There's something about writing formal letters that I dread. It's not that I can't write them - our letters have been kept as models of how such a letter should be written - but I hate doing them. Informal letters I have no problem with. Then I sit down, imagine the potential reader and chat away to them - rather as I write my blog in fact. Formal letters are a different matter.
With these, I need a far higher level of concentration. It is more important to be absolutely clear as to what you are explaining, wanting. I almost feel a need to disassociate myself from them, to reveal no aspect of my personality, to exert a discipline which is unnatural to me, quite alien. At the same time, sometimes there is a need to hide somethings whilst give hints at others that may or may not be so, to indicate a higher level of knowledge, of understanding, than I sometimes feel I have. It's a kind of poker game in which you need to keep your own hand hidden to win, to achieve your purpose in writing the letter. Each word has to take on a level of import far higher, nearer akin to the precision involved in writing poetry.
As I say I hate writing formal letters. We're in the midst of a dispute with a bank at the moment. You can tell I've just been drafting out a replying letter. For me it's an unwanted ordeal, which it will be a relief when it's over & I can once more retreat into my world of jigsaws (currently a Leonardo painting), friends, food & birds. On the other hand I'm not prepared to let the bank just walk right over us, for lack of effort on my part.
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