Dearest Old Friend,

I wanted to speak with you at some length about inspiration.  It's clear that I'll never make a dime with my writing but it does allow me to express my feelings and to preach a little when it seems appropriate.

I'm just starting to recognize that each story is practice for a later story.  I see this most plainly when I prepare my older works for publication on Nifty and try to chase away the typos and clean up the grammar when I recognize the problems.  I have a tendency to write narration in past tense, especially when I'm tired or not paying attention.  It's an annoying habit and I always need to go back and re-tense everything to present tense later.  It's the most appealing presentation and it makes the writing more compelling.

I need to acknowledge here your influence in my writing.  All those years we spent together and all the adventures and experiences are good fodder for my stories. You'll see in Part Two some reflections about our long-ago trip to Salem when Nick and Willis travel there in costume a few days before Halloween.  I also used you as a prototype former lover for Nick and how he is forced to gain familiarity with proper Polish pronunciation to please you.  I'm also convinced I was thinking of you when I wrote in 'I Wish You Love' the sentiment: "It's too bad I missed the opportunity to make love to you..."

You should know that I'm going to put an anonymized version of this letter up on my blog to help illustrate the creative process I go through and show the kind of influences I have.

Thank you from my heart.

Steve