Just Slightly Contrarian: This Ain't Literature You're Writing

Not so, he told me. Not at all. Not even close. In brief, he said, it sucked.

“It just doesn’t sound like me,” was his conclusion.

Tentatively, and stifling a tendency toward belligerence, I suggested, “But those are your exact words, from your speeches, all of which have been quite well received wherever you go.”