I love this article from The New York Times last week.
Elizabeth Mayhew a lifestyle expert for the "Today" show is a stationery lover with a hutch in her New York apartment that's full to the ceiling of personalized stationery. She says writing a note involves more than “just thinking about my own style.”
“I really think about who I’m writing to and what they would appreciate, and I try to match that stylistically as best I can,” she said. “That process is such a different emphasis from writing a quick e-mail."
My favorite line from the article is from Anna Post, Emily Post’s great-great-granddaughter and the spokeswoman for the Emily Post Institute. She said the No. 1 suggestion — “we don’t use the word ‘rule’ anymore” — regarding correspondence is this: “If you think you should be sending a thank-you note instead of an e-mail, then you should.”