I love fan mail. The longer I stick around as a writer the more I get. Here is some recent fan mail (in email form) from a reader of Seeking Sara Summers.

You have exceeded my expectations as a writer. Your book SEEKING SARA SUMMERS is gorgeously written, and the words come from the beauty of your soul. You speak from the heart with natural ease, and your book is beautifully written. I am so happy to have waited to have access to your book, as your story has been worth every second. [i.e. she got it from the library.] You have my permanent support as a reader, as your writing is full of quality, tenderness and beauty. I hope that you never stop writing, as your book is very moving and touching.

PS: After seeing the artichokes from the cover, I now have a terrible craving for them, and am going to have to buy the canned ones later today. I tried cooking fresh artichokes one time with my girlfriend Jamie, but we both struggled with making them , and parts got burnt . (We tried frying them in a pan. ) Do you know the best way to cook artichokes? Until I find out from you, I am going to get the canned ones.

Needless to say, writers love to get fan mail like this. Sales for the book, especially since it is an indie book, have been pretty astounding. Indie books, on average, sell about 50 copies. Through an almost fulltime marketing effort, however, I’ve sold 3,000 copies in three years and sales are still going strong. Thankfully, the proceeds have been instrumental in helping me keep writing. Buying books really does help authors keep going! A huge thank you to all of you who have read the book and supported me by buying a copy, or two, or three. (You know who you are!) And thanks for the fan mail. It makes my day!

P.S. There are other ways to prepare and eat an artichoke, but here is what I do. While they can be pressure cooked if you have one (I don’t), I steam them for an hour or so until pierced easily with a sharp knife (make sure you don’t run out of steaming water!). Put melted butter in a small dish, squeeze in a slice of lemon, salt to taste. Pull off the leaves, dip the fleshy end in the butter and pull off with your teeth. Eventually you run out of leaves and have the heart remaining. Clean out the inner inedible material with a sharp knife, put the remaining heart into your butter dish, cut up, marinate for a few minutes and eat. Heaven!

P. P. S. I am an ex-shrink who writes award-winning novels. Check out my books here.