How To Write A Love Letter Part II: Putting Pen to Paper

Last week I discussed the writer (the lover), the audience ( the beloved) as well as the purpose and content of a love letter. Basically, I talked about getting into the appropriate state of mind to pen a love letter.

This week I want to talk about the actual letter, its parts and techniques you can use to make your love letters that much more meaningful for your beloved.

Every letter has four basic parts: the greeting or salutation, the body of the letter, the close and your signature.

Salutation

Traditionally, letters begin with the word Dear followed by the recipient's name, as in Dear John. If the relationship is more personal or intimate, it might begin My Dearest John. Your approach should be a bit different. Consider the salutation your big opener. When you open your letter, take the opportunity to immediately share with your beloved how you feel about them. Tell them, who they are to you: Precious Mara, My Beloved Cher, Most Dear Paul, etc. Be creative, and if it feels cheesy, try again and again until it feels just right.

Body

Now for the body of the letter. Talk to your lover as you would if they were present. Do not "bury the lead" as they say in journalism. You don't want to create confusion in the heart or mind of your beloved; remember the letter is an expression of your sentiments and an affirmation of them.

Try recounting a special memory that you share, the first time you met, the first time they said, "I Love You", changing a tire during a road trip, etc. You can tell them when you first knew that you loved them, but whatever you do get straight to it. Don't fall into the trap of talking about yourself or how you don't know what to say. For every "I" centered statement there should be at least three "you" centered statements. Love is outwardly, not inwardly focused . If you mention your surroundings, make it pertinent to how you feel about them. Is there a certain atmosphere or scent which brings them to mind? Is it a place or space you frequent together which is why you chose to write the letter there?

The body of the letter doesn't have to be long. It does need to be truthful and loving. You can list their endearing qualities or how you've changed for the better due to your relationship. Remember that the best thing that you can tell anyone is that you love them not because of what they do for you or to you, not because of how they make you feel, but that you love them because they are.

Closing

The close should be an affirmation and a pledge. With your close, you can offer yourself to and name yourself as belonging to your beloved. It can also be an allusion to what you intend for the future of your relationship. For example, Your loving husband, With love and adoration, Truly, With Thanksgiving for You, Counting the moments apart, etc.

Signature

Use your name, not a nickname or a pseudonym, but your name. Save the muffins and hot stuffs for notes and cards. If you're a secret admirer, remember that at some point, if you plan to have a fulfilling rather than unrequited love affair with the beloved to whom you write, you're going to have to reveal yourself.

Or you can forget all of this, and just play a little Stevie Wonder by candlelight, "I don't want to bo~o~orre you with it, but girl (boy) I love you, I love you, I love you!...Forevermo~o~ore."

Love Letter Links
http://collectiveexperience.org/love/love.html
www.theromantic.com/LoveLetters/main.htm

Carter G. Woodson Started It All With One Week

Tomorrow, African-American History month begins. It amazes me when I reflect on the fact that this celebration, which began as Negro History Week during the shortest month of the year in 1926, has become an accepted and expected part of our series of cultural holidays and recognitions in the United States. To kick off the month, check out the featured essay on Frederick Douglass at the Oxford African American Studies Center:

Frederick Douglass and American History

"Each month, the editors of the Oxford African American Studies Center provide insights into black history and culture, showing ways in which the past and present interact by offering socially and historically relevant short articles, picture essays, and links that will guide the reader interested in knowing more. To go along with this year's Black History Month theme "From Slavery to Freedom: Africans in the Americas," we examine the life of Frederick Douglass, whose rise from slavery to freedom to the heights of influence and power in his own time and beyond, exemplifies this theme more dramatically than any other man or woman in American history."

Lines of Love by John Donne

One late spring morning, when I was in college, I happened to stop and speak to a gentleman as I went to enter my dorm dining hall. He was dirty blond and somewhat dirty himself, with a scruffy beard and an expansive smile. He moved quickly and with broad gestures. I don't know if he was a visiting professor, homeless but educated or someone simply working as a custodian with a fondness for poetry.

He struck up a conversation with me, because he noticed my newly purchased Dover Thrift book, a compilation of poetry by John Donne, which I held clasped to my chest from habit, thus the title was unintentionally displayed. In that brief conversation, he shared with me--from memory, his favorite lines of poetry by John Donnne which are now among my favorites as well; I thank him.

from A VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MOURNING by John Donne

"If they be two, they are two so
As stiff twin compasses are two ;
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do. "

The Faces of Love: Eros, Philos & Agape

I learned, as a young composition student, and continue to believe that there are three types or modes of loving in the world: eros, philos and agape. All other descriptions of love, merely categorize the various nuances of the state of loving or being in love; they reflect the intensity level and the intersections of these three. Click on the title of this post and follow the link to Visions of Love.com to check out the descriptions given for the "The 9 Types of Love."

aga·pe (God centered)
Function: nounEtymology: Late Latin, from Greek agapE, literally, love
1 : LOVE FEAST
a. a meal eaten in common by a Christian congregation in token of brotherly love
b. a gathering held to promote reconciliation and good feeling or show someone affectionate honor
2 : LOVE 4a

eros (Sexual)
3 a : love conceived in the philosophy of Plato as a fundamental creative impulse having a sensual element b often not capitalized : erotic love or desire

philos (Brotherly)
Variant(s): or philo-Function: combining form Etymology: Greek, from philos dear, friendly: loving : having an affinity for

Source: www.merriam-webster.com

How To Write A Love Letter Part I: Start With A Loving State of Mind

Love letters serve a dual purpose. They express the feelings of the lover to their beloved and they affirm the beloved as a lovable and hopefully loving person. (Unrequited love makes great drama, but mostly it sucks.)

