A Book at The Library

The Columbus Metropolitan Library now has two copies of The Sky Behind Me . It's both gratifying and intriguing to have a book on the shelves of a public arena devoted to reading and learning. To walk in to a branch of a public library and see one's work displayed is an odd experience, kind of puzzling in a way. Does it mean people are actually reading my story? Evidently so. Here's the fun part: at least once a week my sweet wife pulls up the library website to check the book's borrowing progress. When the copies are all checked out she grins and shows me the evidence. And it seems to happen a lot. Gratifying, that's what it is. But a little mystifying, too. When 87 million Americans borrow books to read, the fact that at least a few of them choose mine is humbling. It makes me want to keep writing, while demanding that I write quality stuff, so borrowers keep taking my words home to read. And by the way, thanks to those who do.