Meet Hannah Brencher of More Love Letters

It’s Valentine’s Day and we could not think of a more appropriate lady to feature on the blog today than Hannah Brencher of The World Needs More Love Letters. Hannah’s life is all about love and letting people know that they are special, that they are treasured, and that they are cared for. Hannah’s mission for the past few years has been to inspire people to write more love letters. What better day to shed light on her cause than Valentine’s Day?! We hope you are as moved by Hannah’s passion for making the world a better place as we were when we first discovered her work as an author of love letters. Learn how you can get involved here.

Tell us a little about yourself! Who is Hannah B?

At this point in my life, I like to just say that I am a girl trying to find her way. I am a writer, a lover of sweet words, a girl with her heart pinned to strangers, and someone who would probably pocket the mannerisms of every person she came across if it were possible. I am 26 years old and I come from Connecticut but moved to Atlanta, Georgia this past May. I’ve just finished my first book and I am looking forward to digging my heels into many, many more (all the fingers crossed).

How did you come up with the idea for More Love Letters?

More Love Letters was inspired out of my own loneliness and depression that I experienced when living in New York City after graduating from college. i thought I was walking into my dream job. I thought nothing could go wrong. And life smacked me in the face real good. As an effort to not cry on the train, I would write love letters for strangers and leave them around the city. That letter leaving pushed me into spending a year writing hundreds of letters to people all over the world who requested them of me through my email. After that year, and 400 love letters later, I realized that God had actually handed me a recipe. It was my job to pass that recipe onto the world and More Love Letters was born out of that– that need to let other people know they are not alone and you can make a difference in small-big ways.

Has there been any particular instance that really stuck out to you where a love letter changed someone’s life?

I was speaking at a conference in October and a man approached me with a story. He told me that it was because of finding a love letter on the ground– one that someone had left somewhere in a restaurant– that he was still in his marriage of 14 years. He’d been an alcoholic for 11 of those 14 years and one love letter was the turning point for him to start facing what was wrong and start addressing the problems and moving towards freedom. When he told me this I was absolutely blown away. I would be the first to think a thing as small as a letter cannot possibly make a difference and I am always, always, always proven wrong.

What is your definition of love?

That’s a good one. I think love is really figuring out how to be selfless and want good for people. It feels nearly impossible to be selfless and yet it’s everything to figure out how to get better at putting ourselves on the backburner for other people. I am nowhere near perfect at it– I fail a lot more than I care to admit. I am constantly learning though. So yea, I think love is finding a place for yourself on the backburner and being a cheerleader for other people. People need to continually know they are a bright spot in this lifetime and so love, in that sense, looks like encouragement, affirmation, and a push in the right direction with no regard for whether the world sees it or not.

What do you wish you could tell 15-year-old Hannah?

I would tell her to not fear so much. Fail a little bit more. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. In fact, love those mistakes and fail harder next time. But more than anything– just stop being so fearful of who you are and what you bring to the table. It will be your uniqueness that will ultimately bring you into your calling. And you’re never going to want to miss your calling.

Delight is home to a few aspiring writers. Do you have any favorite writing/brainstorming exercises you’d like to share with us?

It sounds corny to suggest that you write a letter but writing letters (the kind you will never send) can be the best form of raw writing. I find that my most real writing has come from writing a letter to someone and just letting my guts pour out onto the page. Whether that’s a friend, a guy who never gave you closure, whatever, it’s a chance to make sure that no words get left unsaid. You’ll be surprised by the honesty that comes out on the pages.

How was it speaking for TED? How did you prepare yourself for that?

It was honestly the best experience of my life. The people at TED are phenomenal. The culture is perfectly synced with what I love: spreading good ideas. And everyone there was such a cheerleader- I loved that more than anything. Was it nerve-wracking? YES. Absolutely. But it was such a good chance to share my story and finally be able to think, “Wow, I am not the only one.”

I prepared through multiple drafts of script writing and practice memorizing. My talk was spoken word style so each word had to be precise and memorized and kept at under 5 minutes. Yikes. The task of it being my first speaking engagement was definitely terrifying but someone told me right before on stage some advice that really stuck: everyone here just wants to hear your story. No one wants to see you fail, they only want to know your story.

What are some other ways you have fun, besides writing?

I love lifting weights, reading, hanging with friends and just having life chats over cups of coffee. I am realizing I need to get more hobbies because I spend way too much wanting to write and talk about life. I think I need to get invested in comedy or something– I joined a sketch comedy class so that is helping me to be a funnier and more loose person. Wish me luck.

Tell us about “If You Find This Letter” and what your mission for this book is. 

Oh, my heart. I poured my guts, soul, and everything into that book. It’s basically a massive love letter from me to the reader. It tells the journey of leaving letters, writing letters, and the bigger movement, but I see it to be so much than that. To me, the book is about transformation. It’s for anyone who has ever wanted to make some sort of difference. It’s about showing up for people and daring to believe in God and magic and serendipity. It’s a story of redemptive connectivity and the hope that we will be good to one another.

It seems like you’ve accomplished so much! What’s your next big dream you want to chase after?

Honestly, it’s wherever God wants to place me. I would love to do more writing and I have a few other projects up my sleeves but I want to really let him steer me into the next project. I’ll keep ya posted.

Where can we follow you? (Website, blog, Facebook page, etc.)

www.hannahbrencher.com
www.facebook.com/hannahkatybrencher
www.twitter.com/hannahbrencher