Recently a friend of mine, Kay Paschal, who authored a book titled Insert Giggle Giggle, primarily about midlife reinvention and a look back on her parenting journey, gave me a fine compliment indeed. She told me she’d never read a book in my genre but discovered that she loved it. In fact, it was not in a genre she’d ever read or thought to read. Since then, she’s read the two first books in my sci-fi romance series Ares Ascending and my urban fantasy/paranormal series The Wayward Saviors. She’s even gone on to read some light horror suggested by another author and discovered that she enjoyed that as well. In turn, I read her book, too, and no, it isn’t in a genre I would normally read, but I enjoyed hearing about her journey with all its ups, downs, and risks.

Sometimes we start out reading a book just hoping to support a fellow author because it’s the right thing to do, but along the way, we discover that we truly enjoy it. We learn some things and find a book we can recommend to others. The next time we are at a book signing and the reader says they don’t read what we are selling, we can say, “Well that’s okay, but my friend Kay has written a book you might enjoy.”

The writing journey brings us so many opportunities to give, learn, and grow. Here’s to the givers. Thanks, Kay!