Throughout my adult life, I’ve had a recurring bad dream.
High school is winding down for the year; there are only a few weeks left. An English class assignment, handed out at the beginning of the year, was to write one book report each month. For some reason, I failed to do this.
I completely blew off the whole thing.
Now in real, wide-awake life, this is not like me at all. You can ask my college roommate—I was one of those annoying people who had research papers and other assignments done weeks in advance and never, ever had to pull an all-nighter to finish something at the last minute.
In my dream, however, I hadn’t done a single book report. Not one.
That may not seem like a nightmare to you, but I am in a panic. How in the world am I going to read nine books and write nine book reports in three weeks? Even worse, I always wake up before I figure out what to do. It drives me crazy every time.
I’d rather not delve into my subconscious mind to find out what all that really means. I’ll just tell you that, on the surface, it means that I don’t like writing book reports. I never have, and I never will.
Grown-up professional writers don’t call them book reports, of course. We call them book reviews. And while I have written a few, mainly when I was working for an e-zine about leadership, I don’t like writing them, either.
I do love to read, however. Not as much as my older daughter, who reads the warnings on toothpaste tubes while she’s brushing her teeth and the lists of championship swimmers on the walls at the indoor pool while she’s doing laps during swim lessons. Still, a lot.
Because I love books and reading so much, I had to include some kind of book feature on Waxing Gibbous. But it wasn’t until I started thinking like an author instead of a book reviewer that I hit upon the solution.
I am not a New-York-Times-bestselling author by any stretch of anyone’s imagination. I have received letters about my books over the years, though, and I absolutely love them. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only author who feels this way.
But here’s the thing. I have been reading good books and saying things like, “I really need to write to So-and-So Author Person and tell her such-and-such” for years. And I’m embarrassed to say I have never once done it.
Well, that’s all about to change.
Now, when I read a book that either speaks to me in some deep way or leads me to make an actual change in my life, I will write to the author and tell her (or him) what I appreciate about his or her book. Then I’ll post the letter here and send it to the author.
Voila! Author appreciation and blog book feature accomplished in one fell swoop.
Keep a sharp eye out. The first Author Note will hit Waxing Gibbous soon.
