# Probably wrong board but lets discuss the awesomeness of this all the same.



## OLDSOUL (May 18, 2013)

Letters of Note: You've got to sell your heart

This post in particular, but pretty much everything on the blog. 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.


----------



## Jeko (May 18, 2013)

Wow. Felt like he was talking to me.


----------



## Ariel (May 18, 2013)

That is quite excellent advice.


----------



## Gargh (May 18, 2013)

What a wonderful site! I am sitting on my hands, trying to resist the urge to impulse-buy the book.


----------



## BryanJ62 (May 18, 2013)

I'm printing it out. It will be the first thing I see in the morning. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## jayelle_cochran (May 18, 2013)

Wow...thanks for sharing that!  It's such a simple yet complex truth that all writers should hear.

*hugs*
Jayelle


----------



## ppsage (May 18, 2013)

Doubtless the story was bad. But this is just typical Fitzgerald disagreeableness and B.S. Plus some generic platitudes that don't really say how to do anything.


----------



## patskywriter (May 18, 2013)

The "PS" was the best part. In other words, "You seem to have what it takes to be a writer—now get to work."


----------



## Skodt (May 18, 2013)

Would have been neat to have some real advice from him. I mean he took the time to reply which is cool; although he was a friend of the family. He never really told her what needed work though; matter of fact he said the work flowed well. I dare ask what else really matters? If your flow is well, then your story fits, and if your story fits then the work was well done, and if well done is your work then seems like a good system to me.


----------



## JosephB (May 18, 2013)

It's Fitzgerald -- great writers have the ability to skillfully weave banalities into things that seem rather profound.


----------



## OLDSOUL (May 18, 2013)

Skodt said:


> Would have been neat to have some real advice from him. I mean he took the time to reply which is cool; although he was a friend of the family. He never really told her what needed work though; matter of fact he said the work flowed well.



I think perhaps it's the mere fact that one didn't bear witness to the critiqued piece that would lead one to a conclusion like that. If my interpretation is correct, I think we'd find that it was, as Fitzgerald put it, comprised (however skilfully) merely of things you'd discuss over dinner. Simple things. Noticeable things told in noticeable, albeit quirky ways.
A writer needs more than just skill to explain experiences in a way that transcends normalcy. Sure a skilled writer can doll up normalcy, dress it as lamb so to speak, but if he doesn't think or interpret life in a profound way, and with empathy, then he's not going to be worth the paper his words are written on. After all, the divergent right brain specialises in thinking _differently. _Not just _of _different things, but thinking _in _different ways. A sort of empathy. That's what I think Fitzgerald was getting at with his critique.


----------



## ppsage (May 18, 2013)

Or he might have been making sure she never gave him anything to read again.


----------



## JosephB (May 18, 2013)

Ha ha ha!


----------



## Gamer_2k4 (May 20, 2013)

patskywriter said:


> The "PS" was the best part. In other words, "You seem to have what it takes to be a writer—now get to work."



Agreed.  That was the most profound part to me, probably because it speaks to me directly.  I've got the talent, but whether or not that transfers into something worth reading remains to be seen.


----------



## BryanJ62 (May 22, 2013)

Gamer_2k4 said:


> whether or not that transfers into something worth reading remains to be seen.



    I'm sure that applies to most of us.


----------

