Let me start out by saying that you are amazing. I am in awe of the fact that you can create worlds and people that feel real to us, the readers. I am constantly surprised that there are still fresh ideas and complicated plot twists for you to share with us. What you do is like magic to me.
I admire your bravery at pouring out a piece of yourself and putting it out there, never knowing what kind of reviews or criticism you will have to endure. I hope that the raves make you feel appreciated, but I imagine that a few of the less enthusiastic assessments sting a little. Therefore, I always try to be sensitive in the honesty of my responses to your work.
That being said, I hold you up to pretty high standards and expect a lot and often. Sometimes I think readers like me forget that you are real people with real lives and (sometimes) jobs other than catering to our literary needs. I have been trying to be more realistic now that some of my friends are published authors and I am (Facebook) 'friends' with a couple more.
It is difficult for me to except that not every single sentence of your writing will be amazingly perfect and exactly what I wanted and expected, but really that is what keeps things exciting. How boring would it be if every book panned out just the way I thought it would?
My main frustration comes when you drop off the face of the earth. Please stop doing that. Your may not know it but your readers miss you. Maybe we are not good at expressing our hurt. Maybe you don't know that we even know you are not writing anymore. We are and we do.
Worse than disappearing is not finishing a series or trilogy. I recently gave up all hope of the third book in the Exiles trilogy by Melanie Rawn ever being written. I may be the last person to let go, but I finally did. She was ill for awhile and then when she came back she moved on and wrote different books. No 3rd book. Ever. I am frustrated and disappointed and angry and discouraged and many other things. I am boycotting her other books and from the looks of the Amazon reviews I am not the only one. It is sad.
I suppose my point is that you will have to forgive us our unrealistic expectations and impossible standards, with the understanding that we are dependent on you for our literary friends and worlds. We can't do this without you!
Readers everywhere
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