Journal One: Getting Started on Writing Letters
Select one of the following topics and write about
it nonstop for approximately 10 minutes. Feel free to respond in any way you
like, but don't stop writing until the time is up. Focus on quantitt, not
quality.
"Letter from the Future: Write
yourself a letter from an older version of yourself. What will you be like in
twenty-five years? Where will you live? What will you do for a living? What
will matter to you most? Write to yourself from this older perspective. What
advice should your older self give your present self to make sure you arrive at
the future you most want?" *
Correspondence: List the kinds of
letters you write and receive according to your relationship the sender, for example,
letters to and from family and friends, letters to you as a consumer or member
of an organization. Which of these kinds
of letters are important to you? Which do you save and why? **
Letter Writing: Think
about the kinds of letters you have written in the past? Whom have you written
to and for what purpose? How effective have you found letter writing? How have
the purpose and the audience for your letters affected what you have written?
Letter Home:
Think of someone back home¾ a family
member, friend, teacher, coach, guidance counselor¾ whom you want to write to as a means to reflect on the past,
present or future. What do you want to say to this person? What thoughts do you
want to convey to the person?
*Wolf, Thias. "Writing as a Tool for Learning and Discovery," in The Subject is Writing, ed. Wendy Bishop, 8.
**This idea is a variation of one found in Call to Write; see Trimbur, page 135.
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Last revised
J. Arzt