Dear Geist,

After reading your Lit-Lorn post “Manners” in Geist, I was both sad and relieved to find that I am not the only writer who’s been startled by poor manners in the writing world. Generally, writers are smart, friendly, supportive colleagues.

But this past week I read a library book about how to strengthen my writing, meant for me and other colleagues in mid-career. It seemed pretty good until about halfway along, when the author encouraged the reader to study the work of others and to “think about it.” Really? What did he think his readers had been doing for the last few hours and days?

It seems like a small thing, but honestly, writers and readers should know better. We’re not experts yet, but I can assure this person and anyone else in the business that if there’s one thing we writers know how to do, it’s think about it.

—Mariana Qint, Summerland BC

Dear Mariana,

We couldn’t have said it better. Readers, writers and other artists are some of the hardest-working people we have ever met.

—The Editors