Author Friends and Making Friends

[Peg Herring]

I don't mean the people I know who are authors, although they are great friends, great resources, and great fun. I mean the authors whose books you anticipate, whose work you already know you want to read. They won't disappoint you; you'll be lost in their world, making it yours for the duration of the book.

I have a long list of them, and the list keeps growing. I have to remind myself to look for new authors, too, but it's tempting to buy the work of those I trust. I guess that's where friends' and reviewers' recommendations come into play. I hear about someone from someone, and that author gets added to my list.

I remember being sad as a young person when I read the last of Thomas Hardy's books because (in case you haven't heard) he's dead and there won't be more. Like many, I wait for the next book from my favorite author, trying to be patient because these days I know how hard it is to produce a good product with all the other stuff they're supposed to be doing. But how wonderful the feeling to settle in with it when it finally comes.

Authors become our friends: giving us what we like in new and different ways so the friendship doesn't stale. I guess as authors, our hope has to be that when we die, someone, somewhere, who wouldn't recognize us if we met on the street, will feel like he's lost a friend.