Writing a letter of recommendation 💜

This week I wrote something I had never written before – a letter of recommendation. I wrote it for one of my creative writers to support her application for an exchange program.

How do you approach writing something new, something you had never written before? Here is my algorithm.

1️⃣ Don’t google. Googling will likely result in a cliched piece of writing. Write from the heart and be authentic.

2️⃣ Identify the situation / the purpose. Identify the target reader and the information they are looking for.

3️⃣ Write a draft.

4️⃣ Leave the resultant text for a day or two. Your brain will keep thinking about your text and is likely to come up with even more ideas.

5️⃣ Make changes with a fresh perspective.

I enjoyed writing my letter of recommendation immensely – not least because the candidate had done a lot for my community, so the content part was easy and the recommendation was genuine. 💜

If you were to see my letter, you would see all the beautiful cohesive devices I teach in my courses:
- … several important traits. One that stands out is …
- … she does so actively and with true curiosity …
- Equally important is her ability to …
- This, in my opinion, constitutes true …

(Because coherence and cohesion are important in all kinds of writing to make the text flow smoothly. 💜)

Have you ever written a letter of recommendation? Do you think it would be easy if someone asked you? And did you notice "resultant"?