Aug 31, 2015

I like having friends.

I was a loner growing up, the sort of kid that the weird kids in high school didn’t want to have anything to do with. As a result, I’ve never really known how to relate to other people, but I’ve always had the nagging suspicion that if I presumed too much of them, they would immediately and irrevocably drop me out of their lives (betrayals by people I was close to when I was younger greatly fed this fear). Spurred by a tendency towards introversion, I’ve been aloof, not willing to get too close to others.

(Un)fortunately, when you’re crowdsourcing a book, you have to approach everybody you know for help. And, to my surprise and delight, most of the people I know have been incredibly supportive.

I was thinking about this because of two boons I got yesterday from people I know. Lloyd (of the Steampunk Penneys) is somebody I know from a monthly get-together called First Thursday and science fiction conventions; not only did he preorder a copy of Both Sides. NOW!, but he sent word of my being in the contest to his contacts. Good man, Lloyd. Then, I had a delightful dinner with author Shirley Meier and her family. Great food and great conversation – it was a wonderful evening.

I’m planning on tweeting about these, and other kindnesses my friends have shown me in the recent past. I will be using the hashtag #ilikehavingfriends . If you’re on Twitter, consider taking a moment to tweet about the good things the people in your life have done for you. Maybe we can make #ilikehavingfriends a trending topic!

PS: I’d like to give a big shoutout to Lori Lightfoot-James and Krista Crowder Davis, people who are not friends (yet) who preordered a copy of Both Sides. NOW! in the past 24 hours. At a time when readers have so many choices of books to choose from, it’s heartening to know that some people are willing to take a chance on a writer they’ve never heard of, especially one who isn’t exactly a member of the mainstream. Thank you.