My First Fan Mail

Once in a while something happens that brings such joy to us that we can't help being overly excited and want to share it with the world. Then, we step back and analyze what happened, feeling anxious we've overstated the situation and should calm down.

But it turns out we were, in fact, right, and that it was, in fact, as awesome as we thought.

That happened to me this week. I unexpectedly received my first ever true fan mail.

One of my readers, a twelve-year-old young man, decided he wanted to send me a note about my book. So he hand wrote a note. I'm still in awe and humbled that he would go out of his way to do that. I'm going to quote it below because, well, I hope you all have the opportunity to get something like this one day. I may even frame it. Keep in mind he read it well over a month ago, so this was truly unexpected.

This is for my middle grade fantasy, Lizzie Peterson and the Places of Naming.

"Dear Josh Perkey,

"I read your book and I loved it! I am a big fantasy fan myself and I absolutely loved your book! I have drawn pictures of Pyrwing and Genivere because I liked your book so much.

"I would like to make some suggestions. First, the title. I, for one, don't think of "Lizzie" as a very "epic" name. The title would be much more appealing (to me at least) if you dropepd the "Lizzie Peterson" part and just did "The Places of Naming."

"Other than that there's nothing else I would change. Love your book!"

"Your fan, _[his name]_"

And he included the hand drawn pictures, which were way, way cool. A black stallion pegasus and a white unicorn, drawn to show they really do kick some major booty in the adventure. I can't even draw stick figures, and he sent me these incredible images.

Wow.  Thanks again, my young friend. You're one awesome fan.

So, with that note, my next post will be about a new title for the book. I take this seriously. I want to see what you think. And here's to hoping that, in whatever endeavors you engage in, you get lucky enough to have this kind of feedback. It makes all the rejections, the waiting, the intense effort, the writing, the rewriting, the editing, the marketing, the incorporating feedback, and sweat and tears worth it. And that's why I write.