Sharing reader feedback
After sifting through my Amazon reviews yesterday, (and taking them to heart, as most new authors do--which is never a good idea) I happened to check my email upon rising this morning, where I saw this, along with a few others:
I read your first novel over the past 2 or 3 days and just wanted to compliment you on a job well done, a book well-written. Your character development with Lauren, Michelle, Grace, Norman, Fred, John, Christian and the others was pretty thorough without dragging or being overdone. It was easy comprehend and to identify with their personalities and the emotional roller coaster they endured with the stress and crises they encountered and lived with daily. Moreover, they seemed alive, real and completely believable. I should also mention that you handled the dialogue well – simple, the right degree of colloquialism, emotion, reflection of the characters’ personalities, and a definite, crucial asset in getting the story told in a way that keeps the reader absorbed.
Bottom line is: I thoroughly enjoyed the book and really look forward to your upcoming work. You definitely have a gift for storytelling in prose, and an instinct for the elements of a good tale that the reader will enjoy and with which he’ll find a connection. Your choice of subject and setting is altogether too real and imminent in today’s world. Congratulations, and let me encourage you to keep on writing. I sense that you have some more good stories to tell, and I was left wanting more at the book’s end. I’ll be anxious to read your next stories.
Best regards,
Michael (last name omitted)
Wow. Just wow. I cannot help but be humbled by this. What an amazing feeling to know that you've connected with a reader through your writing.
In an independent artist's world, bad reviews are inevitable. You can't please everyone all of the time, especially with the exposure your work is getting over the internet. But I gotta tell ya, reading this made me want to do nothing but write books 24/7/365 for the rest of my life, regardless of the inevitable bad reviews. Good feedback trumps bad every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
I'll soon be sharing other emails (this isn't the first or the last) like this, with permission, both on my blog and most likely in a separate location on my website, AuthorCentral page, etc.
Thank you, Michael, for your kind words of encouragement. I'm very glad you were able to connect with my story.