On a daily basis I get to chat with them, edit their work, review their masterpieces, and delve into the inner workings of their minds. And even though writers rarely write themselves into their stories (unless they're crafting memoirs), they do give away hints about their personalities, values, and the things they hold dear.
The one thing that makes me sad is when I come across good writers who worry people won't like their stories. I'm not talking about the occasional, "oh, that old story - that was nothing" brush-off. I'm talking about writers with real skills for story-telling who don't believe they have something worth sharing, when they really, truly do.
Writers are a special breed of people. They create worlds with words. They give birth to entire cities of characters, raise them, and nurture them before setting them free. And they weave more than their hearts and souls into their work - if you look hard enough you can find the entire person lurking between the lines, even though it's unintentional.
All they ask for in return for their hard work is that readers buy their books and enjoy them. Often these books sell for less than a cup of coffee. The only thing that thrills writers more than hearing someone appreciated their books is reading about it in a review. Some books take years to write and can usually be read over the course of a few days... an honest review takes about fifteen minutes to create and post online to any number of websites.
Please be kind to those of us with writerly feelings... we need all the support we can get.
