August 19—1 A.M. Face it kid, you’ve had a hell of a lot of good breaks. No Elizabeth Taylor, maybe. No child of Hemingway, but God, you are growing up. In other words, you’ve come a long way from the ugly introvert you were only five years ago. Pats on the back in order?
. . .
You are willing to work. Hard, too. You have willpower and are getting to be practical about living—and also you are getting published. So you got a good right to write all you want. Four acceptances in three months—$500 Mlle, $25, $10 Seventeen, $3.50 Christian Science Monitor (from caviar to peanuts, I like it all the way).
You can find this excerpt in The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, by Sylvia Plath, ed. Karen V. Kukil (p. 54)