Can You Relate?

I had to write to the teacher when one of my children missed a day of school.

It was my daughter, Caroline, who was then in the second or third grade.

I was having my breakfast one morning when she appeared with her lunch box, her rain slicker, and everything, and she said, “I need an absence note for the teacher and the bus is coming in a few minutes.”

She gave me a pad and a pencil; even as a child she was very thoughtful.

So I wrote down the date and I started, Dear Mrs. So-and-so, my daughter Caroline…and then I thought, No, that’s not right, obviously it’s my daughter Caroline.

I tore that sheet off, and started again.

Yesterday, my child . . .

No, that wasn’t right either. Too much like a deposition.

This went on until I heard a horn blowing outside. The child was in a state of panic.

There was a pile of crumpled pages on the floor, and my wife was saying, “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe this.”

She took the pad and pencil and dashed something off.

I had been trying to write the perfect absence note. It was a very illuminating experience.

Writing is immensely difficult.

The short forms especially.


That's how American novelist E.L. Doctorow responded to George Plimpton's question about the most difficult thing for a writer to write.