EXIT STRATEGY - Ryan Potter

Happy belated 84th birthday, Elmore Leonard!

I'd like to thank you for...

1. writing stories. Three authors made me want to be a writer. You're one of them.

2. single-handedly creating your own genre. Bookstores need to pull your novels out of the crime section and put them in an Elmore Leonard section.

3. coming up with those 10 writing rules. I live by them and they've saved me more times than I can count.

4. staying in the Detroit area all these years. You could have easily bailed for someplace more exciting, but you didn't. 

5. taking the time to talk to me that day outside of Mountain King in downtown Birmingham three years ago.

Okay, you probably don't remember this, but you gave me more time than I ever thought you would. I mean, when I recognized you and said hello, I figured you'd simply say hi and be on your way.

But no, that's not how it played, because...

...YOU ACTUALLY INVITED ME OUTSIDE, WHERE WE TALKED BOOKS AND WRITING ON THE SIDEWALK OF OLD WOODWARD FOR SEVERAL MINUTES!

I mean, what famous author even does that? I mean, I actually have the luck of meeting a master, and he turns out to be the coolest master I could possibly imagine. It was perfect. The whole thing. Perfect.

And you know what? As I watched you walk back to your car that day, white carry-out bag dangling from your hand, I realized I'd learned more from you in five minutes than I had in any writing class I'd ever taken.

Seriously.

Thanks again.

RP