And talking about my exciting life as a writer…
I was talking yesterday with my friend Alex, and we were discussing how there are great authors, very prolific and very active, that we love, but tend to forget.
I guess it happens to you, too,sometimes – you spot a new book by a certain writer,and all of a sudden you recall his other books, the ones you devoured, and liked a lot, and even re-read, and…
How the hell I forgot about this guy?!
And you feel guilty, go on a new buying/reading spree, and then the cycle begins again.
Happens to me every time. I have a long list of authors I am treating like this, but as I can’t remember their names right now, I won’t list them here.
But to give you an example – Gordon Dickson used to work like that for me.
Loved his books. Often forgot to check out for new stuff from him, then “discovered” him again.
Anyway, we were talking a certain author, big name, hugely popular, huge catalog, awards, recognition, etc. and Alex told me I should follow him on Twitter.
Which I did. Because I like the guy, and his books.
Only, I tend to overlook him.
So I went on Twitter – where I am not very active – and followed him. Like that, just like clicking a button, right?
No big deal.
And the author in question…
- Sent a thank you note
- Followed me back
- Retweeted my tweet about my Patreon
I was absolutely speechless. Because 1 and 2 can be automated through a robot, but 3 certainly wasn’t. It was personal and it was very kind.
And this is not the first time a big name author turns out to be so kind – in fact, it seems to be something that happens a lot, outside of my nation’s borders.
But still I find it surprising, and humbling, and worth picking up as an attitude towards my fellow humans.
So first thing, I went and bought two books by the aforementioned author. It seemed the least I could do to reciprocate his kindness. I will read them, because they are fun, and then I’ll review them. Because it’s the right thing to do – review the books of the authors you like.
And I made a note to strive to behave like the pros I’ve interacted with in my past have been acting. Like Abraham Lincoln (if I remember correctly) said
Be excellent to each other… and party on, dudes!
Also, I have installed a new Twitter client on Ubuntu, and will start checking my channel @davide_mana more frequently.
