For the Love of Letters: A 21st-Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing

By Samara O'Shea

Have you ever wanted to write a thank-you note and suffered writer's block? Considered penning a passionate letter to your beloved, but had no idea where to begin? Needed to send a sympathy message, but couldn't find the right words? Fear not. Professional letter writer Samara O'Shea is here to spark your creativity and answer all your letter-writing questions in this charming guide.

For the Love of Letters is an anecdotal primer on letter writing, with tips on how to write all types of notes: love letters, break-up letters, apology letters, thank-you letters, erotic letters (oh yes!), and more. It's filled with moving, funny, and embarrassing stories about letters Samara has written and received, including an apology from a guy who addressed her by the wrong name, a good-riddance e-mail to a capricious boyfriend, and multiple apology letters after getting fired from an internship at O: The Oprah Magazine. With a fresh, contemporary approach, Samara weighs in on appropriate methods for every situation—for example, when to handwrite, type, or e-mail (yes, e-mail) your letter. There is also a fascinating collection of engaging personal letters written by historical and literary icons such as Marie Antoinette, Beethoven, Edgar Allan Poe, Susan B. Anthony, and Emily Post.

For the Love of Letters will show anyone who has ever shuddered at the idea of sitting down and putting pen to paper—or fingertips to keyboard—how to craft persuasive, interesting, and memorable letters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Mar 17, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061743795

Samara O'Shea

Samara O'Shea is the author of For the Love of Letters: A 21st-Century Guide to the Art of Letter Writing as well as a blogger for The Huffington Post.

Reviews for For the Love of Letters

[lindoula-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The topic caught my attention, since I like to write letters to penpals, but unfortunately the book is divided up into topics unrelated to my own personal letter writing. Others may find it more useful if they write lots of letters to the editors, complaint letters, etc.

[silvernfire · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Okay, I liked this book half a star less than O'Shea's other book, Note to Self. I found it to be quite readable, and I enjoyed reading it. Like Note to Self, this book comes across almost more like a memoir than an instruction manual--she could've reasonably subtitled it "My Life in Letters." But readable as it was, I think it did fall down a bit on the how-to part, mostly because I ended up being more fascinated by the sample letters than the advice they were supposed to illustrate!Oh, and another similarity to Note to Self: there's a section on erotic letters. Anyone thinking of buying this book for a young person or for someone who doesn't care for explicit sexual description, should look through the book before giving it away.

[soliloquies · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good read, the type of book you read once only. Has guides to writing various letters.