
Contributing your
work to this project constitutes acceptance of these terms.
You may only
contribute your own original work. Submission of any material not
created by you shall mean a loss of all rights to any monies or
other contributions to the project, and you bear sole legal and
financial responsibility for any copyright violations caused by your
actions.
-
Do not post letters
online, anywhere. Do not publish leters in any printed publication.
Doing so constitutes first publication, and requires the majority
consent of all contributing writers. (Exception is made for this
overview and guideline, and for two example letters to be composed
by Daniel A. Stafford for the purpose of generating interest by
potential audiences and publishers.) Violating first publication
will require the exclusion of your and
your pen pal's
submitted work from any subsequent publication, and will result in
the loss of any right to a share of the proceeds in any subsequent
publication. *It will also result in the loss of any voting rights
by you for this project's decision-making process.
Any writer
contributing to this project may seek a publishing deal for the
entire project, but majority consent of all contributing writers is
required to execute on any offer of publication. Daniel A. Stafford
shall have a tie-breaking vote in all such matters.
You may choose your
pen pal as you see fit. However, your pen pal must see and accept
these guidelines before contributing to this project. *Failure to
comply before submitting any material from a pen pal not agreeing to
these guidelines shall constitute copyright infringement on your
part, with the attendant penalties already mentioned.
Guidelines
continued:
A note from Daniel
A. Stafford, creator of the Pen Pals On Paper project:
It is my hope that
this will be a fun and rewarding project for all writers who
participate in it. Yet this project has serious goals as well. I have
striven to be fair and encouraging to my fellow writers in composing
these guidelines, while remembering those serious goals, and making
them possible.
Thank you sincerely
to those who embark on this journey with me.
Daniel A. Stafford -
10/08/2017
