.MTYwMA.MTQwODA1

I like the way you write. It’s so simple that it makes me admire and swear. “Everything is said so simply - why anyone ought to be able to write like this” It was like I was looking at an apple and you’d say “Here is an apple. It is red” - and there it would be. “Wouldn’t it be swell”, I thought, “if I could write like that?” I copied pages and pages of your stuff. Then I wrote an essay for my writing course. I thought it was good. My instructor had her own ideas. My paper was returned with innumerable red decorations. And I had ended it peculiarly, like you do when you say “could what?” (end of chapter in Dark Laughter) well. The class tore me to pieces on the ending. It was funny. Me a plagiarist! Then I realized that you’ve got to be yourself. You know, somehow or other, college stunts your natural ability. They don’t let you round out naturally. They dress you up in a new suit of clothes- but when you look in the mirror you see your collar is too long or the tie is crooked or something else is mangled. Well. That’s all there is. There’s nothing for you to do. Just tear the letter up. I guess. I just felt as if I ought to write you. I don’t know why exactly.