Among all the birthdays in our family this month (my dad, my sister, me, my mother-in-law, my son, my brother-in-law) another birthday got lost in the shuffle: my blog turned 2!
To celebrate my second blogiversary I’m going to tell you about something that happened earlier this month. I’ve been debating for a while whether or not to share this story. On the one hand, it’s so “bloggable” and so relevant to celebrating a blogiversary. On the other hand, is it really okay to publish the contents of an email message written by someone else? Not only that, but the pleasure I got from this message was so profound that I just wanted to keep it private for a while. But now I’m ready, and it’s my blogiversary, so here you go.
I have my email set up to send all messages from senders not in my address book to the spam folder. I scan through the list before deleting, and if a “real” email slips through I usually catch it either by the sender’s name or the subject line. Otherwise, I don’t open it. So, a couple of weeks ago I saw a name in there that sounded vaguely familiar: Dawn Prince-Hughes. Subject line blank. I couldn’t think why the name sounded familiar. Probably a mom sending me an article for the elementary school newsletter, I thought.
Here it is, word-for-word.
Hi,
Sometimes late at night, when I’m feeling like I am so small that I become invisible even to myself, and I feel that little I have done has made a difference, I read people’s comments about my work on random web pages. Your kind words about my book, “Songs of the Gorilla Nation,” were so uplifting — reminding me that my words, though whispered and private in the writing, become the stuff that we are made of.
Again, thank you for taking the time to read my work and share your gracious thoughts about it with others. You inspire me to go on.
Dawn Prince-Hughes
Now I know why I blog.
9 Comments
Wow. That’s so wonderful. So kind of her to respond, and such a marvelous feeling, to inspire an author, no less. I think, (I hope) that’s why most of us blog – not just to jot down our own thoughts and try to make sense of what goes on in our muddled heads, but to reach out and truly connect with others. Those magical moments, when they happen, are priceless, as you well know.
Good for you, and Happy New Year!
Better than the email from Stanton Rabin you got?? I’m of two minds about authors commenting on their books. On one hand, it’s neat: a realio-trulio author is reading *my* blog. On the other hand: how did they find it? Did they google their book? Isn’t that a bit, well, obsessive??
Still. I’m glad you were able to make her day. (PS, Welcome back! I wondered if you were reading The Dark is Rising, too… Inkling posted that she was…)
Patricia, exactly. And all the more poignant if you’ve read her book, which is a memoir about having Asperger’s.
Melissa, I don’t know who Stanton Rabin is. Did you mean John Birmingham? I’m still freaked out about that one! :) Frankly, if I was ever lucky enough to become a published author I’d probably google my book every day.
How gratifying. And how kind of her to email you about it.
No… I wrote a post about Betsy and the Emperor (which Stanton Rabin) wrote. I hated it. But you commented that you’d recommend it to your husband. She wrote you an email (which you then forwarded to me!) thanking you for that (and about how I was totally wrong in my review). :)
That must have been a really heartwarming note to find in your inbox. Ain’t it grand when your blog makes you *and* another person happy??
Oh ha ha, Melissa, that’s right — now I remember! ;)
Liesl, yeah, another person besides my mom. ;)
I’ve had some good experiences and some positively ludicrous ones (see all references to Darla Shine in my blog) with authors reading my reviews. When I absolutely love a book, I will sometimes send them a link.
“Songs of the Gorilla Nation” sounds fascinating and I’m looking forward to reading it this year. What a wonderful thing for her to send you that e-mail, and how great for her to know her work is truly appreciated.
I think that if I were a popular author, I would try to maintain a dignified silence to bad reviews - almost every time I read an author’s response to criticism, they come off looking even worse afterwards.
Thanks for sharing this, Julie. I’ve been wondering recently why I blog…stories like this help me to understand.