McSweeny’s offers a great response here:
Dear Emily,
I enjoyed reading the letter you left on my coffee table. You haven’t shared your writing with me since the beginning of our relationship (was I too harsh?), and it’s a pleasure to see more of your work. This one is a much better effort, and if I wanted to flatter myself I might take some credit for your improvement. In any case, I’m always happy to give you my feedback; this particular piece has a lot of promise, and I have some suggestions for revision that I think you’ll find useful. more
Heheh, I love that. Talk about keeping emotional distance from a piece of writing!