What to write when you don't know what to write

The card came in the mail. You sat down. You picked up the pen. And now you are staring at a blank white rectangle and your brain is offering you nothing but "hope you have a great one!"

Here's a formula that works, every time, for anyone you love. It's two lines.

Line one: name a specific thing

Not "you're amazing." Not "hope this year is your best yet." A specific thing you thought of when you thought about them.

• "I still laugh about that time we got lost in Denver."
• "Your french toast is genuinely the reason I visit."
• "You called me back the day dad went in the hospital and I've never forgotten it."

Specific beats sweeping. Specific is proof you actually see them.

Line two: name what you wish for them

Not generically. What do they want this year? Say that.

• "Hoping this is the year the garden finally cooperates."
• "Wishing you a slow morning and a full coffee cup on your actual birthday."
• "Rooting for you and the new job with everything I've got."

Sign off like a person

Skip "sincerely." Skip "yours truly." Sign off the way you would end a phone call with them. "Love you, mean it." "Miss your face." "XO — call me."

That's it. Two lines and a sign-off. It reads in ten seconds and it gets kept for ten years.

Bonus: the "P.S." trick

A P.S. always gets read. If there's something small and warm — a photo you love, a memory you almost forgot, a thing you're proud of them for — put it in the P.S. It'll be the sentence they remember.