April LEP Challenge

We know that books and letter writing can go hand-in-hand, so the April LEP challenge was to write a letter to any fictional character that you would love to be penfriends with.

And if the letters that resulted from the challenge are any indication, there are just so many cool fictional characters out there that would make wonderful penpals!

However, only at LEP would you find such an eclectic group of letter recipients. Hobbits, ghosts, fairy tale characters...! In the words of George Takei: "Oh Myyy!!" 

Here are some of our favourite April challenge letters from LEP's extraordinary members:

Venus, AKA Voracious V, wrote to the intrepid Hobbit who went There and Back Again. "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."

GAH! Put us out of our misery Voracious V! What does go around the world but stays in a corner?

Ann-Marie, AKA Ninny Numbskull, wrote to Marissa Falco's Parcel Ghost

Click here to see more photos of this awesome spooooky letter!

Eva, AKA Hawwa, wrote to Little Red Riding Hood!! She also gets 4,000 bonus points for using matching stationery!

Click here to read Eva's way-too-cute letter to Red Riding Hood.

Also, Eva has an important request for LEP members: please contact her if you know the postal address for Little Red Riding Hood.

On that note, if anyone knows the postal addresses of Raylan Givens, John Thornton, Fitzwilliam Darcy, Jackson Brodie, or Jo March, please let me know!

GREAT work, superheroes!

Dear Superhero,

March's LEP challenge was to write a letter to your favourite superhero, telling him/her about snail mail, and asking him/her to be your penpal.

Of LEP's almost 180 members, only 1 other member (other than myself, Super Squirrel) participated in this month's challenge. C'mon superheroes, that isn't very superhero of you!

The only thing that can be concluded by this is that no one else wants a superhero for a penpal. That's insane! Why not?! Because check out this awesome letter from Jinnee, AKA Craft Enchantress:

How can you not want to partake in such fun?!

Well, I suppose your loss is our gain. With The Flash and The Incredible Hulk as penpals, I guess we're the only LEP Members who received the top secret mail invites to the End of the World Super Party. We rubbed shoulders with Captain America, exchanged numbers with Nightcrawler, did shots with Gambit—you should have been there, it was AWESOME!

Seriously though: since LEP is a new initiative and we're learning as we go along, it helps to know what you guys think about the swaps and the challenges. Are you enjoying them? Is it activity that you want to see and participate in? Did you not participate in this month's challenge because you didn't like it or because you didn't have time? Do you have ideas or suggestions for improvement?

We really enjoy the challenges, but if LEP members don't find value in them or don't want to participate, then perhaps it would be better for us to re-route our energy to other activity. But we need you to talk to us. Any feedback you provide goes towards improving LEP. We've said it before and we'll continue saying it until the flying cows come home: Let us know what you think!

UPDATED: Thanks to everyone who has left feedback about the challenges so far. It's much appreciated!

It's difficult to please everyone with the challenges. Some people sent us feedback that we should incorporate the superhero theme more; others are less keen about the superhero theme. But we're trying to achieve a good balance between "regular" challenges and superhero-themed ones so rest assured, there are less superhero-y challenges coming up.

That being said, how you define "superhero" is entirely up to you. We use the term superhero because we're a superhero-themed penpal club. But heroism comes in many guises and forms. It's not simply spandex and attacks by radioactive spiders. In other words, a superhero isn't just someone from a comic book who wears spandex and fights crime. If you're not a fan of comic book superheroes, then adapt the term to something that fits with your personality and likes. For example, your hero might be someone who knits and volunteers and adopts cats from the animal shelter. So when that month's challenge/swap asks you to talk about a superhero, write about a hero that works for you. We want you to be creative and inspired, so don't feel restricted by the standard definition of the word "superhero"; challenge the norm and redefine superheroism for your purposes!

In the meantime, please keep the feedback coming!

February LEP Challenge

We put out the challenge beacon and you superheroes answered!

The challenge for February was to write an anonymous love letter to someone. But the letter had to be truly anonymous: members were challenged to "write" the letter using words and letters cut out from magazines. No leaving handwritten evidence behind for crafty supervillains to find!

Here are some of the most creative and awesomesauce challenge letters from LEP's members:

An extraordinary letter called "Re(a)d" from Stéphanie, AKA NimbleFingers.

Awesome work from Ann-Marie, AKA Ninny Numbskull.

Valentine's love from Carlene, AKA taylormaide.

Awesome work, superheroes! Now, if we ever need to leave an anonymous letter for any reason (saaayy we accidentally flew into a parked car and need to leave a "Woah, I'm sorry!" note. But what are the chances that'll happen for a seventh time?!) we know who we should call on!