Academia is *so very* bad at seeing its implicit expectations—a small example—I am only now, one decade into professing, beginning to feel I know what a strong recommendation letter looks like—I had to serve on committees & read lots of other letters before the genre became clear

By the time one becomes a professor one has been written *about* quite a lot—but of course those letters were all confidential from their subject—& no one ever says, "hey, would you like some advice about the hundreds of letters you'll be asked to write, starting like tomorrow?"

Frankly, I *still* get bouts of anxiety about my letters—sorry to my students reading this!—because there's never feedback to letter writers—no workshops or writing groups as for other genres—I take solace because enough folks I've written for have been successful, but still…