Need help making your Christmas letter interesting? Here it is

The annual Christmas letter -- the one letting everyone from your grandmother to your accountant know what you've been up to over the past 365 days -- is often as much of a chore to read as it is to write.

So, to help letter-writers send out something worth reading -- let alone the cost of postage -- next week local wordsmith Wendy Warren will lead a three-hour class aptly titled "Writing Christmas Letters People Want to Read." (What she really wanted to call it was "Writing Christmas Letters That Don't Suck.")

Warren's aim is to help keep these letters from turning into a laundry list of every vacation, home improvement project and illness that's occurred since last year's letter.

"They should just make a newsletter and send it out once a month," quips Warren, who prides herself on her yearly holiday greetings.

"The big thing is, people try to put way too much in," she says. "Which ends up sounding boorish and self-aggrandizing."

Instead, letters should have a theme, be limited to one page (front and back), and have some personality. (And hey, if a drink or two helps get the creative juices flowing, Warren is all for it.)

"It should reflect who you are," she says. "If you were reading it, what would you want to know about your year?"

Warren's class, which she hopes to make fun and inspiring, is from 1 to 4 p.m. Thursday at the Allied ArtsCenter, 5000 W. Lincoln Ave. Cost is $25, and there is a class minimum of six. To register, call 966-0930.