I've been subscribed to "Letters of Note" on Facebook for months, but unless I recognized the author or recipient of the letter, I never clicked through to read the post. That was a mistake.
I have since ransacked half of the archives. Here are a few of my favorites so far:
"I Like Words": "I like crunchy, brittle, crackly words, such as splinter, grapple, jostle, crusty.... I like Oh-Heavens, my-gracious, land's-sake words, such as tricksy, tucker, genteel, horrid. I like elegant, flowery words, such as estivate, peregrinate, elysium, halcyon."
"It Is The Woman Who Pays": "I told her one time, 'I worry about women.' She said, 'Don't.'"
"Love, Dad": "It does take quite a man to remain attractive and to be loved by a woman who has heard him snore, seen him unshaven, tended him while he was sick and washed his dirty underwear. Do that and keep her still feeling a warm glow and you will know some very beautiful music."
I think my very very favorite so far is advice on creating from Dr. Suess:
"This is a field in which no one can give you pointers but yourself. The big successes in this field all succeeded because they wrote and they wrote ... they studied what they'd written each time asking themselves one question: How can I do it better, next time?
To develop an individual style of writing and drawing, always go to yourself for criticsm. If you ask advice from too many other people, then you no longer are yourself.
...keep up your enthusiasm! ... If you'll plug away and do exactly what you are doing, making it better and better every month and every year...that you CAN be successful."
I think it's pretty appropriate advice for life, no?
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