July 2025 Calendar for Note and Letter Writers

...and some fun epistolary news and finds from around the Internet

If you’d rather listen than read:

Pull out your own calendar right now and jot down who comes to mind when you read this July calendar for note and letter writers. Thank your postal worker, get in touch with cousins, aunts, and uncles. Cheer up someone who’s lonely. Celebrate friendship. It’s a great month for epistolarians!

“The tactile act of writing by hand allows me time to think before I commit to words; such a lost art can also be a deliberate way of feeling and remembering.”

~ Journalist Steven Petrow

U.S. postage rate increases in July

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has announced a new postal rate increase that will take effect on July 13, 2025. Here’s a quick summary:

• Forever stamps will rise 5¢, from $0.73 to $0.78.

• Domestic postcards increase 6¢, to $0.62.

• Both international letters and postcards go up 5¢ to $1.70.

• Extra ounces for domestic mail will see a modest 1¢ bump to $0.29.

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Paper Trails and Postmarks

Image created by the author with ideogram.ai

Thank all of you who voted to name this new addition to the monthly Calendar for Note and Letter Writers. It gives me the perfect place to share interesting finds related to notes, letters, and the many delightful things that orbit around them: stamps, stationery, papermaking, folding techniques, old texts and letters, artwork, music, and more.

1. Favorite family recipes are great for adding a little fun to your notes and letters!

I posted this recently about our family recipe for Shrimp Etouffee. I’ve even been considering collecting recipes from readers who share recipes that evoke a warm, heartfelt feeling when they make it, taste it, or even think of it. If you have such a recipe and can tell me why it belongs in a Heartspoken cookbook, I’ll consider adding it — and if I use it, you’ll get a free cookbook! Use my contact page to submit.

2. Victorians created letter-locking to ensure privacy

Thank you to Joyce Yagerline, a member of our Facebook group “The Art of the Heartspoken Note,” who shared this fascinating article about the practice of letter-locking. Below is the video demonstrating how Mary Queen Mary of Scots locked her last letter (to her brother-in-law) right before she was executed.

3. New stamps issued in June 2025

Barbara Bush stamp

I was thrilled to see a stamp honoring the life and legacy of the former First Lady Barbara Bush (1925-2018) , the wife of the 41st U.S. President George H. W. Bush and mother of the 43rd U.S. President George W. Bush and mother of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. She and Abigail Adams are the only two women to be the wife of one U.S. president and the mother of another. She founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

2025 U.S. Flag Stamp

This year’s flag stamp is part of the U.S. Postal Service’s annual tradition of honoring the United States flag.

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Coming up…

Next week, I’ll have some special tips for newlyweds (or anyone else) who feel overwhelmed by too many thank you notes. Don’t miss it…for yourself or for the newlyweds in your family.

P.S. Don’t forget to send me your Heartspoken recipes. See above.

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Thanks for reading, because readers like you are the support for this publication. This weekly newsletter is always free, but paid subscribers not only support my work and get discounts on my courses, but they also get the value-packed monthly Action Plan as well as access to past action plans. Taken together, these are the equivalent of master’s level training in note writing.

Have a great week, and always remember: whether written or spoken,
words from the heart will never fail you!