Oh, how adorable! Kittens watching a hawk tear apart a baby. My heart flutters with infarction.

Is there anything left to say?

Of course there is. For when it comes to a frank appraisal of my work, the waxing is outdone only by the waning.

Take this from a client, a master panegyrist:

How many editors do you know who will make sure that your French accent mark is pointing in the right direction? That’s the level of detail that Jennifer excels at and I recommend her without exception. … Read on (if you must).

Were I pressed to recall another shout-out or six, these smooth words might spring to mind, mixing memory and hellfire: great; awesome; amazing; super thorough; born to do this; her soul is doomed, but the writing is top-notch.

And through the haze of time and vodka-bottle eyeglasses, I can just make out an ecstatic “Thank you!,” where between the lines there glimmers … Well, we can all read the subtext. Sometimes a “thank you” is more than a cigar.