As most of you know, my favorite writing professor at Georgia Southern Peter Christopher recently passed away from liver cancer. I just found the last cover letter I wrote to him on my computer and decided to share it with you guys as a way of showing just how much this man meant to me. The cover letter was for my portfolio for the Flash Fiction course that he allowed me to audit. I hope I can live up to everything he taught me.
Dear Professor Christopher,
I'd like to start off by thanking you for allowing me to sit through this class. I felt like I needed a transition between school and 'the real world' and this has been what I was looking for. This class has helped me to no longer think of writing as something I do for a grade but rather as something that I do because I enjoy it and because I want to make a career from it. I've known this for a long time, but until this point I still thought of myself as practicing rather than actually doing it. Now I feel like I'm more prepared to do this on my own. I'm still apprehensive, still sometimes afraid that I'll fall short but I'm determined to go forward. I have no choice now.
As I was preparing my portfolio, I mostly looked to my past portfolios. I took out all of the parts that I felt were most important. I look at this as the ultimate portfolio with no filler. Some pieces that I chose were with the idea that I could use them in future workshops. Some are included just because they inspire me and make want to be a better writer. You may notice how many in my influences section were stories given to me by you. This is because in the end, you are my biggest influence. Thank you.
Fuzz