Writing your letter

Write today's date in the upper right corner of your first page.

Choose a greeting: "Dear Aunt Tillie," "My very dear Michael," or just "Howdy!"

Now when you start the body of the letter, here's a hint: don'tstart with the work "I" or "my" -- this letter is for your reader, not for you, so engage the reader right away: ask how he or she is, or start right in on your story...

Dear Aunt Tillie,

While listening to this week's broadcast of the Seattle Symphony, you came to my mind -- do you remember when we attended the Mahler Festival together? It has been nearly a decade, can you believe it?...

You get the idea.

As you write your letter, it's good to be able to refer to book passages, photos and the like, so feel free to stop and reflect when the occasion calls for it.

If your letter is longer than a single page, it's good to number the pages and include a shortened version of the date, for example:

Pg. 2 4/30/2008