My Dearest JooJooBee,
Whenever I teach I tell students —write like you talk.
(If you can talk, you can write, I say.)
Not all of them can talk though.
So then I tell them —just say what you think.
This doesn’t always help — but it makes it more interesting.
Aaron Sorkin says he’d rather communicate with everyone only in writing and I second that.
All of his writing IS talking.
(If I could use only emojis, I might.)
Often before I speak, I edit the words in my mind before I say them.
(I’m slowly recovering. Emphasis on slowly.)
How I think about writing has evolved a lot and with it my actual writing.
First I copied Faulkner — and his 13-page long sentences.
(If you can believe that.)
Now I think a good sentence has four words and a great sentence three.
If all the words have monosyllables — triple point score!
So, want to hear the perfect sentence?
—I love you.
Three words. Three syllables. Eight letters. Not bad.
Better yet:
—Luv ya!
Two words. Two syllables. Five letters. Ha!
Someone said Jerry Garcia, the guitarist, had the shortest distance between his fingers and his heart.
Same for good writers I think.
I like scripts but I love letters.
Especially love letters.
(As you know.)
My mentor wrote a 110-page letter: it was his last short story.
I consider that a love letter.
Maybe all letters are.
I think letters reveal a person’s best and truest self.
For starters, they sound like you.
(Some people still mess that up though.)
Most importantly, they show you care.
(I hope mine do.)
I will show you in other ways too.
(I promise.)
I will keep writing you letters even when you’re with me.
(I promise promise.)
(Unless you get sick of them. You let me know.)
These are easy promises for me to keep because I love doing all this.
(It makes me happy and brings me joy.)
Some things you can only say in a letter.
But not this:
—I miss you.
These letters help me feel closer to you.
Why I write so many —
and yet, not enough.
Alcoholics have a saying
—One is too many. A thousand is not enough.
The second part though —A thousand is not enough.
(Maybe I should start a 12-step program, Letter-holics Anonymous.)
So did I pass the test?
Do I write like I talk and talk like I think?
You decide.
One thing I know:
I could listen to your voice all day, every day.
What a kind world that lets me do that, even for just a little while.
I love you, JooJoo.
— Your Fortune Cookie, David