Is there anyway to do this with Thunderbird and OpenOffice?

I want to use the OpenOffice Writer to compose email messages. I don't want to send the file I create as an attachment, but rather write the body of the subject, body and pick a recipient from the Writer. Can I you do this? I figured since this is open source, there is a plugin or extension out there that can do this. If so, which one, and where can I get it? How do I do this essentially?