With Valentine's Day on the horizon, I'm sure that some people are already saving their pennies and compiling a list of gifts and activities for the big day, however, sometimes, less is more. The sentiments of a love letter rendered with paper, pen and heart far outlast the shine of silver, gold or even diamonds and exceed their value. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you write your love letter:

*Use metaphors and similes. For example, you could write: Like a hearth fire, on the coldest night of winter, I reach for you. Or you could say, My finest treasure, My greatest gift, etc. to open your letter.

*This is not about you. Keep "I" statements to a minimum. Talk about your beloved and why you love them: Your beautiful smile drew me to you. You always think of me first. Your laughter drives away the darkness of the day., etc.

*Keep it simple. If you wouldn't say it, then don't. Your beloved wants to hear from you, not a pretty sounding stranger. You can quote other people, but make sure you let your lover know you're quoting. For example, Shakespeare said....

*Write it longhand. This is a gift, a keepsake. Find some stationery and a pen, then copy your letter onto it--you don't want any scratch throughs or whiteouts. You're creating a work of art for your lover to treasure.

This week, try your hand at writing a first draft of your love letter in your own style. Next week, I'll offer a discussion of the composition of love letters~possible salutations, the body of the letter, the close~and provide some additional examples.

Je t'aime; Laissez les bons temps roulez!;Say It Loud!... ~ February Celebrations Take The Sting Out of Winter

February is my absolute favorite month, second only to December. Most of my favorite things are celebrated during its too brief, 28 days. I get more than enough romance thanks to St. Valentine's Day. I fill myself up with a hearty helpings of great food, biegnets, red beans and rice, gumbo and rice, shrimp or chicken etoufee and rice, etc., because Mardi Gras doesn't mean Fat Tuesday for nothing. African-American History formerly known as Black History month falls during this period as well, so I get to celebrate my heritage and the topper, my birthday is in February, so I get to be grateful for another year. On the downside, February falls in the heart of winter and is two days shorter than the average month, but this makes its celebrations that much sweeter.

During the next few weeks, I will focus on writing forms expressly linked to romance, love letters, love notes, lyric poetry and others, as well as the work of African-American writers.

Tomorrow: How to Write A Love Letter

Quote for the week: Benjamin Disraeli

"We are all born for love," said Morley. "It is the principle of existence, and its only end."
- Sybil by Benjamin Disraeli

Word for the Week: Lyric

lyr·ic
adjective

Definition:

*expressing personal feelings: relating to poetry that often has a musical quality and expresses personal emotions or thoughts
-a lyric poet

* with lightness of musical quality: having or played with a light smooth nondramatic quality that suggests singing

Writing Prompt: MEMSA/Word Play Joke

Language is constantly changing and evolving. Words enter the common language as others fall into disuse. A friend of mine sent the excerpt below to me. Read through this inventive and entertaining list, then create a few of your own.


The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to
take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or
changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's
winners. Read them carefully. Each is an artificial word with only one
letter altered to form a real word.

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until
you realize it was your money to start with.

2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.

3. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops
bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows
little sign of breaking down in the near future.

4. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the
subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.

5. Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.

6. Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the
person who doesn't get it.

7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

9. Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit.)

10. Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these
really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's
like, a serious bummer.

11. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day
consuming only things that are good for you.

12. Glibido: All talk and no action.

13. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when
they come at you rapidly.

14. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after
you've accidentally walked through a spider web.

15. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito, that gets into
your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.

16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in
the fruit you're eating.

And the pick of the lot:
17. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an a__hole.

Is Your Writing An Expression of the Three Dimensions of Life?

Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech treating the meaning of living a complete life, a life of three dimensions. He defined the three dimensions as:

• length--fully developing and applying one's personal abilities and purposefully applying them; loving oneself--viewing the world and one's actions with regard to oneself
• breadth--the ability to come to the aid of others and apply those same abilities to this goal--viewing the world and one's actions with regard to others
• height--the reach for God--the reach for something greater than the material world and work in which one lives

Dimensions of a Complete Life

Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 1962

www.pacificaradioarchives.org

Take a survey of your writing. Which of the dimensions do you think it reflects most? Consider whether or not you're satisfied with the current dimension or dimensions which seem to dominate your writing. How can you incorporate all three in your characters, in your plots, your essay topics, etc.? Do you believe that attempting to do so will help or hurt the quality of your writing?

Quote for the Week: Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963
- More quotations on: [Stupidity] [Ignorance]

Word for the Week: reflection

Happy MLK Day!


