“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead.”
― Mark Twain
Happy new year, folks, assuming you follow the Gregorian calendar; Happy Today to those who don’t. Welcome to the first issue of Well Worded, a wee bi-monthly compendium about writing the stuff people write in life that aren’t novels or screenplays or memoirs. Emails to your boss. Your kid’s letter to Grandma. (Your letters to your grandkids.) Holiday letters. Thank-you cards. (Wait: is that still a thing?) Sympathy cards, including the awful ones you write to people who are not going to get better. Apologies, postcards, occasions when emails won’t do.
I’ll opine briefly about how I do it, and I’ll encourage suggestions from you about how you do it. You can also suggest topics you’d like addressed with the comment widget-thingy on this page. And please tell me what isn’t working for you as well as nice polite things about what you like.
Each issue of Well Worded also includes a lagniappe, a little something extra. The title of a book I think everybody should read. An interesting fact. Your ideas about past topics that are better than the ones I suggested. Something free, no strings attached.
Lagniappe: Here is an interesting fact, via a trivia gift from my cousin: Cats have more than 30 muscles controlling their ears.
Also, an assignment: Share with us your favorite holiday letter, and why you liked it. Or, the worst holiday letter you ever got, and why you hate it. Use the comment thingy, or punch the “reply” button.
(A further, optional assignment: If the comment thingy or reply button or anything else doesn’t work, let me know. I’m no good a tech, so I really hope this doesn’t happen, but if it does, I’d like to know about it.)
30 muscles to turn a deaf ear when they are called
Howdy Anne! I'm liking the interactive aspect of your newly launched blog. I enjoyed receiving holiday letters from my New Mexico friend Nita - she was the only one I had ever received them from. She'd cram in as much as she could on a single page with highlights of the year. It was a great way to keep in touch and updated.