Two words: You matter

The other day, I got a very short but incredibly powerful (to me) email. It was 35 words, to be exact, because I am dorky enough to do a word count. In a nutshell, it said thank you. For a Tweet I wrote. But why it was powerful was that someone took the time out of their busy day, someone I respect and admire, to say that.

I got another one a few days later, for something else I'd done online. I really don't have the words to express how moving that was for me. Online life, or at least, mine, can move at what feels like lightning speed. I sometimes have to make lists of people to email, things to post and Tweet and Instagram and schedule on Google Calendar. It's exciting and exhausting and sometimes makes me want to give up on all of electronic communication.

But I don't, because I believe in the social power of "social media." I believe in connecting with people, even when you don't hear from them directly, even when we are all being pulled in umpteen different directions.

The message I got from those emails was: You matter. And that's a message I want to parlay back to you. I have lots of other posts I want to write, about honing your creativity in erotica and things I've written and publisher newsletters and traveling, but right now, from a Manhattan Starbucks, that's what I want to say. Life is not, ultimately, about amassing "followers," which sounds like some sort of cult creepiness, but about reaching real live people, or even just one person.

Those emails made me want to pay that sentiment forward, to tell more people how much their caring, their actions, their words, their art, means to me. Which is what I plan to do. Starting with this.