Stephanie Bond | Writing a Letter to Yourself

In this day of faxes, e-mails, instant messages, and texting, what a treat it is to receive an old-fashioned hand-written letter! The pleasure of unfolding crisp pages of stationery..ahhh. But what if you received a letter one day, and it was a letter you'd written to yourself ten years ago!

My husband had a high school instructor who asked his students to write a letter to themselves about the things they wanted out of life and where they thought they would be in ten years. Then he sealed the envelopes and ten years later, sent them to the last address of record the school had for each student. My husband's parents forwarded his letter on to him and I remembered how amazed and thrilled he was when he realized what he was reading. It was like a time capsule into his teenage mind, and he must have reread it a dozen times. It was a time of self-evaluation for my husband, comparing where he thought he'd be with where he was. As it turned out, my husband's achievements had surpassed what he'd thought himself capable of
only ten years earlier, and he said that revelation alone reinforced the idea of never underestimating what he could do.

I loved the idea of writing a letter to yourself, and used it as the premise for my Harlequin Blaze Sex for Beginners trilogy: The women at an all-girls college who took Dr. Michelle Alexander's Sexual Psyche class (fondly dubbed "Sex for Beginners" by students) were given the optional assignment of writing a letter of their sexual fantasies and sealing them, with the promise that the letters would be mailed to them in 10 years. Now 10 years later, the women are at pivotal points in their lives. When they each receive their fantasies letter, it takes them on a sensual path they never imagined!

The idea is that the women were 22 when they recorded their fantasies. When they receive their letter, they are in their early 30's and at a sexual peak-it's the perfect time to relive the things about sex they were curious about, what things turned them on, and what they were hoping for in a partner. Their letters help them reevaluate where they are in their lives in general-have they settled? And if so, can they redirect their destiny?

Do you remember what you were doing and thinking ten years ago? How much do you think you'll change in the next ten years? Writing a letter to yourself is an enlightening exercise for taking stock of your relationships, achievements, and hopes, and would be a great project for family or best friends, book club members, school mates, etc. (And hey, if you want to
record your sexual fantasies, no one's stopping you!) Have fun with it-happy writing.and reading!

About the author: Stephanie Bond is the author of over 40 humorous romance and mystery novels, including the BODY MOVERS sexy mystery series and the Harlequin Blaze Sex for Beginners trilogy: WATCH AND LEARN (Oct 2008), IN A BIND (Nov 2008), and NO PEEKING. (December 2008). Learn more about Stephanie and her books at www.stephaniebond.com/.

Stephanie Bond