Misc. Saturday

Tips for Writing Letters

1 - Everyone likes to get personal notes and letters - Proverbs saysthat “Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healthto the bone.” If you use pleasant words, you can be a blessing and anencouragement to your friends. That’s tip number one - Don’t complainabout everything when you write, but try to be cheerful!

2 - Don’t wait to think about your letter until you sit down to writeit. Be alert all the time for interesting or funny things that happenthat your friend would enjoy hearing about. If you think of somethingyou want to make sure you remember to tell them, you could jot it downon the back of the envelope or somewhere.

3 - Write like you talk - you should use good sentences and grammarmost of the time, but it’s not a school paper, so don’t be scared ofwriting! Just try to think of what you would say to that person ifthey stopped in for a visit.

4 - Ask questions! That is, if you want them to write back. It’simportant to not just talk about yourself, but to show that you’reinterested in their life as well. You could read the letter they wroteyou (if they did!) and ask questions about things they talked about.You could ask questions about what they like (What’s your favoritekind of ice cream?), what they’ve done (Have you ever been iceskating?), what they think about things, and anything else you canthink of!

5 - Make sure you answer the questions they asked you. It’s a goodidea to always reread the letter they sent you before you startwriting, and then again after you’re done to make sure you don’t missanything. Also, something they wrote may give you an idea of somethingto say to them.

6 - Be detailed! For example, don’t just say, “I went to a birthdayparty.” Tell when and where it was, who was there, what you wore, whatyou ate and did and talked about, and what gift you gave. Tell whatyou’re learning in school. Tell what your people in your family havebeen doing. If you read a good book, you could give them a mini-bookreport about it. You would be surprised at how much you could tellabout anything if you think about it - and those are the things thatmake letters interesting. Even if you think it’s boring, it’s a wayfor the other person to really feel like they’re there with you.

7 - Writing letters is fun, but it’s good to include somethingspiritual as well - Tell something that you’ve been learning in yourpersonal or family devotions, or at church, or ask them to pray forsomething, or include a verse or two.

8 - With some practice, you can make your letters look exciting, evenif they aren’t! Use exclamation points, underline important words orcapitalize whole words, use smiley faces, Xs and Os, or anything elseyou can think of. If you’re telling about what someone said, put it inquotation marks.

9 - If you want to, you could include something extra - like a poem, ajoke, a quote, a recipe, a picture, or a bookmark.

10 - Lastly, don’t forget to put the date on the letter, your name atthe end of the letter, and your address, as well as theirs, on the envelope.

Naomi S. MN