A friend asked me to write a 7-line letter to her. No trivialities, no weather, just literature.
I have a beginning in mind, but I'd like to hear how you'd take on something like this.
I'm a reviser. So I'd probably write the letter I wanted to write, figure out what I most wanted to say, then chop out everything else.
If that didn't work, I'd probably find a friend who wasn't so demanding :)
write two haikus preceded by a "dear (whoever)"
Both are good advices. Thus far, this is what I 've got. Two lines.
Janet Frame, the late New-Sealandian writer, spent years in a psychiatric ward and was to get a lobotomy, until she received an important, nationwide literary prize for her short fiction. Whenever I feel I'm questioning literature and its relevance, I think of this anecdote.
I'd tell my friend my rates.
Dear Asshole,
You will die soon.
Frank
^^^^ Obviously not to a friend and not from me.
