Lori rambles on author/reader relationships

As the new kid on the block, this will be my first blog. What to say, what to say? Wellll....

Stella’s wonderful introduction reminded me how long it’s been since I first published back in 1996. In some ways it feels like yesterday and in others, I feel like I’ve always done this. And maybe I did. I know that as a kid, I lacked a peer group. I was the odd duck who daydreamed too much, worried about everyone else too much, and couldn’t bear to be in a “click.” It wasn’t until many moons later when I started writing that I found my closest friends.

I’m thinking maybe that’s because writers share a love of certain things. You know, writerly things - like words, animals and... office-supply stores.

Okay, so words are a given. Discovering just the right word to enhance a sentence, set a scene, or describe a character is bliss. The type of bliss that other writers understand.

Pets really seem to factor in, too. Almost all my writer friends have their little fur babies. We often write with a pet close by, snoring to distraction, sleeping on our foot until it’s numb, or sprawled dangerously close to the keyboard. I’m not sure what the kinship is there, but I know that this incredible zest for creating can be exhausting, so maybe we take comfort in the simplicity of an animal’s devotion and love.
(Doesn’t that sound really profound? Yeah, I thought so, too.)
But honestly, pets have this amazing calming effect. My dogs actually help me write, and they’ve been featured in a few of my books, too.

Now office supplies stores... if you’re not in the writing biz, you might not understand. But I could wander for hours among the giant rubber bands, the colored paper clips, the envelope choices and erasable or light-up pens! I love new screensavers, and I have to have the latest mouse. (My current mouse is wireless and battery-free. Cool, huh?)

But you know, authors rarely take their talent for granted. Every day that we get another page written, a chapter completed, a manuscript turned in, we feel blessed. So sometimes an author’s love is like a horsehair shirt, a thing we inflict on ourselves out of our need to “pay back” all our good fortune. Take for example our love of insanely tight schedules. We must love those grueling schedules, or we’d say “no” more often, right?

One of the first things most authors comment on is the number of things still waiting to be completed under a fast-approaching deadline and the desire to have more free time to relax. But if you ask an author to do something, odds are she’ll try. I’ve personally said yes to too many things, too many times. I tell myself I’ll cut back, but somehow, I never really do. Two books a year – that’s my goal.

One of these days...

Our love is also wild – for snacks, messy desks and sticky notes. When my sons (all grown now) want something good to eat, they bypass the kitchen and sneak into my office to root around. They know they’ll find a box of Better Cheddars, a canister of peanuts and a variety of chocolates that’ll rival the sweet aisle in a grocery store. I gotta have my fix. Can’t risk running out of the good stuff by leaving it in the kitchen where just anyone can find and eat it.

It’s okay, though, cuz writing uses up lots of calories. Doesn’t it? C’mon, tell me it does! After all, I still have 40 pages to go before my current manuscript is done, and I’ve already gone through more junk food than three teenagers in a dorm room on a weekend. I’m positive that my metabolism just soars while I’m creating each new story. That has to be the reason that my mouth needs to chew while my fingers type. There’s no other explanation.

And everyone knows that creating your own little world is a messy business, thus the sticky notes everywhere, mixed with the snacks and office supplies we had to have, which contribute to the cluttered desk. If I clean my desk, I lose things. As long as chaos reigns, I can find what I need.

Want to see some messy desks? (And some rogue authors who actually have clean desks?) Check out The Cave photos with author Paige Cuccaro at http://www.paigecuccaro.com/html/the_cave.html Veeery interesting stuff!

What other similarities do authors have?
Well, most of us do not have feather boas and we seldom, if ever, eat bonbons. Exceptions to the “lack of boas” comparison would be Stella’s contest, where a winner gets a gorgeous red feather boa http://www.stellacameron.com/scarletboa2005.html and my friend Dianne Castell - http://www.diannecastell.com/ - who not only owns a boa, but she brings it to a lot of book signings, usually to wrap around her cardboard standup of Alan Jackson. (It’s so funny. In photographs, people usually think Alan Jackson really is with us!)

Authors love to laugh. They love friends and family. And romance. And entertainment. Good food. The changing of the seasons. Understanding and support. Books, books and books...

Come to think of it, other than this crazy quirk of creating characters and daydreaming about plots, we authors are very much like... readers. Huh. Maybe that’s why I love readers so much, too. Seriously, you all rock. I mean, big-time ROCK.
Without readers, authors would just be sitting around together talking about... I dunno. I guess the cool stuff at Office Max and the latest, greatest junk food. Maybe we’d all break down and buy boas and bonbons.

We’d all become clichés.

Hmmm... Now see, I’m getting a visual. (I get visuals with all my books.) Maybe I should write a story about a bunch of stereotypical writers who are spurned by mean readers and resort to death by bonbons...
Well, maybe not. I mean, where’s the romance?

Okay, seriously now. (I promise I really am getting back on track.) Since I first published, I’ve learned that writers and readers share a very close relationship.

Writers are happiest with a cozy place to write; readers are happiest with a cozy place to read.

Writers love creating new romance; readers love discovering new romance.

For me, and I assume for most writers, the characters become real. I know they do for readers too, because I get letters asking me how this or that character is doing. And like...I dunno. I haven’t written it.
I get asked about Joe a lot. What’s he doing now, will he and Luna have more kids... Sometimes the letters are so good that I forget Joe isn’t real, and then I think, hmmm... will they?

So whatdya think? Can you come up with any other similarities between authors and readers? Think about it and let me know.
I'm here at the RT convention, people watching mostly, and I'm seeing some signs of resemblence - and some ways in which we differ.
Mostly what I'm seeing are really fun people brought together by a love of books.
All in all, a really great relationship if you ask me.