This Dorothy Parker Telegram from 1945 Brightens Our Day
An unearthed note confirms: the author's writing struggles were worse than ours
.Blogging can be hard, particularly when you're writing posts with lots of numbers and charts in them, or are tired, or are struggling with how to present information in a way that's readable and useful to the online reader. It only gets worse when it rains, and we can't go outside for lunch, or when we forget our lunches altogether, and only have mints to eat.
We're guessing you experience similar struggles on occasion. The good news is, 20th century lady of letters Dorothy Parker did too. Only her drab days were much, much worse. Correspondence blog Letters of Note unearthed this 1945 telegram Parker sent to her editor Pascal Covici.
A Piece of Monologue provided a transcription.
WESTERN UNION
1945 JUN 28 PM 4 37
NBQ209 78=NUJ NEWYORK NY 28 422P
PASCAL COVICI.VIKING PRESS=
18 EAST 48 ST=
THIS IS INSTEAD OF TELEPHONING BECAUSE I CANT LOOK YOU IN THE VOICE. I SIMPLY CANNOT GET THAT THING DONE YET NEVER HAVE DONE SUCH HARD NIGHT AND DAY WORK NEVER HAVE SO WANTED ANYTHING TO BE GOOD AND ALL I HAVE IS A PILE OF PAPER COVERED WITH WRONG WORDS. CAN ONLY KEEP AT IT AND HOPE TO HEAVEN TO GET IT DONE. DONT KNOW WHY IT IS SO TERRIBLY DIFFICULT OR I SO TERRIBLY INCOMPETANT=
DOROTHY.
It's worth noting that Parker was not a happy person, but she was a terrific and cutting writer. And even she had bad days--bad days where she forgot how to spell incompetent. In other words, cheer up, it's better than you think.