09 Jun Is There Anything You’d Like to Add?

With the release of The Progeny, I’ve been doing a lot of interviews. They invariably end with the same question: “Is there anything you’d like to add?”

There is. It is this: I am grateful every day to get to write, and for my readers, who are the best in the world. It’s a privilege to be a part of someone else’s life, if only for a few hours or days at a time. Sometimes when I get to meet you, you tell me your stories, and about how one of my books helped you through a tough spot, or trying season of life. We both get emotional talking about it. I am so humbled by those moments, and by your sharing with me.

I once heard a speaker at an event for fiction writers say that people don’t simply need to be entertained. I beg to differ. While I love to help people learn new things about time periods or historical figures or groups of people and places, I consider myself an entertainer. It’s a job I take seriously. (Because if we simply wanted to learn, we’d be reading non-fiction, right?) Fiction is meant to transport. To provide an escape, if only for a while, from the rigors of a life that might be testing our limits. To let us know, through an elaborate lie that ultimately tells the truth, that we are not alone. To let us slip into a different pair of shoes, take new risks from the safety of our sofas and gaze at the world from a new vantage. To stretch our souls—or just make us chuckle—and let our brains play for a while.

I often joke when readers fly through one of my books in a day, “I can’t write that fast! Slow down!” But the fact is that I’m happy. Because it means, if nothing else, that you’re having fun. And I find great value in that.

So thank you for trusting me with your time. Thank you for sharing your stories with me, and for being part of mine.

Let me hear from you. Why do you read novels, and when has reading helped you through a difficult time in your life? Share your comments below.

Above: With some of my readers at a book club in Arizona. Yes, I would love to speak to your book club via Skype or in person if I’m in the area.