Best Email Ever:

From The Boy (see post below for context):

You're only the person who doesn't get there if you don't keep writing. You're good enough; you will make it. Right now you're feeling bad about it because it isn't coming out the way you want, and that makes you feel like a crappy writer. Fortunately, you have someone who lives in the constant cycle of loving and hating their own writing to help you through. And I have three things to say to you about your writing quality.

1) It's good. It really is. You're writing is plenty good enough, even at its worst, that it doesn't impair the story (and by that, I mean that the highest goal of all writing is to convey the story without impairing it; to be a smooth conduit to transfer the reader to another world). So the only factor is, are you telling a good story? I think you've got a ton of awesome creative ideas; it's only a matter of time until you find one, be it this one or the next, that a publisher likes. So long as you keep writing, you will sell.

2) You're only looking at your first draft right now. It never comes out perfect the first time; you have to go back and polish it. That's the way it works. Your writing is great right now, but as I am learning, even the best first-draft writing is insufficient-- you have to go back and polish to get it perfect. So you can't expect perfection off the bat. In the first draft, you throw stuff out. Some hits, some misses, usually more of the latter. You have a pretty damn good hit ratio (if I knew baseball, that would have been a metaphor) from what you read me; you should be excited, not depressed.

3) You haven't written anything substantial in like 3 or 4 years. You do get rusty. I have learned, despite kicking and screaming unwillingness to accept it, that you really do have to write to get better. And the more you write, the better you'll get. just look at the Carribean novel versus this one-- I can honestly say that you're writing has greatly improved already. Keep working at it, and you'll get better.

That last one is the real key. I honestly think you're a good enough writer to sell a book right now. But the more you write, the better you'll get. You have awesome ideas, and your writing is chock-full of the potential to bring them out. Keep developing it, and you'll be famous one day. And I will live off of you. Now would I plan my future mooching if I didn't think you could make it?

Isn't he just wonderful?!? I'm so in love...