Good morning!

I have coffee! I have kids moving towards school (thus giving me a quiet house)! And I’ve got a desk full of ‘stuff’ needing my attention! Unfortunately, most of it has nothing to do with writing.

As a published author, you’ve got responsibilities. To your editor, getting your changes done in a timely manner. To your publisher, wrapping up all the small stuff your book needs (bio, dedication, etc) and sent in so they can format a complete book. To yourself, to find the balance between promoting the released titles and writing new ones.

Then there’s the responsibility you have to your readers. Be kind. Be encouraging if they’re writers as well. Be pleasant. Be approachable. Be the type of person that you’d want to meet after waiting 3 hours to get an autograph.

Be gracious if you’re handed the 5th piece of original art that depicts your main character, no matter if you agree with it/how poorly drawn it is. Share a smile with someone who quotes that one line for the 17th time in 30 minutes. Ignore the hand cramps, remain calm, and know that your fingers can’t possibly hurt as much as their feet.

The way I see it, we have a great responsibility to our readers. After all, without them we wouldn’t have a career. We wouldn’t have been invited to these events. We wouldn’t be getting interviews, addressing a room full of people for a q & a session, spending weekends learning the private back hallways of hotels and convention centers.

We owe them so much. And they deserve to be repaid with kindness, generosity, and appreciation. Not snarkiness, catty comments, or derision.

BB