“Writing to Updike” is something that many readers and fans have done, and blogger  Jeffrey Johnson has shared his own experience, complete with Updike’s response to his letter. Johnson notes Begley’s comment that Updike had mailed out “thousands of print-crowded three-by-five postcards” over his lifetime, and says, “Three of those thousands of postcards were addressed to me, one in response to each of three letters I wrote to Updike about his books.

“The first of those letters, written in the mid 80’s on my college electric typewriter, was a reflection on the novel Roger’s Version. The letter began with the thought that Updike might prefer that his readers would not bother to write back. The first line of the postcard sent from Updike–which landed in the general delivery box of the South Chatham Post Office and was handed across the counter to me–was, No, letters like yours written back are always welcome.

“A few years later, in response to comments I sent on his next novel S. which, like Roger’s Version, was an inspired reworking of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Updike sent a note: