I have notes. I actually have a list of things that I want to write about. They’ve been building up in this time of so many things crucial for me to be writing: thesis, documentation of my work in the lab this fall, cover letters, correspondence with potential new roommates, portfolio, complaint letters…

Yes, I wrote a complaint letter the other week. It contained bits like “incurring serious injuries” and “not at an adequate level of safety”. Besides there being an issue that needed to be addressed on behalf of many people, it was really good personal experience writing the letter - wanting to make a point that is taken seriously with action not defense. I could further develop this skill by writing another letter, maybe this time to Translink about bus drivers that talk on the mobile while driving. Really?!

But there are other forms of writing that need exercise and I am in wonder over what an art it is - not literature writing art but the technique needed to craft documentation and correspondence and so on. To have a purpose and something specific that you want to change inside the reader as he/she goes from beginning to (you hope) the end.

Yesterday I was surprised to find a card addressed to me in the mail. By the names and address on the envelope, I guessed who it was from (a couple I only met once) and what it likely was about (coming to my home on Halloween, when I first met them) quickly and my social behaviour assumptions had me thinking it was a thank you card but even then, I was in disbelief that people would send a thank you card after coming over once and thought there might be something else to it. Did they forget something? Did they have a question? Was it a general invitation to some event?

No it was just a thank you card. A beautiful design on the front, blank inside save for two entries, four sentences each, written in different coloured inks. They thanked me for having them over, for the good time, made a joke in references to an event during that evening, and the no obligations request for me to let them host me sometime. So cool and graceful. I felt happy and connected - and I didn’t think it was weird and this is good to know because…
…now is a time for me to connect with people I don’t know well and to stay in touch with those I have gotten to know. Though I often hesitate to communicate because I worry about the burden of my words. Do they have the time? Can they spare the distraction? Are they emotionally available? And so on…

Task: Make a list of all the people I want to contact about something but am avoiding. Then contact them.

Geez….I even hesitated to write that last line.