in writing

Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it. Read it aloud the next morning — and then edit it.

In the Field Guide, we talk about them as ghosts of unrealized futures — shadows of possibility that haunt the edges of what is.

You looked at me and smiled. I pretended to understand. If I didn’t, I would’ve dropped right then and there. It was worse than making up excuses for every day that had passed without hearing back from you. At least then, I could imagine you cared.