Optional: Keep Going
Additional Activities
Want to do more? Try some or all of these optional activities.
Stretch: More Writing
Make a Habit: Try writing a letter to yourself for 10 to 15 minutes every day for at least a week. Themes may emerge when you do personal writing like this on a regular basis – themes that indicate an engaging story idea.
Revise Your Letter: Make cuts to your draft or add new material. Once you revise your letter, do you still think of it as private? What if you turned your letter to yourself into a poem? Are you now writing for an audience? If yes to the last question, reflect on who that audience is.
Respond: More Reading
Read: First-Person Journalism, Chapter 3 (“Locating Your Passion”). Try some of the “Voice Lessons” in this chapter, adding them to your Process Notebook.
Read: Dip into the work of Ada Limón and other poets who write personally. Start with Limón’s “How to Triumph Like a Girl” and “Foaling Season.”[1] Or consider the poetry of Sylvia Plath, comparing it with The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, edited by Karen Kukil.[2]
Respond: Reflect on and write about what you think of the readings in your Process Notebook (see suggested prompts in the box below).
Writing Groups: Connecting with Others
Discuss: When meeting with your group (or partner), address some or all of the discussion prompts below, especially if you’ve done some of the suggested readings.
Exchange Revised Letters: I don’t recommend sharing first drafts. But if you’ve revised your letters and feel comfortable together, exchange revisions, offering supportive feedback.
Notebook and Discussion Prompts
Respond on your own or discuss with a group:
- How often do you get to write about things you care about?
- Were you able to stay in the present moment when writing your letter – why or why not?
- How would you turn your “Dear Me” letter into a personal poem?
- Is it possible to write only for yourself? What about writers whose journals have been published after their deaths, like Sylvia Plath?
- Did any fears or anxieties come up for you while writing your letter?
- What questions do you have about first-person writing in general?
- Ada Limón was named Poet Laureate of the United States in July 2022. Find out more and read a selection of Ada Limón's poems on the Poetry Foundation website, including "How to Triumph Like a Girl" and "Foaling Season." Or watch this 2022 video from PBS NewsHour: "Ada Limón on Becoming the New U.S. Poet Laureate," in which she reads from her work, exemplifying its connections with family history and nature. ↵
- See the selection of Sylvia Plath's poems on the Poetry Foundation website. Also, see The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, edited Karen V. Kukil (Penguin Random House, 2000). Note that an earlier version of Plath's journals was edited by her husband, Ted Hughes. On the British Library's site, there's a piece by Karen Kukil about "Reviving the Journals of Sylvia Plath." ↵