Can a 35-Year-Old Letter Help GRACE?

Thanks to a letter from a (still very active) NY publisher, I wrote my first novel, WOUNDS. The publisher wrote to me on May 29, 1974, about my short story, "Then the Lieutenant Busted Up the Party," that had appeared in the NY Times. In subsequent correspondence he asked to see my novel. That first novel never found a home, but I didn't mention that when I queried him today. (Yes, he is still at the helm.) In my cover letter I did mention his letter, my NY Times story, and my continued passion for the effects of war on families of veterans, one of the main themes of GRACE AT WAR.

Oh and in the bio, I mentioned meeting Anais Nin in person. Through a fiction course at the New School. In that class I was too shy to read a word aloud but at one point the teacher said, "Susan looks like a great writer."

I didn't put that in the query.