Authors

One of the reasons I'm so happy that I discovered the blogging world is because I love to read, and I've discovered some great books; and because sometimes they have blogs, I get to actually talk with the authors!  I'm so starstruck by people who take on something like a book and follow through and get it published.  Before I started blogging, one of my favorite authors was Steven Saylor.  He writes books about Ancient Rome.  I LOVE his books.  I finished a few books in his Gordianus series and wrote him an email.  The Gordianus series is about a man in ancient Rome named, obviously, Gordianus.  He's like the Sherlock Holmes of Rome.  He investigates crimes with the help of his trusty sidekick Tiro, a young servant.  In the email I told Steven Saylor that I love his books and had recently finished one of the installments of the Gordianus series.  I said,

 "...I read Roman Blood which I  loved, but I read it late at night when I was very tired, and you know how you get a picture of the characters in your head and usually they are people you know or actors or something?  Well, unfortunately I had Mr. Peabody and his pet boy Sherman from the Rocky and Bullwinkle show in my head for Gordianus and Tiro for about the first half of the book until I could finally make it stop." 

 Steven Saylor not only got my email and read it, he responded!  He said:

"Sarah, 

Thanks for such an enthusiastic and encouraging message. 

I hope you'll enjoy Empire all the way to the bittersweet end. 

Gordianus and Tiro as Mr. Peabody and Sherman is a new one on me. Now I can't get that image out of my head (lol)! 

Best wishes, 

Steven [Saylor]"

OMG.  I can't tell you how surprised and thrilled I was to get an email from Steven Saylor!  I'm a tiny bit sorry that I might have ruined Gordianus and Tiro for both of us, but mostly I'm happy he gave me an "lol."

Now I know bloggers who have written books and that is so exciting.  I'm a teensy bit jealous, but mostly thrilled for them that they published a book, and thrilled for me that I know someone who published a book.  Meg and Chris from 2birds1blog wrote a book called A Misanthrope's Guide to Life which was hilarious.  I wrote a review of it and I actually chatted with Meg a few times over email.

Another blog I recently discovered is Animals Behaving Badly by Linda Lombardi.  It's an exposé  blog about the horrible things animals do and blatantly get away with because they are adorable and "don't know any better."  I got her book for Christmas and haven't read it yet, but it's on my short list.

Right now I'm reading a book by a blogger named Karen Weir-Jimerson who I met  a long time ago. Her blog is called Cat Crossing Farm.  She is a close friend of my aunt and she and her husband Doug live on a small farm in Iowa.  When the kids and I visit my aunt, Karen is gracious enough to invite us over and let us play with her animals for an afternoon.  Karen recently published a book called So Much Sky about life on her farm.  It is organized by seasons.  I've read the spring portion of the book so far and it is fantastic.  She writes about getting chicks in the mail, bottle-feeding baby lambs, tearing down brand new walls looking for a wayward kitten, and finally fulfilling her childhood dream of getting a horse.  Her writing is smooth and expressive, giving the reader wonderful images of life on the farm.

I told Kira that Karen wrote a book and showed it to her.  She grabbed it out of my hand and said, "I know that horse! I've met that horse! I've walked where that horse is!"

see?

I'm not the only one who is starstruck.

I've been tossing around the idea of writing a book about substitute teaching but I'm having a hard time getting into it.  I get started, and then it seems too daunting.  I'm really more of a write/proofread once/publish kind of gal and blogging is perfect for that.  So that is why I am in awe of all the writers mentioned in this post.  I want to do it to say "I wrote a book" and put author after my name, and also I feel like once I get one book published, it will be easier to write more after that. (Like killing your first hooker, it just gets easier after that, right, Jack the Ripper?)  I feel like I have books in me but much like my thoughts, they are an unorganized mess that will require drive and ambition to put together.  I don't know if my potential books will be able to overcome my lack of drive and ambition.

Have you ever gotten in touch with someone you were starstruck by? Have you ever considered writing a book?