I Married a Best Seller by Sheila Hailey

Author:Sheila Hailey [Hailey, Sheila]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography
ISBN: 9781480490048
Google: 0xZoAwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00JVCHBYG
Barnesnoble: B00JVCHBYG
Goodreads: 24274140
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 1978-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

The Mailman Cometh

We get letters.

Boy! do we get letters. And they’re marvelous.

They come from readers in every walk of life—judges, school teachers, housewives, servicemen, teen-agers, secretaries, university professors, salesmen, prisoners, business executives. They are mailed from all over the world, for Arthur’s books are published in thirty languages. The majority come from the U.S., Canada and Great Britain, but many originate in West Germany, Australia, Israel, Czechoslovakia—to mention a few—and that land of prolific letter writers, India.

Apart from royalty checks, readers’ letters are the most tangible rewards a writer can have, because writing is a lonely business. The playwright can stand at the back of a theater and thrill to an audience’s approval at the end of play. The composer can listen to the applause in a concert hall. The painter can eavesdrop as he mingles with viewers in a gallery. But an author cannot overhear what is said about his books in a classroom, in a beauty salon, at a dinner party, in a movie line-up.

We figure that for every person who actually writes a letter, there are dozens who mean to but never get around to it. Myself, for instance: I’ve read hundreds of books over the years, and have been moved enough to want to write to the authors many times. In actual fact, I have written four letters to authors whose work I have enjoyed.

Perhaps this is why the letters we appreciate most are the ones from readers who we sense would normally never write. One such note came from a law professor who wrote under Banking Law Journal letterhead:

I use my editorial stationery to underscore my expression of appreciation for The Moneychangers. I seldom read novels but was fascinated with this one—the plot, the characters, but especially the authenticity of atmosphere.

Another letter that pleased us enormously was quite short. The writer said he was an avid fan of Arthur’s, having read all of his books. He ended:

The reason for this letter is to congratulate you for being a modern-day Dickens.

This may or may not be true, but it was pleasant to hear.

I liked the letter from a pregnant mother of five, who had real writing skill, and had completed a manuscript. She wrote to Arthur for advice:

… Actually, writing and motherhood have a good deal in common. They are both refined forms of masochism, and a story wanting to be written down nags as persistently as a child wanting to be born. They both demand a goodly slice of dedication, as you can no more “half” write a story than you can “dabble” in raising a child—not if you wish to do either very well, can you? …

I wrote to her at some length because I liked the sound of her, and knew she needed encouragement. Then she wrote back to me:

… I hope you and your husband have a lovely Christmas, and a very happy and successful New Year, and may your husband continue to produce his super books. Some books are like eating a souffle, or strawberry mousse—delicious but not satisfying.

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