This is a day for reflection. During this day, we contemplate the work of one man and the social changes he helped to set in motion. On this day,we must also acknowledge the contributions of many others, who worked as foot soldiers, during the Civil Rights Movement, because I'm sure that Martin would be the first to say that anything he accomplished, he did not do so alone.


re·flec·tion
noun
Definition:

1. reflected image: the image of somebody or something that appears in a mirror or other reflecting surface
2. act of reflecting something: the process or act of reflecting something, especially light, sound, or heat
3. careful thought: careful thought, especially the process of reconsidering previous actions, events, or decisions
4. considered idea: an idea or thought, especially one produced by careful consideration
5. indication: a clear indication or result of somethinga reflection of your hard work
6. cause of blame or credit: a cause of blame or credit to somebody or somethingThe failure of the experiment is no reflection on you.

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/reflection.html

Writing Prompt

I like this exercise, because it takes you away from the keyboard and allows you to handle letters and words in a way that's unique to those beginning to write, learn words and apply landguage. Do you remember how you would mouth each letter and dig your pencil into the page when you first learned how to write? It was more a physical activity than an intellectual one...and it made the results that much more real.

Gather together several old newspapers and magazines that you don't mind cutting up. Cut out different headlines and sentences as they catch your attention. You can also cut apart the letters of words, so you have individual letters as well. Then take your clippings and use them to create a short story, about one paragraph should do to get you warmed up for the rest of your work.

Quote for the Week

First you're an unknown, then you write one book and you move up to obscurity.
Martin Myers
- More quotations on: [Writing]

Word for the Week


Flow
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English flOwan; akin to Old High German flouwen to rinse, wash, Latin pluere to rain, Greek plein to sail, float intransitive verb
(1) : to issue or move in a stream
(2) : CIRCULATE b : to move with a continual change of place among the constituent particles
2 : RISE
3 : ABOUND
4 a : to proceed smoothly and readily b : to have a smooth continuity

Some people call it the zone. Some people call it flow, but all of us recognize the state of broadened awareness and flexibility of thought which allows us to expand our creative output with seemingly minimal effort. Richard Powers explores how dictation has helped him achieve and maximize this state in his writing. Check it out.

"The faster I speak, the better my tablet PC transcribes. It won’t choke, even at bursts over 200 w.p.m. The real hitch remains accuracy. When in the groove, my speech software is remarkably precise, far more accurate than most typists. But no machine makes phonetic distinctions as fine as humans do, and my software’s recognition engine doesn’t model meaning. So where my fingers might stop at changing “sign” to “sing,” my tablet can turn my words hallucinatory without limit."

Essay
How to Speak a Book
By RICHARD POWERS
Published: January 7, 2007
The New York Times Sunday Book Review

Does your controlling desire feed your greatest aspiration?

Writing Prompt

You will become as small as your controlling desire; as great as your dominant aspiration.
~James Allen

Consider this quote from James Allen, author and an early writer in the self-improvement arena. What is your controlling the desire, the foundation of the the majority of your choices and actions? What is your dominant aspiration--to be a great composer, to climb Mt. Everest, to travel, etc. ? Are your desire and aspiration harmonious or do they conflict?

Answer these questions. If you find that they are in conflict, try to determine how you may bring them into accord.

What To Say & How To Say It~Build Your Vocabulary Muscles This Year

Tips and Take Aways

Our craft is essentially about selecting the appropriate words and placing them in the most effective order to communicate the desired meaning/emotion. That means having a stellar vocabulary and building upon it as much as possible. Thus, my word(s) and quote(s) of the week. Hopefully, the words, their definitions and my comments help you see familiar words with a fresh perspective and learn new ones. The quotes are illustrations of well applied vocabulary, otherwise we wouldn't find the phrase quotable, right?

I challenge you to actively build your vocabulary this year. You can take several approaches:

• There are numerous books on vocabulary building. Get one and get started.
• You can simply select a word from the dictionary each day, write it down, explore its meaning and use it in a few original sentences--just like grade school; it works.
• Subscribe to a-word-a-day email list like Erin's Weird and Wonderful Word of the Day.
• Learn a foriegn language. It will broaden your vocabulary and improve your understanding of the structure and style of your native language as you learn to apply new sentence structures, composition methods and phrasing. People around the world say the same things; they just say them differently. Ah, paradox....

Quote for the Week:

The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996.



QUOTATION:
The pursuit of beauty is much more dangerous nonsense than the pursuit of truth or goodness, because it affords a stronger temptation to the ego.

ATTRIBUTION:
Northrop Frye (b. 1912–1991), Canadian literary critic. “Mythical Phase: Symbol as Archetype,” Anatomy of Criticism (1957).

Source: www.bartleby.com

Word for Week: Pursuit

pur·suit
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French pursute, from pursure
1 : the act of pursuing
2 : an activity that one engages in as a vocation, profession, or avocation : OCCUPATION

pur·sue
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): pur·sued; pur·su·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French pursure, pursiure, from Latin prosequi, from pro- forward + sequi to follow -- more at PRO-, SUE transitive verb
1 : to follow in order to overtake, capture, kill, or defeat
2 : to find or employ measures to obtain or accomplish : SEEK

Source: www.merriam-webster.com