Letters from readers

Yes, I wrote a book to Julie Garwood once. I told her I could only hope to one day write as well as her. She was very kind and answered, saying to keep at my writing and not give up. I didn't.

I have not but I need to!

I left a message on Anne Rice's answering machine after reading "Violin". I was a huge fan and so disappointed with that one. I have also written to other authors, most recently James Patterson. I am not published but I did receive a lovely note from someone at the universsity after I have won a poetry contest there. It was for a poem I had won with. I do write for my readers, I get joy from writing but I like to make people feel my words, to touch their heart.

yes many of them to tell them what a great writer they are and when is their next book coming out

Yes, Susan, I have received many cards, letters and e-mails from people who have enjoyed my new book, and I have to agree with you that it is quite thrilling! We should try to make an effort to contact our favorite authors, especially new ones who haven't already sold copies to so many people!

When I was a child, I loved Robb White's book "Secret Sea". It was the first of his sea stories that I ever read and led me to seek out many more of his books at the public library and my local bookstore. I eventually had all of his books, in either paperback or hardcover, in my personal library. Many years later, as an adult, I came across a book of lists in the public library which included his mailing address from his publisher. I had no idea how old he was or if he was even still alive but I wrote to him telling him how the book had led to my acquiring all of his work and how much I still enjoyed it even though my paperback copy was falling apart from reading it myself so much and from repeated readings of it to my children, who also loved it. Over a month later, to my amazement, I received an autographed hard cover copy in the mail from him with a note saying that mine was the first fan letter he had received in many years (he was then over 80 and had thought he was forgotten!) and that anyone who had spent good, hard earned money to buy his entire literary output deserved at least one free one! It is one of my most prized books to this day but I still can't bring myself to get rid of the old, tattered paperback copy, partly because the color cover illustration of a diver in one of the old fashioned twill and helment diving suits wasn't included by the publisher in the hardcover version but mostly because of the lifetime's worth of memories it brings back.

I wrote Robert Nathan a hearfelt letter when I was in high school. He never answered, I decided he didn't get my letter. I was one of the few people who noted the day he passed. One of his most known books is, "A Portrait of Jennie" (I think I got the spelling correct.

I can't wait for that kind of thing to happen to me. I've never written to an author though.

I get an average of twenty emails a day on my books, 19 are positive and one always says they are crap, or that self published books in general are crap. I take the good with the bad. I do enjoy the emails though, and I answer each and every one.