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Have you ever loved something or the work of someone so much that you put pen to paper and wrote a fan letter?
I ain’t gonna lie. I have.
I’d like to pretend that I wrote this fan letter as a starstruck, fangirl teenager.
Truth be told, I penned this letter in May of this year.
(And when I say letter, I clearly mean email. Letter just sounds so much more romantic and olde-worlde.)
So here are my 5 tips to writing a killer fan letter.
1. Choose a poor sucker recipient
One of my favourite picture book authors is Aaron Blabey. I may have already mentioned this previously.
At a time when I was trying to build the confidence to write and submit manuscripts, I stumbled across his blog.
So I decided to write Aaron a fan letter.
2. Gush about their work.
But not too much because that would be uncool.
At this point in time, my writing self-doubt was at an all-time high.
Aaron’s blog was filled with inspiring tips on how to ignore the voices in your head and just write.
His words SPOKE TO ME (You need to channel your inner-Oprah when you read that.)
So I told him about how much I appreciated his blog and how much I loved his books.
3. Point out some things you have in common.
(But no more than 3. Any more than 3 and you look a bit stalker-ish.)
Reading his blog, I learned that Aaron and I have 3 things in common.
1) We both grew up in regional Victoria.
2) We both worked in advertising at some point in our professional lives.
3) We both have named characters after food items.
These 3 points had me convinced that he was perhaps my brother from another mother.
I may have pointed this out.
4. Hit send
5. Curl up in a corner in embarrassment upon realising what a dag you are.
When I sent my email into the Internet stratosphere, I didn’t really expect a response.
IMAGINE the squeals of delight when an email popped up in my inbox from Aaron Blabey.
It was beautifully written, inspirational and heartfelt.
Aaron (we’re totes on first name basis now) mentioned that he had seen the following on Instagram.
Too many people give up at step 4, according to Aaron.
Don’t give up! Push through to step 5! he implored. (I paraphrase, but that was the message I took away.)
The email ended with:
“Just make stuff, Shannon. It’ll be great.”
So I encourage you- if you love someone’s work, let them know.
To see why I rave about Aaron’s work, check out some of these links.
See Aaron read an excerpt of Pig the Pug
Pearl Barley and Charlie Parsley is a gorgeous tale about the beauty of diversity in friendships.
Sunday Chutney is one of my personal faves.
Have you ever written a fan letter? To whom?
If you haven’t written one, to whom would you send one?
Linking up for FYBF thanks to With Some Grace.
I think I write fan letters kind of often, but they’re not really fan letters… they’re blog comments 🙂 I sometimes find myself getting all gushy in blog comments for my favourite bloggers. I just can’t help it!
That’s an awesome way of looking at it. Fangirling on a regular basis! x
I love a good blog gush!
I’m with Kylie, my blog commenting can be very effusive at times! i once wrote a letter to Jess Conrad when I was about 10 telling him how much I loved his perfomance in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and couldn’t he please send me a signed photo… but I don’t know if that really counts. It’s not nearly as good as your Aaron story!
At least you put it out there, Sammie!! xx
I so hope you got that signed photo xx
It sounds like getting your fangirl on ended up working in your favour. Not only is that email a treasure for you, it sounds like he gave some amazing advice!!
It was an amazing response! Very lucky!
Worth the varying degrees of embarasment!
Right. You’ve inspired me! I’m getting my fan girl on! So great you and Aaron are now on first name basis 🙂 x
Yeah! Write that letter, Grace!!
Lol! You groupie!
Seriously though, I wrote to Julia Gillard when she was PM and told her my 5 kids (at the time) ‘adored’ her! (They barely knew who she was I might add.) I asked for an autograph. Just pure fun it was! Imagine the surprise when she actually did PERSONALLY reply! Now I have the first female PM of Australia’s autograph and a very sweet letter to go with it! Too funny! I’m all for taking a fun risk and seeing how far it will go. My kids expect it of me now.
I am ex-advertising too! Whadayaknow?!
HOW COOL! GO JG!
And ex-advertising people are an awesome breed of peep!
Yu are seriously sooo cute! xx
Thanks, love! Could have gone one of two ways- cute or uber dag.