Write to a U.S. Soldier

Series Summary

Good writing is an important skill that can be used in a variety of media. Whether it's writing a meeting agenda, a toast or a magazine article, the ability to effectively communicate to a large audience stems from knowledge and execution of proper writing techniques. With such knowledge comes an understanding of the distinct differences in writing styles between creative writing, journalism, technical writing and informal writing. In this free video series on writing, a published playwright discusses a few tips on writing letters and publishing books. Find out how to find a U.S. soldier pen pal to communicate with, and get ideas for words of encouragement. See how to form a memory book or memory box, full of great nostalgic trinkets and photos paired with written captions. Finally, discover how selling books through the mail or online is a great way to get a business off the ground.

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Laura Turner and today I'm going to talk to you about writing a letter to a U.S. soldier. Even if you don't know a soldier you can still actually write letters to them. We don't you know, we usually write emails to the soldiers, we can do that today. But we still do of course write letters to them letting them know how much we support them and you know, root for their cause and for our cause. So first of all make sure you're writing to a soldier from a similar area as you, if this is not somebody of course that you're related to. Find soldier pen pals and use on line tools to find them. Make sure that you can have something in common with the soldier whenever you send it to them. If you're, if for example if you're a person from New York and you're sending to a soldier who's from Louisiana. it might be, you know and say, the weather here is you know, really cold. It's not going to really mean too much to the guy from Louisiana, because they want to know what's going on at home. So, you're going to act as sort of like their surrogate family for a moment when you write to them. So, greet them, let them know how much you, how thankful you are for their service and then let them know how things are going in the United States. I have an example here from a radio DJ in Atlanta who wrote a letter to soldiers in, it looks like two thousand seven. And she mentions that there's a big drought in Atlanta and it might dry up one of the lakes there. And so that's just a little tidbit of information that is pretty much inconsequential but gives that little personal touch of you know, we're both from the same place, isn't this weird, you know. They kind of feel, which it less serious and you know, more comforting to the soldier to hear. And be of course as sweet and encouraging as possible. Send love from home and you could possibly even send the words of inspirational writers to them. You know, you can give them a copy of a poem or a copy of something that will relate to their situation. So, this is some ideas for writing a letter to a U.S. soldier."