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Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Thank You

This has nothing much to do with writing for publication.
It is not intended to open the Thank-You-Note can of worms.

Though I will relate it to a book I read when I first called myself a writer. (And please click the title for a terrific take on that book,  MAKING A LITERARY LIFE.)

In that book, Carolyn See talked about writing notes to authors you admire. This was pre-Facebook. Pre any kind of social media. Even pre-blogging really.  She meant Old School notes. The kind our mothers and grandmothers encouraged/ forced us to write. After I read her book, I wrote to her.

Lately, I don't care too much about the beautiful stationery (though I did get a laugh when a great Southern friend just emailed me a nice note and attached a picture of her mostly unused, engraved notecards). But I do appreciate an acknowledgment, either verbal or penned or emailed, that a gift I labored over-- maybe even wrongly chose but I tried-- made it through the vagaries of a delivery system and arrived safe and sound.



This one made my day. My first thank you from my Nephew Dog. He liked my holiday chew toy.





(What I've just read: Joan Bauer's Close to Famous)
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6 comments:

  1. Leslie Davis GuccioneJanuary 10, 2012 at 10:20 AM

    Such a dying art. And fun update.

    As part of my wedding gift I addressed my niece's invitations and during the process the old-school "Do not use stationery with "THANK YOU" already printed on the notecard came up.

    Yesterday I received a lovely, hand written thank you from her asking me to notice that the stationery was plain. ☺

    And while we are thanking folks, thank you for GLOY BE, a wonderful gift to mid-grade readers.

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  2. Kimberley Griffiths LittleJanuary 10, 2012 at 12:55 PM

    Oh, I LOVE that book, Making a Literary Life. I read it a couple years ago and enjoyed the humor and tartness so much. I even blogged about Writing Charming Notes here: http://kimberleygriffithslittle.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-make-literary-life-charming.html

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  3. Augusta ScattergoodJanuary 10, 2012 at 2:40 PM

    Kimberley, thanks so much! All morning I tried to remember CHARMING NOTES. We got such a kick out of that phrase when I shared the book with my critique group- 10 years ago. Right Leslie? I think we all decided we'd write at least one Charming Note to another writer, editor, etc.

    The book is in NJ and I'm in FL and I couldn't for the life of me remember.

    Thanks also, Leslie, for that nice message. Coming from somebody who has showered readers with wonderful gifts for quite a while, it means a lot.

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  4. Rebecca DonnellyJanuary 12, 2012 at 9:36 PM

    Did you see this article about a kid in 1963 who did kind of the opposite: sent 150 notes to well-known authors asking them about symbolism, because he was trying to win an argument with his English teacher? He stuck his foot in it a little bit, but got some interesting answers.
    http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/12/05/document-the-symbolism-survey/

    The article mentions that he could easily look up authors' addresses at the public library. Today, that might be a little difficult. I guess that what Charming Emails are for...

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  5. Augusta ScattergoodJanuary 25, 2012 at 8:43 AM

    Rebecca, I'm old enough to have been a librarian in the days when we could look up authors' addresses! Although it was usually via the publisher, kids often sent fan letters.
    Yes, now it's charming emails!
    Interesting article. Thanks for linking it.

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  6. AnonymousAugust 16, 2012 at 11:01 AM

    I was just searching for thoughts on the "nice note" idea and came across this blog. How does one write nice notes in the age of electronic communication? Do you think authors, editors and other folks find emails annoying in a way that they would not find snail mail annoying. I can, of course, send snail mail now, but I'm always worried about the postal service being on its last legs, and I don't think that, if I develop the habit of sending five nice notes a week, that will save the post office!

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