I did

Subj: To Mr. Starling Lawrence

Hello, how are you?

I writing out of curiosity and a bit of ambition. Your son Josh gave me your address and told me I should contact you about my interest in publishing. That interest is mostly in the form of questions and longing at this point, but I'd like to know what steps will take me closer to realizing it and you can probably tell me better than most.

I'm living in Prague right now and have been for about seven months -- this is my first time out of the U.S. and so far it's been a good experience, although I'm certain Prague isn't a home for me. I'm working some odd jobs to pay rent, which is how I met Mike Corkery, who gave me Josh's email address. I work in an English-language bookstore here and started a bi-monthly reading club, so Mike and I have had plenty of opportunity to talk about the subject of books, which naturally explains how this letter was born. I love the two sides of literature, as a reader and a writer, and would love to do something that taps into the great potential of both. Part of why I moved to Prague immediately after graduating was so I could finally have the chance and the time to write, which has been a great pleasure that I would love to continue to nourish in some form or another. (I graduated last spring from UNC - Chapel Hill with a Journalism degree which I haven't put to much use yet, but hopefully there are some skill overlaps between the copy-editing and proof-reading areas of the book and journalism world.)

I don't know how far in the door I can get my foot just through unsolicited emails, but I'm willing to see. If you have some words of advice, I would love to hear them, and if you can recommend me a promising course of action I'll be more than grateful. I'll end the email by saying thanks very much for reading, and I hope you're enjoying the start of Spring where you are as much as I am here. Nothing makes you appreciate the sun like five months of unrelenting Slavic winter...

All the best,

Alex Henderson