Your essay was indeed worth the $61.50 (approx $1,500 Canadian).

I've been writing The Personal Essay and political satire for a few years now, and yet—this is really difficult to confess—I've never read his work or seen him perform.

In fact, you saw David Sedaris so I didn't have to.

You see, terrified of being unconsciously influenced by another humor writer, I've studiously avoided reading his collections and would probably have to move to a different city if he performed in Toronto.

It doesn't help that his surname is an exact anagram of my surname, if you remove the extra "d", change the "e" to an "o" and throw out anything else that doesn't fit. I know, spooky, right?

Thank you for your sacrifice, and looking forward to reading your work.

Cheers

DR