From author and sometimes guest blogger, T.Myers.
Valentines:
Booksellers, I love you. All of you. Stores, whether large or small,
selling new books; used bookstores jammed to the ceiling and thickly spread with an icing of dust; online sellers who stock the out of print titles I’m searching for; dealers at flea markets with a few scavenged titles displayed on a blanket (I hope it doesn’t rain); garage sales with books heaped in boxes and costing only a quarter.
Of course I wish that independent bookstores were doing better, that gargantuan chains weren’t taking over the world. I love independents and the marvelous way that the personal touch of the owner shines through the selections on the shelves. But when I walk into a bookstore--any bookstore--I get the same rush I’ve gotten since I was a toddler. Books! I’m surrounded by books! All those stories and ideas and pictures and projects... Bookstores are simultaneously overwhelming and comforting, and I couldn’t live without them.
When I don’t know what to do with myself, I go to the bookstore. When I’m unhappy, I go to the bookstore. When I’m excited about a new idea...you get the picture. The booksellers might be in business to make money, but deep down inside I’m convinced that they’re doing it just for me because they know how much I adore and need them.
So Happy Valentine’s Day, my dear booksellers. I hope your doors stay open forever. Everybody needs books whether they know it or not, and we need you.
XOX,
T. Myers
And a Valentine to you, MJ!
If your blog is sometimes depressing, it’s only because you’re the one who carries the flame into dark caverns where the rest of us don’t want to go alone. You illuminate the path, and point out the holes in the floor, and give us bread crumbs to drop on our way out.
I’ve learned a great deal by reading your blog, and the caring manner in which you write always reminds me that what we as writers do matters, whether or not we’re published, whether or not we’re successful.
Nobody wants to think about marketing. We just want to write and have everybody leave us alone...except to deliver big checks and tons of adulation. But since that formula doesn’t quite add up, I consider myself lucky to have a reliable source to go to for ideas and advice
and reminders. That’s you. Happy Valentine’s Day!
XOX,
T. Myers
And another --
My agent, Kristin Nelson, of the Nelson Literary Agency, for being so easy to work with, frank about her opinions (Thank goodness!) and athe possessor of absolutely excellent literary instincts. Her direction has been invaluable to me.
Carolyn Jewel
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