Making the world smaller, one letter at a time

I’ve never been interviewed on the eve of a worldwide book release. Nobody has ever asked me what the best piece of writing advice was, or which one was my favorite “how-to” book on fiction writing. Shocking, isn’t it?

Every once in a while though, I stumble upon a blog post in which some lucky traveler (on the same road as me, just a bit further down) talks about a gem they were given early in their writing career.

Putting the cart before the horse, I’m going to share the best advice I ever read. It was in “Making a Literary Life” by Carolyn See and I read it way back in 2003-ish when I was sick of graduate school and my professors (for the most part.) I was a sort of ugly genre fiction-writing duckling in that sea of literary fiction-composing swans and I was not ever going to be like those people. It was lonely.

In her fantastic book, See has a chapter called “Charming Notes.” Cute, right? Along with her suggestion that writers produce 1,000 words a day, five days a week, for the rest of their lives, she also tasks us with “one charming note, five days a week, for the rest of your life.”

She means that it’s your duty as an emerging writer to appreciate others’ works and lives and to begin building a web that connects us all. Seems like an easy task in the age of e-mail, but she’s very specific about a tangible, real letter. Sent to an author, columnist, artist, creator…anybody living the life you want and living it well.

Read a great book today?

Fire off a note to Susan Elizabeth Phillips telling her that, as a writer, you appreciate her fantastic use of language. Or whatever. Gratitude. (And she was very specific that this wasn’t an exercise in schmoozing. There’s no room for “Hi, I liked your story. Can you send me the contact info for your agent?”

No. This is all about sending the positive vibes we all know the world is lacking some days.
In 2004, e-mail wasn’t as prevalent (which means, I had it, but author web sites were not as popular and I couldn’t always track them down.) I sent off notes to Carolyn See herself (I loved that book), Ariel Gore, Johanna Lindsey, and Karen Marie Moning. Not exactly, one per day, but I did buy into the fact that appreciation is a fantastic thing and everybody loves getting a piece of fan mail. I never heard back from any of them, as expected, but my notes were charming and hand-written as Ms. See instructed.

But I recently got back into the habit thanks to more user-friendly technology (I cheat with e-mail or comments on author blogs, and I’m sure Ms. See would forgive me) and I’ve found an entire WORLD pop up in front of me. Authors love hearing from their readers. I fired off a short email to an author a couple weeks ago thanking them for such a well-crafted book (it was a Regency) and got a response minutes later, thanking me and giving me links to awesome research sites. A Harlequin paranormal author appreciated my e-mail so much, she sent me a digital short story. Wow. Was this really what today's romance writers are all about? Graciousness and being part of a larger community? Looks like it.

There seems to be a whole world out there just waiting to connect with you…to inspire and cheer you on. And all Ms. See (and Ms. Bennett, I guess) is trying to say is “get out there and meet it!”

And that, dear friends, is the best advice you never asked me for.

Happy writing!
h.