While the popular song lyrics lead one to believe that they are on the sad end of things, the phrase “build me up” can take on a completely different meaning, especially when it comes to writing.

How many times have you come home from a long day at the office and just needed a pick-me-up? Have you ever just wished you could go to your mailbox and find a note from a dear friend, telling you to cheer up? Or maybe you kept a letter from a family member on your fridge that you read from time to time?

It’s knowing people out there need a word of encouragement from time to time that makes sending kind words along worth it. My mom always tells me when I’m down to think about someone else and how I could make their day. It is often in those moments when I e-mail a friend I haven’t talked to in a while, or mail a card the old fashioned way to let them know they were on my mind—and focusing on someone else tends to alleviate my dreary mood. Perhaps that’s why I’ve always loved the song that says, “Make someone happy, make just one someone happy, and you will be happy too.”

It’s simple: Take a moment to build someone up. You’ll be surprised when they write you back, envelope addressed c/o Buttercup.

My dad’s favorite phrase is, “Keep it short and sweet.” Pythagoras seems to agree.

When you sit to write a letter or send a note, do you feel like it has to be pages upon pages of thoughts and reflections? While I myself love to read a novel of a letter, someone having so much to say that they can’t get their thoughts down on paper fast enough, I also know it can feel like homework to someone else to read it. So perhaps that’s what Pythagoras was trying to express: say those important things, but say them concisely. Get straight to the point. Don’t flower it up. Be brief. Make whatever it is you are trying to get across known. And make sure, most importantly, that whomever you are writing to knows it.

I want you to know I love you.

You are on my mind.

Where are you? I miss you.

I saw a butterfly today and it reminded me of you.

I need one of your hugs.

My prayers today are for you.

Did you know your smile brightens my day?

You get the point. Pun intended.

As I tease the man in my life about going on and on, monologues are meant to be spoken and heard as the definition is a “long speech monopolizing conversation”. Reading it probably won’t have the same effect. With the hustle and bustle of today, we seem to want our information in the shortest forms possible: 140 characters in a Tweet, a status update on Facebook, even just reading the headlines of cnn.com (since so few pick up the newspaper these days…a marvelous journalistic institution that can’t fall by wayside!). If we are able to manage to find time to even jot down a handwritten note to a friend or lover, save the long-windedness for that road trip across the country when all you have is time.

Send someone a one-liner. They’ll thank you for the attention, no matter the length. Guaranteed.

Ah, the ever-powerful thank you note. It seems these simple gestures with the written word are slowly dwindling in our ever-changing world. We used to thank anyone for any little thing they did—watering our plants while we were traveling on vacation, sending us our birthday money, or even thinking of us during a rough time in our lives. Saying thank you is the universal phrase: nobody ever grows tired of hearing it.

A lesson I intend to pass along to my children someday is a lesson my mom drilled into me: never forget a thank you note, no matter how big or small the act was. Everyone loves to feel appreciated, and what better way than to go out of your way to tell them. While sending a hand-written card is the most traditional, technological advances have allowed us the fortune of saving postage, so e-mailing your gratitude works too.

We say thank you for so many habitual things: after a “God bless you” for sneezing, when someone holds the door for you, or when someone points you in the right direction after you’ve taken the wrong exit off the highway. If we can say that beloved phrase without giving it a second thought, why can’t we write it and send it along to whoever we want to say it to?

Remember to take time to say thanks. Despite what our busy world says, it’s not just reserved for that big meal with turkey.

When it comes to remembering the little things, it’s something I hold with utmost importance. And, to me, the best way to remember the little things is to put it down on paper. Tell someone you love them. Tell someone they made your day. Tell someone you are thinking of them during their trial or tough time. Tell someone you saw a license plate that reminded you of the time you took that trip across country when you were in college. Tell someone that you wanted to take some time to sit and write them an e-mail, a letter, or even a text message. It won’t matter the mode in which it arrives to the person you are writing because you will have remembered them, and that is what matters most.

We seem to take for granted those little moments. The moments that come and go so quickly that we forget to be thankful or smile at the remembrance of them.

When I think back on one of my favorite moments of my life, it ironically actually occurred when I was very sick. I was visiting my best friend in Vermont for her graduation and suddenly came down with a bad case of tonsillitis and strep throat. Instead of enjoying my time with her during the day, I was forced to rest on the couch by myself. Talk about being bummed out. One day during the week, in the midst of all this illness, a new friend came to visit me. In his hand was a bouquet of flowers and a smile across his face. His mission? To cheer me up. But the best part wasn’t the flowers (although those were absolutely wonderful of course) and the best part wasn’t the movie he brought for me to watch to pass the time. It was the fact that he sat on the couch next to me and kept me company while everyone else was out and about. It was the fact that he looked beyond my coughing, sneezing, and disgustingness and wanted to lift my spirits. It was probably the smallest thing to him–sitting with me for a few hours–but such a huge thing to me.

I could have looked back on that moment and thought, well sure, when you are sick, people generally tend to want to take care of you. But it was so much more than that to know that this person, completely new to me and such a dear friend to my best friend, would step out on a limb and be creative with his time.

We can find ways to do these little things each and every day. Nine times out of ten I do it with words…spoken aloud or written in some fashion. My challenge to you is to remember those little moments, and be creative about them along the way, because you never know when years later someone will look back and remember that small act of kindness you did for them. I guarantee it will be huge in their eyes.

Reading and writing, writing and reading. We can’t exactly have one without the other, now can we?

When I think of all the letters I’ve written and all the books I’ve read, it brings joy to my heart to know that words can have such an effect on me.  Opening my mailbox yesterday to find four handwritten letters, a thing of the past to some, was a gift unto itself. A trip to the local bookstore, or dreaming of opening my own complete with hardwood floors, free Italian cookies, and reading recommendations, lifts my spirits instantly.

If I could slip into another’s voice or another’s soul as Oates mentions in her quote, I would daily. When we hear our own voice nearly 18 hours a day (or more if we are night hawks), it can become stale and monotone. But if we take a break, pick up a book, turn the pages of someone else’s life, and hear the cracks in their voice during an emotional monologue, or perhaps laugh right along with them, we escape our own voice in our head and hear another’s.

What better way to hear another’s voice than to read their words in a letter? Let’s bring back that romantic, sincere, and oh-so-incredibly kind gesture.  Knowing that you have a permanent soundtrack of someone’s voice and thoughts will be well worth it.

A writer and editor by profession, I have learned how wonderful words can be. It is this passion that I’ve applied to my new business venture, wonderfulwriting. Whether it’s addressing an envelope, writing a placecard, or creating stationery of my own, I’m able to combine my love of writing and communication for those seeking a personalized touch for any event, big or small.

There really is no limit to wonderfulwriting–custom orders are welcome and I’ll be happy to work on a special project. Feel free to think outside the box and send me any ideas you have in mind.