OK I want you all to know I am not one bit upset that today Stephanie Klein's book, "Straight Up and Dirty" is #337 on Amazon, while mine is #94,000-something or other.

Not at ALL, do you hear me? Nor that she got some huge book deal plus a TV show and is now writing full time and is fabulously successful and happily married. I mean WHATEVER STEPHANIE KLEIN! WAS YOUR BOOK HAULED UP TO THE TOP OF MOUNT RAINIER BY A LOYAL FAN? I THINK NOT!!

All that matters to me is that you, my small but select crowd of readers, love the book, which you seem to do. Take this comment, which was posted on my last entry.

"Your book arrived from AMAZON yesterday. Once I started it, I could NOT put it down. THANK YOU, BB! Having recently lived through a quite similar Great Unpleasantness (my live-in boyfriend cheated and lied about, even to this day), your book has given me strength to carry on. I dealt my revenge metaphorically through your actions. The lonliness and boredom were transported as I held your book in my hands. But, now what am I to do? Read it again? Maybe I will. I have already recommended your book to many of my gal pals, but I will not share my copy. I cannot part with it. Thank you for giving me hope."
- On the Mend

This about made me want to weep. When people say things like that to you, it makes everything worth it. All the hours spent slaving over your keyboard, wallowing in self-doubt; the years spent as a temp receptionist dreaming of being a writer; the thousands of dollars spent on a publicist (who probably had nothing to do with On the Mend buying your book from Amazon); and just the all-around angst of trying to be a writer with a full-time job struggling to carve out the time to write.

Anyway. I know I've been going on and on about my readers like a broken record but I'll say again: this kind of response dazzles and overwhelms me in the best possible way. So thank you everyone, for letting me know how you feel about the book!

In other news, summer rushes along. I'm even tempted to tell you that it's now OK for you to ask me how my summer is going, and that if you did, you probably would probably not be subject to acts of violence; however, if I did that, I would undoubtedly jinx everything. So let's just keep the old rules in place for now.

xo
BB