How to Write a Ray of Light

It’s a cold morning here in South Dakota. We’re expecting snow this afternoon, just enough to cover the ground in white-Christmas fashion.

Here in our living room, the Christmas tree is lit. The hearth has a warm fire. I’m listening to a fabulous playlist of holiday favorites performed by jazz greats. Right now, Charles Brown is crooning “Merry Christmas, Baby.”

Like Mr. Brown, “I’m feelin’ mighty fine.”

For the moment, I’m choosing to forget about wars and protests and mass shootings and inflation and climate change. I’m laying down my fretting about folks I love. I’m relaxing about what I have to get done before leaving town for the weekend.

Yes, for the moment, I’m just basking in this. I’m sitting here on the couch, one cat curled in sleep on either side of me, and I’m writing a few “rays of light.” Did I ever write one for you?

If you answer this email and tell me a bit about yourself, I’ll eventually send you a short but inspiring message in reply. A personalized ray of light, just for you.

Of course, not everybody’s eager to have their inbox light up. But when a reader does reply to my welcome message, I get to do what I’m doing now: craft a little “ray of light,” a personalized poem, just for them. It’s a way of presenting them with an appreciative gift—

• by demonstrating that they matter to me
• by offering my full attention to what they’ve told me
• by reflecting back to them something significant I’ve heard or sensed in their text
• by sharing my own expressivity, using the vehicle of their own words

I’d like to give you a peek behind the curtain at how I do this, because you might want to experiment with it, too, using correspondence that you receive. It’s fun!

***

1. I copy the text of the message I received from the reader. It may be several paragraphs long or fewer than a dozen words.
2. I paste the text twice into a Word document. The first copy becomes my creative “playground.” The second copy I don’t touch. It’s just there for reference, if needed.
3. I search the playground text for words that “shimmer”—that seem to have energy and special significance. I delete everything else. This is an intuitive process. I try not to think too much.
4. From the remaining list of words, I craft a short poem, bearing in mind what little I know about the person I’m writing it for. When absolutely necessary, I add minor words of my own, or alter the original language (e.g., I may change the tense), but I like to avoid this.
5. I send the “ray of light” to its recipient.

I don’t write “rays of light” with the intention of profiting off them. I don’t even keep copies of them. But by conducting a search of my “sent” emails, I’ve rounded up some random examples to share with you (keep scrolling). Enjoy!