The author of the amazing The Time Traveller’s Wife. I’ve been meaning to write to her since I finished the book probably a couple of years ago.
Glad I made this goal. Slow day at work. I can make some progress, dang it. I can mark another goal off my list.
I like these annual goals. I think I’ll do this again next year. If anyone wants to join me, I’ll help you find contact information for the people you want to write to.
[Photo from the Internet] 5 years ago
He and his wife were interviewed in Who Killed the Electric Car?, about the battery he’d developed, which was bought by a major auto maker and the technology buried.
He had a great attitude about life. Okay. Now he’s working on solar power. He was born in 1922 and he and his wife were so sweet, just beaming with optimism and intelligence.
So I wrote to thank him for being so inspiring and for the work he’s doing.
[Photo from the Internet] 5 years ago
A NaNoWriMo author who wrote and posted an excerpt from her novel that I really love. It’s a sex scene in which so much is revealed about the characters, and the plot is actually forwarded.
That’s what I want to do…give ‘em love scenes, but not gratuitous ones. You know, the kind where the actors will feel proud to bare themselves for in the movie version.
(Excuse me, but the madness that prompts one to participate in NaNoWriMo can lead to delusions of all kinds toward the end of the month.) 5 years ago
He’s the founder of NaNoWriMo.
I am having such an amazing time doing this challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days. He wrote the fun book No Plot? No Problem! which helps you prep for and get through the month. It’s funny and sweet, and absolutely heplful.
I wanted to let him know, even though a lot of people are probably doing so, that I admire his taking the time to do this. Not only does NaNoWriMo get a lot of people writing, it creates a community online and at coffee houses around the world. And it donates half the proceeds to building libraries in Vietnam.
It’s just a good good thing that’s in the world because of this guy.
This shot is from his page on www.nanowrimo.org . You have to like a guy who can pose for a bad wig glamour shot. 5 years ago
Her concert Friday night was amazing. She apparently actually reads her e-mail, so I sent her one this morning. One of her songs, “I Hear Your Voice Again,” was really moving to me. About singing the songs her mother taught her, now that her mother’s gone.
Also wanted to praise her scholarship fund for women who are going to or returning to college in later life. My mom, sister and I all did this.
[EDIT: She answered me last night! And apologized for it taking so long! Yeah… a whole 6 days. Terrific woman.] 5 years ago
This is the letter I wrote today, to a woman who participated in a panel regarding the history of the Owens Valley. I sent it to the venue (a museum) in a sealed, stamped envelope and asked that they forward it to her.
While others talked about the close-knit community, she spoke of the ill treatment her family received because they were from Italy and Yugoslavia. They arrived in the valley in the early 1870s, very early for Euro-American settlers.
“I heard you speak at the panel discussion that was held at Manzanar, and I just wanted to write to thank you for your frankness and courage in speaking up regarding your family’s experiences in the Owens Valley.
“My husband and I were camping outside Lone Pine that weekend, and just happened to see the notice in the Inyo Register. I worked for the Oral History Program at UCLA as a student and I am still interested in it. My husband and I are very much drawn to the Owens Valley and revisit 2-3 times a year.
“I thought you’d like to know that we in the audience did put two and two together. How sad and insulting it was that your family was amongst the first settlers in the valley and that those who came later were unappreciative and even cruel. Your family undoubtedly provided a great deal to the community, and has had a long history of contributing to the successes of the Owens Valley.
“Thanks so much for taking the time to attend and for telling us your story. It’s because people like you speak up and point out the injustices that our culture has a chance to change for the better.”
[EDIT: I received an answer from C. Dodd! I didn’t have her address, so I addressed it to the museum where I’d heard her speak, and it took a while to get to her. But she invited Hydra and I to visit her the next time we are up there. I think we will! Very cool!] 5 years ago
Mostly in support of the way he conducted himself in the Fox News interview that Fox is now trying to call an outburst. I thought President Clinton conducted himself with dignity in not allowing himself to be besmirched by incriminating questions that Chris Wallace was not going to let him fully answer. 5 years ago
Sure, I’ve written to him enough times to ask him to consider a short story or essay for the lit mag he’s been publishing since 1985, but I never just wrote him a fan letter.
