Letter One

February 1, 2008

Dear Editor,
I was very sorry to hear that a broken scapula would delay your review of my manuscript, Backwoods Blues -- A Hillbilly Love Story. I appreciate the time you took to have your second-assistant assistant-editor-in-training send me a short note to that effect. I also appreciate how diffficult it must be to dictate a two-line rejection from your private room at the Cornell Medical Center. I hope you aren't allergic to lilies.

I feel, however, that I must speak to your assumption that Backwoods Blues may not appeal to an audience broader than that of Beaver Mills, Alabama. As you know, my first novel, Has Anyone Seen My Personal Space? was a small print run of ten thousand copies. Although it did not make the Times Bestseller list, it did sell and fans tell me they loved it as equally in Tennessee as Hoboken.

Sincerely yours,

U.S. Writer