a-new-american-classic asked: You are probably the most talented actual writer that I read. You're incredibly verbose and you know the proper time to be wonderfully sweet and wonderfully profane. Your writing is honest, Jen, incredibly honest, and I can practically hear your voice whenever I read what you write.

Dear Nick,

I am publishing this, because I want to keep it on my blog forever. I don’t remember when I first started following you(r blog). I suppose it’s been longer than I thought. But I remember watching the video you posted, reading the first bit you’d finished of “She Likes Hair Bands”, which is itself an amazing piece of work. Because when I watched that video I was blown the fuck away. When I watched that video I knew you were somebody I wanted to know. And now I know you, so kindly leave me the fuck alone. I kid, I kid!

You’re one of the few writers on tumblr about whom I can honestly say I’ve read your whole blog. It took me two days. You write incredibly well, and your stories never fail to draw me in and take hold and they never let me go, not even after the last word, because still I want more. Your dialogue is so authentic, so true. Your prose has such a wonderful rhythm. It’s the rhythm that makes it stick in my brain, I think, long after I’ve read the piece — which is probably why I almost quoted you back to you that one day — because I could remember the line, but for a split second couldn’t remember where I’d read it, only that I thought you’d like it. Once I remembered where I’d read it, of course, I blushingly realized why I thought you’d appreciate it. That’s still the only time that’s ever happened to me, but I think it says a lot about the power of your words to stick.

And I love writing with you. I never thought I’d say that about anybody, ever. I’m not really much of a team player when it comes to writing, especially in the short story format. But from the first piece we wrote together … I never planned that as a collaboration, it just sort of happened that way … I remember thinking that half the story was missing. Half the story was yours. And that was the most fun I’d had writing in quite some time. The way your authenticity and my honesty meld together into one voice, the way we somehow manage to create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, is nothing short of magical.

Your message means a lot to me and I hope I’ve adequately returned the feeling. I was trying my damnedest to fulfill the “verbose” portion of the quiz, haha.

You’re an amazingly talented writer in your own right, which makes your message mean all the more to me. Thank you. <3

Love,
Jen.