One thought that can haunt you when you’re writing, especially writing a newsletter, is: I don’t have anything interesting to say.
That is just not true.
We can often be oblivious to the uniqueness of our lives. Sometimes it even takes visiting a new and very different city to think about how we live.
Even if you live a very ordinary life, there is beauty in the details of it. Natalie Goldberg writes, “We have lived; our moments are important” (Writing Down the Bones, 44). We need your story. It helps connect us to the truth of humanity.
Goldberg also writes, “The important thing is to go below the clichés to touch the texture of your experience” (Old Friend From Far Away, 121). Remember the power of detail. It’s the details that make our lives interesting.
Your life will seem boring if all you tell us is, “On Tuesdays, I stop by the market on my way home from the community center.” Try instead: “On Tuesdays, I climb the cobblestone hill to the market on my way home. Inside a large air-conditioned building with 12-foot ceilings, I make my way between the stands. I always buy watermelon from the man who has no front teeth and spinach from the old woman with the hunchback.”
You are a very interesting person. Your readers want to know you.
You’ve probably read a lot of other support letters. Does one stand out in your mind? What makes it stand out? Did they share with you about what they were going through?