Writing letters is not dead for writers (and old people)

Not too many folks write old fashion letters anymore. As far as I can tell there are only two kinds of people: writers, and old people (who don't really get the shortness of modern emails and are used to whipping out the pen and going big).

As for writers, my editor and I have always kept up our writing skills and shared ideas about what it means to be a writer and write. We write about ebooks, publishing, everything. There is always something to talk about. So, I thought I'd post some of a letter I wrote today. It's mostly a progress report on what I'm doing, mixed with a little more of my Steve Jobs craze. The letter:

Donna,

Surfed a little here and there. But right now I'm slammed, busy. I'm trying to get everything wired between the map maker (which I think is done now), with the book designers who are going to finish it tomorrow, and with my copy editor who will also be proofing the PDFs before I send to the printer on Monday. Quite a thing to juggle, especially since everyone is freelance and working on other projects.

I'm also trying to pick the rainbow for the color . . . What color shall it be? And then there's that little strip of cloth that holds a book together at the very top of the binding, the headband. Its fun. I feel like I'm doing what Steve Jobs insisted on doing with the Mac: be in control of the whole experience so that the narrative can integrate into the production. Or as Steve Jobs did, the hardware into the software. I think you can guarantee an experience doing it this way. My pictures in the insert, my images on the end pages, my cover, copy, and foil stamps are all geared towards making a tight product that is for the consumer. The downside to all of this control (that you don't get when you sell a manuscript to a traditional publisher) is that I also have the power to profoundly fuck it up.

Sort of stormy here in SB.

Best,
The Colonel

PS - I think I'm going to post the first two paragraphs of this on my blog . . . cool?