Today I’m sending him one of my homemade photo cards and telling him how much I love ZYZZYVA.
I gathered up a stack of literary magazines the other day at Barnes & Noble, in order to check out what they are publishing. I’m one of those short form writers who really does try to familiarize herself with as many publications as she can. I have to say that out of a stack of half a dozen, only one contained a story that drew me through to the end.
I picked up my copy of ZYZZYVA at home and couldn’t put it down till I’d finished stories by Jeff Bleich and Daniel Handler. 5 years ago
30 Days is even better this year than last year. Spurlock is tackling some really big issues and doing it in a personal and fascinating way.
Honestly, I think Edward R. Murrow would be proud of what Morgan Spurlock is doing with his television time.
If you haven’t checked it out yet, I encourage you to watch. Instead of setting people up to do hurtful things to each other like most reality shows, 30 Days asks people with different opinions or lifestyles to get close to each other for a month, and everyone ends up learning something, even the audience. 5 years ago
I’m not sure this actually counts, so I’m not giving it a number. I had a very good experience with a telephone customer service representative a couple of weeks ago. I asked him who I could write to, to commend his great work, and I finally got around to writing the letter.
Good work should be acknowledged! 5 years ago
May sound odd, but I remember liking him a lot when I was a little kid. And recently, D and I have watched the new DVD collections of his shows with musicians and with comedians. He’s geeky sweet and intelligent and has a flair for making people comfortable.
He interviewed a lot of authors. I wish they’d do an author-themed DVD set. Truman Capote was on with Groucho Marx once. He didn’t get to say much.
I wrote to the DVD producers about contacting him, and they said they would forward an email. I vastly prefer to send a hand written letter, but this is better than nothing. Sent it today. 5 years ago
Sent faxed letters today to support each senator, and to support their participation in the Alito fillibuster. I want to continue to be able to express myself without fear in my country, which was founded upon this ideal. 6 years ago
My starter list for the year, in no particular order.
1) Louise Erdrich, who can say more in one sentence than some writers can in an entire book
2) Kent Meyers, who writes eloquently about ranch life
3) Audrey Niffenegger, who made all that time traveling look unplanned
4) Billy Collins, the first poet to make me laugh in a long time
5) Lillian & Donald Smith, who publish our local paper
6) Diane Fienstein, who fights the good fight
7) Barbara Boxer, ditto Diane
That’s the best I can do so far. Thanks, Todd, for the nudge.
I did write to the widow of a man I admired very much, and was lucky enough to know very briefly, Frank Wilkinson. 6 years ago
I really want to do this, this year. I got the idea from Carolyn See’s writing book. I’m going to make a list, and I’m going to find contact information and I’m going to write to people even if it seems silly. It’s healthy to express gratitude and appreciation.
If some one else comes along who I think needs a letter, then I’ll move some one down or off the list, but I think having one will help. 6 years ago
Wrote to this amazing authoer on her website. Probably a mistake not to send the letter on good stationary. Feels like I’ve said what I wanted to say but it will never be read.
Anyway, her book Coal Run blew me away. 6 years ago
This idea comes from a book by Carolyn See called Making a Literary Life. http://www.carolynsee.com/Books/literarylife.html
She suggests that you write to some one you admire every day. Am I terribly wrong not to have 365 people I admire enough to track them down and write to them?
It’s kind of gratifying to write a thoughtful fan letter and send it out into the world. It’s got to be putting positive energy out there.
In recent months I have written to:
Carolyn See
Alice Sebold
Walter Mosely
Natalie Goldberg
Carol Emshwiller
But I’m not counting these toward the 12. This goal starts now. 6 years ago
