Dear Me,

Dear Me,

    How are you doing?  Hopefully you're well and have multiple projects going as you normally do.  But do you have anything new that you're planning in the next year?  Why don't I tell you what I have planned.  I have many goals for the new year.

    First and foremost, I would like to improve my writing skills.  I have an unusual idea about how to do that, though, and I'd like to run it by you.  I think I will get my dictionary-thesaurus combination out and choose 25-30 random words to write down in a list.  Then, from that list and using those words, I will write a poem, underlining the words from the list within that poem.  After that, I will look up a synonym for each of the underlined words and rewrite the poem using those synonyms.  Finally, I will take the best lines from each of the two poems and write the final poem using them.  I guess the combination of the two is a process of refinement, but I'd like to have more than just the original idea to play with.  We'll see how it works.  I'd like you to proofread the final poems, if you would be so kind.

    Next, I would like to attempt a short story or two.  I haven't ever been too spectacular at writing short stories, as you know, so I think that's something I could improve on.  If you would help me develop a plot, I'm pretty sure I could fill in the words, but I definitely need your help!  After the plot has been developed, I could use the method described for more interesting poetry above to make the story more creative in unpredictable and possibly very interesting ways.  There's no reason that my readers can't learn something (like a new word) when they read my work!

    On that note, I would like to write pieces that are not only interesting, but that teach the reader something.  I enjoy works that teach me something, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.  I can't resist looking up a new word or an interesting phrase for meaning when I run across one!  Perhaps you could help me understand better, too!  You could offer me alternate ideas on what the particular thing of interest means and I would gladly take it under consideration.

    Well, that's all I have for now.  Have a good time writing and let me know if you need any assistance.  I'd be glad to help!

                                                                                        Chris Jones