Keeping It Simple and Doing It Right

Writers deal with words. It is a simple truth that we too often take for granted. Words are our currency, our wealth. They are the raw materials which we bend, twist, and cobble together to make a story something real and deep, that will hopefully establish an emotional connection with others. We more often than not find initially that we have constructed a rusted tin shack instead of the multi-storied, gleaming edifice that we had originally envisioned. So we try again, and again. If we are lucky, we eventually get it right, or close to a reasonable facsimile thereof.

Sometimes it takes pages to accomplish this; at other times, however, we can get it just right in a couple of sentences. I was recently — this evening, actually — on the receiving end of one of those experiences where the latter occurred and I had to share it with you. It wasn’t something that I wrote that established the connection; it was something that was sent to me.

There is of course a back story.  Annalisa, our younger daughter, turned seventeen today. Following several weeks of non-responsiveness to the question of what she wanted for her birthday, Annalisa gave us a list of camera lenses to pick and choose from. None of them were currently in manufacture, which necessitated a run through eBay. I ultimately found them through a number of merchants, including one named Yoko Ishiwatari in Kanagawa, Japan. Ms. Ishiwatari, who has a one hundred percent favorable eBay rating, sent me an email within an hour of my placing an order with her, thanking me for my patronage and assuring me that my purchase would be processed immediately. She later sent me tracking information, again thanking me for my order. The camera lens I ordered from her arrived within a week, right on time for Annalisa’s birthday, and was exactly what she wanted. That would have been enough. Ms. Ishiwatari, however, included something else, that being the note which I have reproduced at the top of this entry. It’s hanging on the wall in my office right now, where I can look it as I sit and type these words. It serves as a reminder to do things right and on time and to be polite and kind while you’re doing it, and to give those who favor you with their time and money what the folks in Louisiana call lagniappe, or “a little something extra.”  It will also be for me an admonishment that sometimes simple works just fine. Ms. Ishiwatari did all of that for me in three sentences, and I will be forever grateful. That, to me, is great writing. And, in case you are wondering, the item in the upper right hand corner of the letter is an example of origami, in this case a swan. It’s beautifully done as well. When folded out, it almost seems as if it is ready to take flight.

I’ve shared with you. If you would, tell us about a bit of writing — formal or informal, personal or otherwise — that has positively affected you recently, anything from a note on a card to some random graffiti to an addition to Post Secret.We’d love to know.

29 thoughts on “Keeping It Simple and Doing It Right

  1. My writer’s mind won’t leave me alone. It told me a great opening for a thriller would be a guy opening a handwritten note, and seeing: Dear Joe Hartlaub, I hope to deal with you in the future.

    It’s sad to witness the demise of the handwritten note. I cherish one I just got the other day, from my great Aunt, 97 years young and still sharp. She is a precious link to my family’s history.

  2. I recently made a couple pens from Irish Bog Oak for two writers with Irish heritage. I needed to find a trusted supplier of pen blanks who would guarantee the wood was from Ireland. I found him at The Turners Workshop in the UK. Not only did Vince stay in touch with me until the wood arrived, he wrote a personal note to accompany the order…AND he threw in a third blank free. That’s service!

    • Dr. Steve, the range of your talents seems to observe no boundaries. What a really, really cool gift and what a kind and thoughtful act from The Turners Workshop. I hear that story and I want to find an excuse to patronize them. Thanks!

  3. My husband’s friend mentioned a dog collar on FB that glowed, so when he sent his dog out in our dark, Canadian evenings, you could track your dog’s progress. Plus, the glowing make the coyotes nervous.

    We ordered one immediately. They came from Germany, Glowdoggie they’re called, and the fellow was so helpful and polite and he sent us extra batteries with a note thanking us.

    Kind of like signing your book before you send it out. A few words with your signature seems to make all the difference to the buyer.

    Now, please excuse me. I have to Google The Turners Workshop…

  4. Maybe not EXACTLY want you looking for, but…

    Back in my college daze, I ordered rubber stamps as Christmas gifts and asked that they be mailed to my PO instead of shipped to the dormnor home, offering to pay any difference. Not only did they do what I asked, but there was a note from the shipping manager thanking me for the oder, and the offer to pay “extra”, wishing me good luck with my studies, AND that she’d included some extra stamps from the seconds and discontinued bins.

    Being a food south’n boy, I sent a thank you note back~ we’ve been pen pals ( and now e-buds), ever since… and have never met.

    Out of gentlemanly respect for her age, I won’t say how long that’s been, but I think ” penpals’ might be a give away…

    • G. your story is exactly what we’re looking for. Thanks! Though we’re happy to have anyone and everyone stop by, read, enjoy, and hopefully be moved to comment. Great story.

  5. JOe –
    After 30 years in medicine I lost my career due to a health event. As I recovered I was able to pursue writing. Six years of study and work later I released my debut suspne-thriller. Shortly thereafter I received this email:
    “Just finished your amazing novel. You are a polished, extraordinary, and complex writer. So glad you had your first career to prepare you so well for your second. I was up late last night reading and I considered taking additional blood pressure medicine while reading the rescue scene! OMG!
    Write On!!!”

    This felt like a hole-in-one, a grand slam and a nothing-but-net winning jump shot rolled into one.
    This was my first post-release reader feedback and I’ll always remember it.

    • Tom, that was definitely a three-in-one. You must have been on Cloud Nine. The lesson here, I would think, is that we should never pass up the opportunity to communicate a well-earned and deserved kind word. Thanks for sharing.

    • I’m thrilled for you that you received this well-deserved recognition of your recently discovered (and honed through hard work and perseverance!) talent for communicating powerfully and effectively to readers, Tom!

