2012-02-14 - 2:27 p.m.

You want to know a secret? When I read a book or a story or a really good essay, I write letters to the authors. I've been doing it for seven or eight years now. It's one of the more secret things I do. Here's a list:

- Tony Hoagland, essayist, graduated Harvard with John Updike. I sent him a note about his most famous book, along with an essay of mine, about stuttering. He has a stutter, also. He called me, while I was in Austin, Texas, and left a message. I called him, from a Tex-Mex restaurant, and he told me, kindly, that my stuttering essay wasn't very good.
- David Sedaris. I wrote him an email, which he responded to with a type-written letter, which he sent from his home, in France.
- Jo Ann Beard, author of a really good memoir called The Boys of My Youth. She has not yet replied.
- Tony Earley, author of two of my favorite novels of the past ten years. He has not yet replied.
- Annie Dillard, author of the second-best American memoir ever written. She has not yet replied.
- T.C. Boyle, author of fourteen thousand books, who did reply, just now, and who has made my day. He told me to "get large," which was a big part of my day being made.

Picnic tonight, on the harbor. Cold winds but maybe something warm to eat.

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