Letter 1

Dear Prof. Wilson,

Please accept the enclosed book as a token of recognition and gratitude from me to the University of Maine English department. For me, your advanced composition course, which I took 10 years ago, proved the highlight of its curriculum, insofar as it instilled an aversion to the passive voice and a love for interminably long, conjunction-heavy sentences that has irritated every editor I have worked with since. While this book does not, I feel, represent the ultimate example of my writing skill -- hubristically, I hope someday to monopolize some book's author list -- it is the first book I've worked on that has provided me with more comp copies than I can easily give away to locals, and so there you have it.

I hope that this parcel finds you in good health and spirits, and that you or someone you know might even find the book's content useful.

Yours,



Jason McIntosh
Class of 1996