Fan mail

Having a reader write or call to say they enjoyed your work is, I have found, one of the truly wonderful things about writing. I write with the reader in mind but first reader I work to please is always me. After that, I hope I connect with someone else. As I work, I am never sure.

I have gotten some very positive comments on my short story "The Missing CD" which is in BEDLAM AT THE BRICKYARD, which was published in June. And yes, most of the comments have come from people I know. But I have gotten a couple of e-mails from out of the blue.

I got an e-mail just today from someone who asked me about a detail in the story. It involved the storage room where Speedway Museum officials keep the vehicles that are not displayed on the museum floor.

I told her I wrote what little I knew about that aspect of the museum, which I had researched, and I made up the rest. That is why it is called fiction.

I don't know what I will do when I have a novel published and I start getting some mail that is not so positive. Probably what I have always done as a reporter: Thank the reader and not let their comments get to me.

We will see. But for now, I am enjoying what little fan mail I get.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.