Over the years, when a book has spoken to me with particular power, I have put pen to paper and send word off to the author, communicating what their work meant to me.
It all started in my 18th year, when I was entertaining my own imagination of success as a writer. I was full of high expectations, believing that becoming an author was simply a matter of putting my thoughts onto paper, sending the works to a publisher and waiting for fame to come. Then came the great disappointment. I wrote to famous children's author Lloyd Alexander, describing my fruitless yearlong effort at publication and asking him for direction. To my joy, he answered: "Advice is always very easy to give — but very hard to make it specific and meaningful, since we all have to work in our own ways. When you mention that you've been writing for a year without being published, I hasten to tell you that I wrote seven times that long without being published! So, perhaps one piece of advice is: Patience."
I was encouraged by the idea that a well-regarded writer would take the time to offer a bit of advice to an overconfident teen. But Mr. Alexander was not a singular case. But when I did get one, the content was often filled with consideration and even, at times, affection.
I think of the American poet William Stafford, who replied to me from Lake Oswego, Oregon. We actually had an ongoing correspondence (通信) for a while. I wrote to him asking if he would be so kind as to autograph one of his books for me. His reply brought an immediate smile to my face: "I am eagerly ready to autograph and return a book — it makes me feel like an author."
