On My Birthday a Reader's Praise Resonates

No review means more to me than the ones I get from the

readers of my stories. They are my barometer on how I am really doing...whether I am telling the story I mean to tell effectively.

I used to sit at the feet of my beloved Grandmother, Nonnie, when I was a child, in rapt awe of the stories she told. I also sat at the feet of two wonderful octogenerian women who lived two houses from mine, Katie Sickle and Mary Powers.

I so wanted to be able to tell stories with as much excitement as those three powerful women told them to little Lin.




It is an honor to post this e-mail from one my readers about two of my short stories. Especially today, my birthday.

Wendy L., thank you for taking the time to write this and let me know what you thought of my stories.

To the rest of you...Wendy worked hard to promote one of my recent releases on her launch party. Because of my own health issues, I could not attend, so Wendy jumped in and worked twice as hard on my behalf. To thank her, I purchased two of my own stories from the Muse Book Store and sent them to her.

Some of you are going to ask why I would purchase them since I have my author's copies...I am not the only one who has a stake in my stories, and each of them has a right to get their just portion of the sales.

Probably seems ridiculous when both stories are really small ones, but Delilah, my cover artist, Carrie and Tir, my editors, Lea and Litsa, my publishers deserve compensation for their contribution to my final release. I honor and respect every person that has a part in bringing me into the world of published author.

And now that I have bored you to tears with how it came to be my books were in the hands of Wendy, let me dive into the nearest dark shadow and give Wendy the floor.

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DEAR LIN,
I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND CONGRATULATIONS ON COMPLETING YOUR 12 SHORT STORIES. (If you are interested in reading any of my 11/27 thru today stories, leave a comment telling me so.)

I read the two books you gave me and enjoyed them both. You write very well and built the tension in both so I read each one in one sitting.

In Beyond Yesterday, you made wonderful use of the wind. It became a character in its own rite and so did both houses. They were quite eerie in different ways. Both took on the 'personality' of their past. I still feel my foot on that rotten floor board and am relieved Pamela and I didn't fall through. What a shock her Grandmother  revealed about the past, but the resolution was quite satisfying. I was left pondering the story long after it ended and wondered what might have been.

The title is so apt and having read the story I now see so much more in the stunning cover, even down to the sepia tones and tarnished brass. It really is an amazingly accurate cover on many levels.

I remember the workmen and the coffee in Forever With You. Did you ask us to crit that small section? I know I did, or was it an exercise? (That was someone else asking about coffee for another group.)

Forever With You is a love story with all the sexual tension to make it real, a handsome couple we can sympathize with and a house to bring them together. So what is holding Coryne back from making a committment to Keith? The conundrum keeps us guessing and hoping, and the resolution is bitter sweet and unexpected. Most satisfying is the character of Coryne since she reveals a depth of true love we had not expected in her. Their story stayed with me after I closed the book and I marvelled at the quality of human nature, committment and relationships. The title says so much more to those who have read the book, and the cover I now see like pieces of a jig saw at sunset. Gives me goosebumps, it is so appropriate.


Thank you for sharing your books with me Lin.


Enjoy the rest of your birthday.
Wendy

 Me again! The covers, both done by Delilah Stephans give powerful proof why I do not try to interfere with her talent. She knocks my covers out of the ballpark with the very first mockup. I truly love her artisitc vision.

Thank you Wendy. Both stories are dear to me. I hoped the power I wanted to write into them came through. And thank you for holding onto this review until today, my birthday. It made me cry.