Write a fan Letter
Who inspires you? What kind of books, movies, products or people make you want to get better at what you do?
You’re not too old to have heros or idols. Everyone needs to be inspired now and then. But, do you think you’re too old to write a fan letter to your hero?
Well, I’m semi embarrassed to admit this, but…. Two weeks ago I wrote a fan letter to Cameron Crowe. The film director who wrote Almost Famous, Jerry McGuire and others.
Don’t laugh. Sometimes I get addicted to movies. Almost Famous was my latest movie addiction. I watched it at least eleven times in seven days.
The kid in the film is a die hard rock-n- roll fan who gets a chance to travel with a band and write for Rolling Stone – all at age fifteen. That would’ve been my dream come true, and as it turns out – was actually based on the life of Crowe himself.
So while watching the making of the film on the DVD, I began penciling a letter to the director. The last time I did something like this was for a sixth grade English assignment.
My letter to Cameron grew long with explanations of how his experiences writing for a big magazine mirrored mine. And blah blag blah. I decided not to mail it for fear that he’d never read it. Or worse; he’d read it and think I’m ridiculous for being 27 years old and gushing over a movie about a kid.
Re-reading the letter to myself actually helped inspire me to finish a few stories I’ve been working on.
Try writing a fan letter to someone who inspires you. Write it freely without putting too much thought into it. Then go back and note what it is that you admire in that guy.
Chances are that your hero portrays a lot of qualities that you see in yourself. Detailing what you dig about John Travolta (sorry… first name that came to my head) may inspire you to improve yourself – or even realize the good that you already do.
Many of us keep journals or blogs that help us spill out our opinions and rants about the world. We use planners and organizers to build our day.
Letter writing serves as a great way to get our thoughts on paper. And focusing on someone else (besides ourselves) takes a lot of pressure out of the process.
Mail it or don’t mail it. But write it. Its great exercise.
3 Comments
William
November 7th, 2006 at 10:12 am
I’m going to have to give that a shot Gina, but I got to know, did you actually mail the letter?
Gina Laverde
November 7th, 2006 at 2:28 pm
william,
No, I didn’t mail it.. just kind of kept it for my own inspiration. I worried that Crowe would think I was some kind of spastic fan. I hope that writing your own letter helps inspire you too!
p
March 6th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
great advice….
i wrote lots of fan letters but never had the guts to send them… i can get pretty obsessive sometimes and after awhile i’d get scared of what i wrote… lol… not really *that* scared… after like writing two pages i’d realize something about myself…
good thing to know that i’m not alone…
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