  6. In our recent PTCO fundraising drive we decided to write handwritten thank you to everyone who donated – because sometimes that little extra touch does make a difference:)

  7. Joe, I know most parents have to pull teeth to get their children to write thank-you notes. I had a young family member visit us in in Los Angeles, and my best friend from college and I made a huge effort to make it a fun visit, including being introduced to some of her favorite TV actors. A while later, both I and my friend received thoughtful, gracious notes of thanks from my niece, who was only 11 at the time. They were very well written, and those little letters turned out to be early signs of her writing ability. She has since turned out poetry and writings that are amazing in their depth and creativity. So I’m saving my thank-you note for the future, when she’s a famous writer!

    • Kathryn, I’m afraid thank you notes, particularly written ones, are becoming a lost art (even, alas, for wedding gifts). Sounds like you have a wonderful niece who takes after her aunt! Thanks!

  8. In my wallet, I keep the printout of an e-mail I got several years ago from a woman I dated a few years before that. The breakup was ugly, but after a long timeout we tiptoed our way back to the friendship that always lay beneath several layers of drama.

    I pull the note out every once in a while, because it makes me smile like nothing else:

    “Dear Jim:

    You were the worst boyfriend ever. But you are the best ex-boyfriend of all time. I just thought you should know that.”

  9. This feedback a few days ago from a reader of my Fire up Your Fiction made me feel good and validated my efforts at editing and writing:

    “This book inspired a complete manuscript rewrite using Jodie’s professional perspective. I learned volumes about writing and myself in this concise editor’s guide.”
    – Mark Wayne Adams, President, Florida Authors and Publishers Association

    This writer didn’t have to share this kind review of my book, but he took the time to do it. Makes me realize I owe a lot of writers positive reviews of their books! I’d better get on it!

  10. Wow, Jodie. That’s not only a great acknowledgement of all that you do but also a great endorsement. Thanks for sharing.

    And while we are passing out the thank yous…thank YOU for once again favoring me with a link on your Facebook page, something I always forget to do. It’s much appreciated.

  11. Joe–
    Like James Scott Bell, I regret the passing of handwritten messages. My sense of this was brought front-and-center recently when I came across a note written to me by a student. He had nothing to gain by writing down his appreciation for having taken my course, but he did it, and sent it. But the real proof of how important this was to me is the fact that the note was waiting thirty years after having been written. In my files, to be re-discovered on a day in October, 2014, long after I’d left the classroom. There’s no way to over-value such gestures, is there?

  12. No Barry, there isn’t. Not at all. I know it’s unlikely, but do you have any idea what the student is doing now?

    I find that all too often I write thank you notes in email form…the courtesy is fulfilled, but it’s just not the same as getting something in the mail. And, of course, as I found out, you can’t send origami via email. I also discovered that the origami I received is a crane, not a swan, and that there is significance behind that as well. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and sharing, Barry!

  13. It is not traditional to pat writers on the head, and tell them they are doing well. They are, instead, supposed to be subjected to the cold light of day: is it any good?

    This usually occurs AFTER the writing has been published.

    Those of us who dare to serialize, to post the work in as polished a condition as possible, a new scene every week, jump off the cliff on a weekly basis. It can get hard.

    So if a reader leaves a comment on the blog for that week’s scene, I treasure it, copy it to a special section of my Scrivener file, and drag it out to savor when the internets are void of succor (ie, frequently).

    Here’s one:

    ‘Your post lured me into reading some of Pride’s Children, which I’d been meaning to do, but not gotten around to. 😉 Wow! Really great stuff! I kept saying to myself: “Just one more chapter. Oh! Just one more.” I finally dragged myself away at a much later hour in the evening than I’d planned!’

    I can live and write for a very long time on such comments. I make sure to tell the commenter exactly that. Even if, curiously, effusive thanks, heartfelt, do not seem to generate more of the same. I think I may be embarrassing them.

    I don’t care – those who give love freely must be acknowledged.

  14. Alicia, my wife Lisa has a saying…no love is ever wasted. I would submit to you that heart-felt thanks, particularly for the reasons you described, isn’t wasted either. Thanks for the reminder.

    • Your wife is a wise woman. If we each put in a tiny bit more than the minimum, the world would move in the right direction.

      I’m tickled pink by the fact that someone both reads my work and comments – and I don’t care if they know it.

      You’re quite welcome.

  15. In my audiobook narration side of life I get a lot of rejections for auditions. (If you think rejections for writers are plentiful, try being an actor).

    Sometimes get an impersonal automated email from Audible’s system that reads “Unfortunately, you were not chosen to produce this book.” and “Good luck.” at the end. With most other publishers you get nothing at all, just silence.

    Well a couple weeks ago I got the nicest rejection. The author wrote me directly to state that she picked another narrator who had recorded her previous books. Then she added “but I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your audition and to thank you for submitting”.

    This may seem like a little thing, but in the six years I’ve been doing this audiobook gig, it is honestly the first time an author took time to send a note like that. Nice touch.

    the book series by the way is a Medieval Romance with Scots, Welsh and English tough guys, and a feisty Welsh princess…would’ve been a lot of fun.

  16. That is REALLY nice, Basil, thanks for sharing.

    I’m going to be coy here, simply because I am not sure if the person in question would appreciate being specifically mentioned, but there is an editor of an imprint who sends wonderful rejection letters. It is obvious from his letters that he has read all of the manuscript in question, and specifically states why it isn’t right for him. You don’t get much better than that, other than for of course an acceptance letter, of course!

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