my plane crashed...

This evening, I received the following email from an aspiring author in Norway, and I wanted to share:



JM,

Today my plane crashed. Or, rather, I was so engulfed reading "The Great Lenore" on the plane on my way home from my Christmas break that when the plane I was on touched down on the airport and the sound of wheels hitting the concrete and the plane started to rumble and tumble I was jerked right out of the magical world you've created in "Lenore" and I was sure I was crashing to my death. Boy, that was a long sentence. Anyhow, I remember thinking for what must've been four seconds (But felt like something I had time to debate with my inner-self) if the plane was going to land in the sea, or tumble to a fiery death ashore. Obviously neither happened, and I live yet another day.

Had it not been Christmas I would've read the entire book in one sitting, however as Christmas vaycays go you sort of have to kick it with the fam in between stuffing your face with food and an assortment of cakes and candy. Now let me tell you mister, I LOVED your book! Right now I am telling all my Facebookies to read it, linking to Amazon where they can buy it.

Well, it's 2.30 at night here, and I need to get up in less than five hours to go to work (I cannot even stress how much coffee that will require), but I just had to write to tell you in person what an amazing book you have written. I would love to talk to you about it in more detail when I'm not wiped from my Christmas break and it´s not, uh, night. So hit reply if you wanna, also every writing advice would be very very welcome as I am a potential (I hope) writer myself.

Kind regards,
Tom-Erik
Oslo
Norway


I am adding this email to the website for thee reasons.

1. (Obviously) It's a nice little "brag" on The Great Lenore - which is something I certainly do not mind sharing.

2. I want to mention that, truly, authors never tire of receiving messages such as this one - so if you ever read a book that impacts you, and you have a way to reach the author, drop them a line. They are sure to appreciate it.

3. If you are an author (or an aspiring author), keep in mind the fact that readers love to hear back from you. A few months back, I was carrying on a short email correspondence with Stewart O'Nan (and if you are an aspiring author and do not know who Stewart O'Nan is - shame on you!). During the course of our back-and-forth, I mentioned to him how impressed I was that he was willing to share his time and knowledge with me, in spite of his surely-packed "successful author" schedule. And what he told me (in summary) was this: "I once dropped Sue Grafton a line, telling her I had enjoyed one of her books. She responded quickly, and when I made mention of this, she told me that she does everything she can to always respond to any piece of mail she receives. I figure if Sue Grafton can do this, I certainly can as well." As some of you surely know, I often fail in my desire to keep up with prolonged email correspondence (just ask my two dearest Writer Pals - Paul Joseph and Mickey Diamond - each of whom I have owed an email for roughly two months). But I do my best - and this is something all authors should aim for (and is something all aspiring authors should keep in mind).

Just some thoughts for the mind.

Cheers.
~JM




[be a pal. follow me…]

*on this website*
*on twitter*
*on facebook*

want to know what's going on?

The Great Lenore is…     ~     Sample the first 3 pages