Clare Holman-Hobbs's Page

Dear John,

How do you cope with wanting to be everything? 

I know that is a bit of a strange questions but there is a very long list of things in my life that I want to do or be. I want to be a writer, first and foremost. Sometimes the dream feels so unreachable that I begin to worry that I might not find my purpose in life, after all, isn’t that what we’re all looking for?

I want to be a Broadway and West End star. I want to sing and dance and choreograph my own moves.…

Dear John,

I have lost many loved ones in my life time. It’s shocking because I’m only 21. In those 21 short years, I have lost my grandparents, my aunt and my father.

In a months time, it will be the anniversary of my father’s death. How does one prepare for such a time? I do every year, of course, but it gets no easier. The devastation that a death leaves cannot be rebuilt again. 

I’m sure in your lifetime you have lost many loved ones too. How many? Is that how we…

Dear John,

I want to tell you about the first time I ever picked up one of your books. 

The first one I ever read was Looking For Alaska. I had never read your books before and hadn’t even heard of you. I was travelling around Europe and stepped into a British bookshop in Budapest called Treehugger Dan’s. I picked your book up from one of the shelves and bought it for a couple of euros. 

I read it within a day or two. It was in those moments that I was cemented in my…

Dear John,

Today my letter to you is more of a technical question than anything. I don’t really have anything to describe to you, no feelings of inadequacy or expectations. I’m almost twenty one and don’t really understand some grammatical construction. I know that it is slight laziness on…