The Writer's Gratitude List
It’s a scary time to be a writer. Independent bookstores are struggling, Borders closed (yes I know this happened a long time ago, but I am still in mourning), Amazon has turned the world on its head, and self-published and traditionally published authors spar with one another. More days than not I wonder what I am doing here, if there is an easier way, if I can make it at all. And despite all of our cheery bravado on Facebook and Twitter, I can tell you from the many quiet offline conversations that I’ve had with other writers that I am not alone.
But recently I picked my head up and looked around and remembered all the things about the author biz that are so right. And so in time for Thanksgiving, I would like to share with you my writer’s gratitude list.
Grateful for readers. Whether you have one reader or (please G-d) one million, it is such a blessing to have people read your work to be able to reach them. I am especially grateful for readers who support writers. You know who you are: the ones who take time to post a review or send an email telling me you liked a book. I cannot tell you how much those sustain me when I am stumbling to my computer bleary-eyed at five a.m. to write and find an uplifting message.
Grateful for bloggers and reviewers. All of them. The ones who post glowing blog reviews and the ones who make snarky comments on Goodreads and Amazon. Whatever you think of my book you take the time to write about it and you do so not for money or fame but a genuine love of the written word and a desire to find the best of what is out there.
Grateful for other writers. Thanks to the internet, we writers have the opportunity to get to know each other moreso than in the past. But I never truly appreciated the value of a writers’ support network until I was asked to write a story for the anthology, Grand Central: Original Postwar Stories of Love and Reunion. I had the privilege of coming to known nine of the most fabulous writers out there. (I met six of them at the anthology launch at Grand Central Terminal last June and we laughed and hugged like long lost sisters.) Since then, I’ve become close with other writers as well. The support is particularly strong among female writers, though there are some men such as David Gillham who have also been supportive. This huge network of writers is kind of like one big family, complete with our oddballs and squabbles. But it is a family I wouldn’t trade and I’m especially grateful for the ones who support each other online and in person and in quiet emails that say, I get it.
Grateful for editors and agents. I’m appreciative every day that there are people who are so gifted and whose job it is to make my work better which they do a thousand fold.
Grateful for event goers. Even after all of these years of touring, I’m amazed that people want to talk to writers, especially me. I’m grateful for the longtime reader who took multiple buses across Miami to get to an event because she didn’t have a car, for the reader who planned to travel to Atlanta and stay overnight to make an event. For the friends who they bring along who have not yet read one of my books yet. For the volunteers who work so hard on events. And there is always a special place in my hear for family and friends who come to book events, who host me in my cities and who hear me make the same remarks a second time without complaint. Speaking of family and friends…
Grateful for the village. I’m talking about the family and friends who make it possible for me to do this, who watch sick kids and take care of them when I am on tour. I’ve got a husband who can juggle babies and a mom who helps us eight days a week and a brother and in-laws and you get the picture.
Finally, I’m grateful for the internet. Seriously. This thing which keeps us too plugged in and over-connected. Because it has enabled me to stay close to the many people above for whom I am grateful, and to have sustained, ongoing relationships with readers who have become friends.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
first posted on Great Thoughts November 20, 2014.
But recently I picked my head up and looked around and remembered all the things about the author biz that are so right. And so in time for Thanksgiving, I would like to share with you my writer’s gratitude list.
Grateful for readers. Whether you have one reader or (please G-d) one million, it is such a blessing to have people read your work to be able to reach them. I am especially grateful for readers who support writers. You know who you are: the ones who take time to post a review or send an email telling me you liked a book. I cannot tell you how much those sustain me when I am stumbling to my computer bleary-eyed at five a.m. to write and find an uplifting message.
Grateful for bloggers and reviewers. All of them. The ones who post glowing blog reviews and the ones who make snarky comments on Goodreads and Amazon. Whatever you think of my book you take the time to write about it and you do so not for money or fame but a genuine love of the written word and a desire to find the best of what is out there.
Grateful for other writers. Thanks to the internet, we writers have the opportunity to get to know each other moreso than in the past. But I never truly appreciated the value of a writers’ support network until I was asked to write a story for the anthology, Grand Central: Original Postwar Stories of Love and Reunion. I had the privilege of coming to known nine of the most fabulous writers out there. (I met six of them at the anthology launch at Grand Central Terminal last June and we laughed and hugged like long lost sisters.) Since then, I’ve become close with other writers as well. The support is particularly strong among female writers, though there are some men such as David Gillham who have also been supportive. This huge network of writers is kind of like one big family, complete with our oddballs and squabbles. But it is a family I wouldn’t trade and I’m especially grateful for the ones who support each other online and in person and in quiet emails that say, I get it.
Grateful for editors and agents. I’m appreciative every day that there are people who are so gifted and whose job it is to make my work better which they do a thousand fold.
Grateful for event goers. Even after all of these years of touring, I’m amazed that people want to talk to writers, especially me. I’m grateful for the longtime reader who took multiple buses across Miami to get to an event because she didn’t have a car, for the reader who planned to travel to Atlanta and stay overnight to make an event. For the friends who they bring along who have not yet read one of my books yet. For the volunteers who work so hard on events. And there is always a special place in my hear for family and friends who come to book events, who host me in my cities and who hear me make the same remarks a second time without complaint. Speaking of family and friends…
Grateful for the village. I’m talking about the family and friends who make it possible for me to do this, who watch sick kids and take care of them when I am on tour. I’ve got a husband who can juggle babies and a mom who helps us eight days a week and a brother and in-laws and you get the picture.
Finally, I’m grateful for the internet. Seriously. This thing which keeps us too plugged in and over-connected. Because it has enabled me to stay close to the many people above for whom I am grateful, and to have sustained, ongoing relationships with readers who have become friends.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
first posted on Great Thoughts November 20, 2014.
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