When THANKS is not enough

What do you say to someone who tells you that what you've worked so hard for has touched them?  What do you say when someone tells you that they've fallen in love with a character that you poured onto "paper" from the bottom of your soul?  What do you say to someone who, through their words, validates your dreams?  Tells you things that make your heart sing?  Do you say THANK YOU?  Of course you say thank you.  But what do you say when thank you is not enough?



This is where I have found myself in recent times, in a place where thank you is just not enough.



I have been blessed with a multitude of readers who have taken time out of their lives not only to read my books, but to e-mail me or post or comment or Tweet about how much they love my work or how much they have been affected by what they've read.  And, believe it or not, this is where I run into trouble.  I am so humbled by it, so grateful for it, I find myself at a loss for words.



How can someone whose career revolves around the turning of phrases and the wielding of words find them so inadequate?  And yet, I have.  I find that it is impossible for me to express how much it means to me when someone tells me that they cried with Carson or Ridley or that they laughed over Rainn or Savannah or that they've fallen a little bit in love with Bo or Jackson.  It is truly, truly a dream come true.



I love to write.  I love to create characters and lives and problems and solutions.  My passion is to write about love and heartbreak, about hope and the search for wholeness.  But more than any of that, I love to write for YOU.  I adore--absolutely ADORE--what I do, but nothing about the process is as fulfilling as getting an e-mail from someone who has taken a break from their life to tell me how much they loved my story, how much they felt as they turned the pages.  There is nothing like it in the whole world.  I sincerely treasure each and every one.  I've saved many of them so that I can go back and read them again, experience the incredible satisfaction and pleasure of your words.  They mean more to me than mine could ever mean to you.  For me, they make the writing world go round and for them I thank you.  From the bottom of my heart and the deepest part of my soul, THANK YOU.  Really.  Truly.  Honestly.  THANK YOU.