Cindy,
My father had a similar experience -- he was trying to find an
agent for a screenplay (his first), and he sent a letter off to
Isaac Asimov, among other people. Months later, he received a
small hand-written letter, saying that IA had enough trouble finding
publishers for his own work (!), and could not offer any advice. But
just getting that letter fueled my father to keep searching. Again,
these types of responses often do good all out of proportion to the
amount of work that you have to put into them.
That being said, I would like to send a sheepish 'oops' out to the
list. I thought that Chris was being a little harsh about that letter
from Ms. Boone, but it seems, from the later response, that Chris was
entirely right -- Boone seems to be overstepping the bounds of a
professional exchange, and trying to wheedle information without
providing an explanation of why she needs it. If I write one letter
in response, I chalk it up to encouragment; when it gets to two or three
or four, however, it starts feeling like a consultation.
Have a great long weekend -- I'll be painting (no, just my bedroom!)
David
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David S. Goodsell The Scripps Research Institute
Assistant Member Department of Molecular Biology
10666 N. Torrey Pines Road
(619) 784-2839 tel La Jolla, CA 92037
(619) 784-6860 fax
[log in to unmask] http://www.scripps.edu/pub/goodsell
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