Love Notes to Authors
I just finished reading Betsy Lerner‘s The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers, and it spurred me to action. I decided, after reading her incredibly funny and depressing chapters about how disappointing and heartbreaking getting published can be (and here I thought the being unpublished part was sucking eggs), I had to speak out.
I love books. I love them so much there aren’t enough of them in the world for me to read. (Well, not enough of the kind I like, then.) I love them so much I must write MORE of them even though it is the most maddening process — the Chinese water torture of professions. Secret? Sometimes I even tell the books I love them. “Oh, dear, sweet Novel. You are the most wonderful book ever written. I will keep you forever, read you until your covers fall off, memorize passages, tell everyone of your charms.” And then the Novel and I smoke a virtual cigarette.
But do I tell the book’s authors how much I love their babies? Almost never! Shame on me!
So, this week, I decided to start my 2010 Valentine’s Campaign: Making Love to Your Favorite Authors*.
No, not the sex kind. Most of my favorite authors are probably like me, frumpy middle-aged women desperately trying to find time between appointments and homework help to write something thrilling. I’m talking about the “personal touch” kind of love. The Swedish massage of emails.
The fan letter.
I started yesterday, with a fan letter to Nan Marino, whose debut middle grade novel Neil Armstrong is my Uncle, and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me, knocked my (and my son’s) socks off.
I’ve decided to concentrate my love on debut authors if I can, since I think they must be most like me — insecure, lonely, eating massive quantities of chocolate to keep them this side of the loony bin — and I know I need more petting than a neurotic cat. But I’ll also send love mail to those authors who have changed my life but never knew it.I’ll let you know who as I go.
Have you ever written an author love letter? To whom? And did they write back? Inquiring minds want to know.
*I wanted to title my post this, but was afraid it would get me listed on a bunch of p0rn sites, so… 😉
01/27/2010 at 3:43 pm
Do replies to tweets count? If so, I got replies from Moose Petersen and (gasp!) Joe McNally. Oh, wait a minute, I’m not sure photographers count though Joe is a great author too so perhaps he’s OK.
01/27/2010 at 6:38 pm
No, tweets do not count. ;-P So dont’ get any thoughts about Tweeting me a love letter, bucko.
01/27/2010 at 6:20 pm
Your letter made my week, Nikki. Thank you. I’m still doing a happy dance. And your description of a debut author (in my case) is spot on. How did you know I eat massive quantities of chocolates? Thanks again for your very wonderful email.
01/27/2010 at 6:40 pm
Nan, I’m glad! You’re an amazing writer. I’m about to go to a conference and recommend your book all over the place to my other writer buds.
I was just guessing on the chocolates. 😉
01/27/2010 at 7:39 pm
Until I wrote my first MG novel and let a few kids read it, it had never occurred to me that an author would want to hear from me. But the the enthusiasm the kids showed for my story shook me up. Why had I never complimented an author whose book I loved? I’ll work on fixing that negligence.
01/27/2010 at 10:51 pm
So, what book/author would you pick, Vonna?
01/27/2010 at 9:19 pm
You’ll be getting those fan letters of your own someday soon, Nikki. I love Betsy Lerner’s book you referenced. It’s a great one. I haven’t read Nan’s book yet because no lovely writer friend has loaned it to me yet. 😉
01/27/2010 at 10:50 pm
I’ll loan it, but you’ll want to buy it after, I promise. It’s v. good.
Love ya!
01/28/2010 at 4:06 am
I’m definitely going to write all my favorite authors a love letter for Valentine’s Day 🙂 I’ll keep you posted on whether they write back.
01/28/2010 at 12:50 pm
Hmmm. Who ARE your favorite authors, Super Fab Agent of Awesomeness? Who COULD they be?
01/28/2010 at 6:58 am
O.K., honey your repressed desire to write in a certain money-making genre has found its release! Now, you are smoking virtual cigarettes after making love to novels. I am DYING laughing over here. Your book is in for some serious love from me when it comes out. Your blog makes me laugh like no other.
I have written 3 author love letters. I should actually send them, huh? Carolyn See talks about this in her writing advice book (the whole lonely writers life and need for letters). So, alright authors, I’ll get off my lazy bum and do it.
01/28/2010 at 12:49 pm
Yay, Lori!
Don’t mock my girl-novel lovefest. You’re just jealous. “Don’t you wish your novel was HOT like mine? Don’t you wish your romance was a FREAK like mine? Dontcha? dontcha dontcha dontcha…”
(Um, if you don’t listen to popular music, that’s not gonna make any sense.)
Glad to hear you’re going to send those letters. 😉
01/28/2010 at 10:33 pm
Heh, you’ve stumbled upon my secret. I’ve written several love letters to authors, almost all of whom have responded, many more enthusiastically and generously than I would have imagined.
I’ve written to Linnea Sinclair, Tanya Huff, Debra Doyle and James McDonald, Ann Aguirre, and others. Linnea and I became very good friends. She has helped me immensely with my writing career. Tanya and I met at WorldCon and she offered some wonderful agent-hunting advice. Debra and James invited me and my husband to their hotel room for beer and cookies, where we discussed writing well into the night at ReaderCon. The next day, they dedicated a live reading to us, their fans. Ann Aguirre took me and my husband out to lunch when we met at WorldCon.
Authors really appreciate being appreciated. Readers need to appreciate them more.
Lisa Iriarte
01/30/2010 at 4:08 am
Lisa, You’re made of awesome. I never even thought of writing love letters until this year.
But tonight I gushed fangirl style at Lisa Graff, author of The Thing About Georgie. A kind of, in-person love letter. 😉