Welcome to the Author Spotlight post. Each week I will feature a different author and share a little about them, their writing and their success. If you are a blogger and/or author and would like to be considered for the Author Spotlight, please contact me for more information.
Q: Tell the readers a little about yourself and your book.
Six years ago, at the wedding rehearsal dinner of our son, Byron, and his bride-to-be, Rachael, the two of them each presented their respective parents with a framed, heartfelt letter of appreciation. Their letters described treasured memories of growing up in the family, told of the traits they most admired in each parent, and closed with the values they had learned, growing up, that they planned to bring to their marriage. Their best man and maid of honor read these letters aloud as Byron and Rachael each stood with their parents, and everyone present was deeply touched. Our letter is displayed in a place of honor in our home. Every time I read it, I feel just as moved as the first time. And that letter will be passed down through generations as an important part of our family history.
This heartwarming experience inspired me to begin writing about letters of appreciation and to expand my longtime copyediting business, All My Best, to encompass an indie-publishing division, Good Ways to Write. I started in 2009 with four tips booklets to guide brides, grooms, and their parents in writing gratitude letters to one another to commemorate the marriage.
Then, on November 10, 2011, when I wondered aloud for the first time whether I should write a comprehensive reference book about writing all types of letters of appreciation, my Guidance—that quietly confident inner voice I’d learned to trust over the decades—spoke these words in my mind: “Your book will be published by August 15.” Since I’d been given not only an answer but a deadline, I got to work and the following August published How to Write Heartfelt Letters to Treasure: For Special Occasions and Occasions Made Special. Peggy Post, director of The Emily Post Institute, enthusiastically agreed to write the book’s foreword; if you’d like to read it or view a list of the book’s contents, look for the link on my book’s detail page at GoodWaysToWrite.com.
The main text of the book provides context for specific occasions or commemorations, plus thought-provoking suggestions to help you communicate your feelings for 150 types of letters of appreciation. Part 1 describes the basics of writing a heartfelt letter, including ideas for presenting the letter and enhancing the experience. Part 2 helps with writing special-occasion letters such as for a milestone birthday or anniversary; a wedding; a cultural or religious rite of passage; or a military or career-related milestone. Part 3 guides you in writing other types of letters to honor a product creator or stellar service provider; a favorite friend, teacher, or mentor; an older relative; or someone in hospice care. The book’s guidance is equally valuable for composing public tributes for toasts, awards ceremonies, or eulogies.
The appendix contains these three essential tools:
- 15 demographic lists of 72 powerful positive words each, to help you identify someone’s most admirable qualities
- Themed quotations you can include at the beginning or end of your letter
- Great beginnings to jumpstart your sentences
How to Write Heartfelt Letters to Treasure has won four book awards, including the prestigious Independent Publisher “IPPY” Award and Dan Poynter’s Global Ebook Award, and it has consistently received positive reviews on Amazon, including 5-Star reviews from five Top Amazon Reviewers.
The book makes a great desk reference and is a wonderful gift for any occasion.
Q: How long have you been writing and how did you get started?
From the mid-1980s through mid-1990s, several trade newsletters and journals published my articles on operating a successful business support service, and I also self-published six pamphlets with related themes. From 1996 through 2002, I wrote regular columns and occasional articles for the award-winning monthly journal of the trade association of which I was then director and managing editor.
My first writing efforts were strained, and my writing was consequently stilted and lifeless. But within a couple of years I relaxed and adopted a less formal writing style, causing my writing to flow much more naturally; it was easy to imagine myself sharing information in a one-to-one conversation with my target reader and simply writing down what I’d say.
Q: What is the main focus or purpose of your book?
We all want to know we’ve made a positive difference—to another, to our family, to our community, or to our world. Too often, though, people never know they’ve made that difference. So the next time the magnitude of your gratitude is bigger than a thank-you note, take the opportunity to compose and present a letter of appreciation that comes from your heart, not from a template. My book shows you everything you need to write your letter.
While drafting my book, I discovered my life’s purpose, my Big, Achievable Goal: to get millions of people worldwide to write heartfelt letters of appreciation, so they can establish, enhance, and even rebuild their relationships and in that way change their world.
To help achieve my goal, I freely tell you now the basic components to include in your letter: a shared treasured memory, the other person’s most admirable qualities (perhaps with examples of those qualities in action), the positive difference that individual has made in your life or in the lives of others, a brief expression of your gratitude, and your handwritten signature.
For some of you, that brief list is the only help you need—you’re ready to write! I’ve found, though, that the rest of you would rather have my book, which provides the confidence, as well as the comprehensive, detailed guidance and helpful tools, to proceed.
Q: What is the most meaningful or inspiring part of being a writer?
Writing and indie-publishing give me a way to share helpful information or a positive message with others on a larger, more efficient scale than if I were speaking or writing to just one person or one small group at a time. The privilege of being involved in all the activities of disseminating my message has helped to bring meaning to my own life.
Let’s face it: The world needs love—lots of it—to overpower fear. So the more efficiently I can help people focus on love by their writing or receiving letters of appreciation, the faster we can tip the world away from fear and back to love.
Q: What’s on the horizon for you and your writing?
Some authors publish many books; others publish one book and then build on it in other ways. I’m one of the latter. My theme is my Big, Achievable Goal, and How to Write Heartfelt Letters to Treasure—both the print version and eBook version—are the go-to resource for writing those heartfelt letters of appreciation. But I’m adding to that.
First, I’m publishing a series of six “a la carte” PDF downloads, each containing all relevant resources from the book for writing a certain type of heartfelt letter. These will be published as Kindle eBooks as well. The two I’ve completed so far are about writing a heartfelt letter (a) to an older friend or relative and (b) to a military service member.
Next will be a Core Standards–compliant PDF lesson plan for grades 4–8 on writing a letter of appreciation; the appropriate demographic word lists will be provided along with a license for their unlimited duplication within that teacher’s classroom, year after year. If this proves popular for public, private, and home schooling, I will create a second lesson plan for grades 9 and up.
Finally, I’m assembling materials for a downloadable kit that contains a wide variety of appreciation projects, such as “A Whole Bag of Thanks” for Thanksgiving, “Wishes for Baby” as a co-ed baby-shower activity, and “word clouds” as frame-worthy art, special presentations, or “Thank Tank” corporate team-building activities; this kit will also contain those 15 demographic positive-word lists—a vital tool in creating these projects.
Concurrently, I’m publicizing my Big, Achievable Goal and sharing the rewards of letter writing through radio and TV interviews, articles, guest blogs, the Heartfelt Stories of others on my website, and group presentations and workshops.
It is an honor to help rekindle the art of heartfelt letter writing and to get more people focused on appreciation, and I plan to remain active in this effort for the rest of my life.
Connect with Lynette
Lynette M. Smith
Good Ways to Write (publishing division of All My Best)
Website: www.GoodWaysToWrite.com
Email address: Lynette@goodwaystowrite.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lynettemsmith
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GoodWaysToWrite
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/2/116021933245806550265/about/p/pub
YouTube: www.YouTube.com/AMBGoodWaysToWrite
Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/lynettemsmith
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