A Letter to the Editor

(photo via swiss-miss.com, via REWORK Illustrations a la Flickr.com)

I do believe I've mentioned it several times, I really, really love to write. Writing is truly a therapeutic outlet for me. Interestingly enough, my passion for the written word is hardly satisfied through my blog, although it helps a great deal. Churning out essays for school, writing love notes to friends, and even scribbling away personal notes to relieve anxiety have evolved into my survival tools for this life. (Journaling is a highly recommended and insightful activity in therapy. Give it a whirl, you may be surprised!)

So then, I'd like to scratch a little something off my *30 Before I'm 50* list. I would simply love the opportunity to write a fun and frisky article for the New York Times. I'm confident I have the drive to make it happen, so I'm getting started now.

I can appreciate that big accomplishments require hard work with a combination of steps - baby and otherwise. So, to get the ball rolling, to take my first step... I am going to submit a letter to the Op/Ed page of the New York Times. (Thanks, Alix, for the recommendation!) I don't want to submit some willy nilly old thing (I want to be interested in what I'm writing about), I must do some research. I've added the New York Times application to my BlackBerry (Cue the Generation-Y jokes, here.) so I can scout their website daily for content suitable for a letter to the editor. (I would love to have a reasonable and *frisky* opinion of the topic I choose to pursue.) In addition, I will encourage myself to absorb as much information as possible among a variety of categories. (I won't lie, politics aren't really my thing. I may steer clear of this area. Life lessons and reports of personal experience are more my speed, I think.) To accomplish this element, I will *try* to be as informed as possible on upcoming talks, lectures, and web networking events.

Alrighty then, a letter to the editor may *not* guarantee me a twice-weekly columnist position with the New York Times... Like my dreams sometimes suggest, but it's certainly a good start. As a veteran Yearbooker a la Dobson High, and a veteran Newsie a la John Jay, I'm quite comfortable with deadlines.  Therefore, it would be wise to give myself one.

September 1.

Whoa, whoa, whoa... This deadline is months away! Lauren, you're turning this into a very dramatic production! Your letter could very well be read, dismissed, and tossed into the circular file (the trash!).

Perhaps I am being a wee bit dramatic. I may certainly come up with dozens of letters to the editor in the next five months. And you're right, my little letter to the editor (150 word limit for the Times), the one I slaved five months over, may be tossed aside like yesterday's laundry. However, I have several obligations to fulfill before making my letter to the editor a priority. (Hi, graduation. Hi, summer teaching gig. Hi, move back to Phoenix. Hi, adulthood.) Furthermore, I would appreciate the opportunity to become a better news junkie, seek reliable and accurate information (Have you heard Mark Twain's opinion of adequate readership? "Those who don't read the newspaper are uninformed. Those who read the newspaper are misinformed." Interesting, hmm?) to supplement any letter I compose.

So, the challenge is set. Ahhahaha, this is gonna be fun. ;)