"Safe to say I'm pretty hooked!!"

I was thrilled today to receive a message from a fellow writer who is currently reviewing Mine to Avenge for me. Receiving favorable feedback has to be up there at the top of the list of things that give authors a boost - up with such things like receiving the books for the first time. Her comment made me feel that the last few years of writing haven’t been wasted, and it’s hard to imagine whether receiving the printed books next week will top what she said today.

To quote E.J. Rycer, whom some of you may know from the Facebook and Twitter communities -

‘‘I was reading Mine to Avenge and accidentally took an extra 10 minutes at my lunch break because I was so absorbed in it... Safe to say I'm pretty hooked!!’

It’s nice to know that I might have managed to produce a half-way decent story that someone else might like - someone who has never met me and doesn’t know me. Writers all expect nice comments from family and close friends but it’s the unknown potential response from readers we don’t know that’s just a bit scary.

Having basked today in the warmth of the nice things being said about my story, there are still two things that worry me. E.J. Rycer is just one reader out there. Maybe others won’t have the same opinion. Maybe others won’t read my book at all. Why should I expect them to, as an unknown writer?

And the second thing that concerns me, is that she hasn’t come to the end of the story yet. It’s one thing to write a story that keeps readers absorbed and ‘hooked’, but it’s another to finish the story with a satisfying ending. As a former school teacher I have read many stories showing such wonderful promise, only to be let down at the end. I’ve seen many movies like that as well.

In the meantime, if you would like to have a taste of what E.J. Rycer is reading in Mine to Avenge, I am offering the first two chapters (PDF) for anyone who’d like to hop on over and ask me via my Author page at www.facebook.com/Kerry.Letheby.Author

I’d love it too, if you would Like my page while you’re there. And just to invite reader participation and comment here on the blog, tell me which stories or movies have let you down with a poor ending.