I don’t write many fan letters.
The first one, long ago, was to Herman Wouk in thanks for his book ‘Inside, Outside’ — I was fifteen, so that’s probably the epitome of pretentious, but I meant every word.
And I wrote to Buster Keaton a fair amount a decade ago. But that was a different thing altogether as he’d been dead for years.
(Neither one of them wrote back.)
But I just wrote a fan letter to this gentleman for his terrific book ‘Breathe‘ — go to the library tomorrow and pick it up, if you like a good ghost story. It’s been labelled as young adult, but I think that’s an example of someone in the marketing department selling it short.
I originally got it at the library for Sam to read, but he got distracted by something so I stole it from him. And it’s terrific. Good story, solid writing, compelling characters. And, like all great ghost stories, it’s got a strong heart at the center of it all.
Alright. End of commercial. Back to work. I’ve been working through the second draft tonight (of course) and just sorted out the first meeting between Jee and Juniper — Lots of nice little things there that I don’t remember writing, but boy do they look like I knew what I was doing.
Second draft is definitely fun. I’m halfway between reader and writer, seeing a lot of this as though it were the first time . . . but, of course, I know what happens next.