Writing with spirit

Unidentified woman reading, from the Connecticut Museum

I'm close to completing my latest manuscript, a biography of a feisty, determined 19th century novelist who wrote her ten books after raising four daughters. I've been working on this book since 2021, fascinated by the development of Julie P. Smith's writing process and publishing confidence. But another huge part of this book is the importance of writing letters.

What are letters, after all, but a conversation that uniquely requires absence? And because we throw our voices across the distance, our marks on paper must be filled with spirit, filled with  interest and humor and news.

When I was six years old my mother moved from San Francisco to New York, and although we visited, she never came back and I never lived with her again. Yes, that sucked. But I have a pink binder filled with her letters to me totaling hundreds of pages. Scrawled postcards, typed single-spaced and numbered pages -- telling me that I was in her thoughts and she loved me, and asking a million questions about my life.

In answering back, is it any wonder that over the years I became a reporter, persuader, researcher, poet? And Julie during the Civil War, separated from her husband eight months every year -- her yearning helped her to become a lively, sharp-witted writer. He was no slouch at writing either. Oh to have a letter from someone you love. To be able to touch their handwriting, fold the page, keep it in a pocket near your heart. To reread it, and perhaps see the salty mark of tears. I would not have known Julie's story if I had not found the box of letters.

Other letters round out my pink binder -- letters from my Dad while I was away at summer camp, letters from my brothers and sisters when we grew up and away from each other. Letters from my grandfather describing his New York childhood in the early 1900s. His voice arises from his handwriting. He's thrown his voice not only across a continent, but also across the decades.

If you love someone, write a letter and send it to them through the mail. What a gift they will receive. And you never know where it will end up.