Goodbye to a Friend

Sometimes you meet someone who turns into an immediate friend. Those of us fortunate enough know these friends through a lifetime. Others, only a brief time. Today, I’m sad to say I have to count myself in the latter group.

Months ago I was searching for an editor. Okay, searching is the wrong word, and as a writer, I like to use words correctly. I was flailing around trying to find someone who could look over my dreck, not get ill while they read it, and offer me some constructive points on how I could improve what I had written. After a few false starts I discovered Karlyn Thayer.

I immediately endeared myself to her by spelling her first name wrong in an e-mail. She corrected me, in no uncertain terms, and I knew I had found a friend. I was absolutely sure I had a friend when, one of the stories I sent her for editing, contained the anthro character of a dragon. She let me know she really did not like dragons. Okay, okay, some people don’t, that’s understandable. We chuckled over that, through e-mail, and she helped me improve my story greatly.

Since I frequently write anthro stories, many of my characters possess animal characteristics. I sent Karlyn another story to edit, this one with a wolf as the main character. I was brainstorming a suggestion she sent me and told her it was a great idea and was thinking seriously about it. She responded with:

God forbid you should have to think! // I like the idea of a story for each calendar page, although (I hate to tell you) I dislike wolves even more than I dislike dragons. // Looking forward to your next story!

LAUGHS!!!! Okay, so I’m off to a great start! Over the months she helped me improve, and I believe my writing has improved greatly under her tutelage. We laughed about some things I wrote, she schooled me in fine points and, as harsh as some of her comments seem out of context, her e-mails were always supportive, always encouraging and always helpful.
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Karlyn passed away yesterday after a short battle with MRSA. It’s a drug resistant bacterium which attacks blood, tissue, everything. Karlyn, like all those seeming to die well before their time, burned with an intense bright light. She knew her work, obviously loved it, and didn’t bother blowing smoke up someone’s ass in order to make them feel good. Her goal was to produce better writers. While she never said so in so many words, I firmly believe that, if someone didn’t like what she said or how she said it, they could go pound sand. She never came across that way but she never bent her principles in order to make someone feel better. At least that’s how she acted with me and I suspect everyone else in her life.
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Karlyn, I feel privileged to have known you and I can assure you, you will be missed.