Phoebe, take care of just
about 2-year-old Nate. He
was too shy to mention that
to Julia so I did.
Her reaction was one of
sheer joy. "That's fantastic,"
Julia said. "That is huge.
That's the biggest obstacle.
That means they think they
can sell it and they will."
And that's
one of the
many things
I love about
the writing life.
How welcom-
ing it is to new
members of
the fraterni-
ty. How ea-
ger they are
to reach out
and help the
younger ones
following in their path or in
the case of Julia and Matt,
quick to embrace the new-
est author in the group.
I saw that and thought back
to when I was a teenager
and wrote a long letter to
Pete Hamill, then a colum-
nist for the New York Post.
I remembered how kind he
was to me and, later, when
he went to the News and I
started there as a copy boy
how generous he was of his
time and his talent. He got
as much of a kick helping
me as I did absorbing his
valuable lessons.
That was
my take-away
from that
morning. A
young author,
flush with the
success of
her new book
and deep into
writing her
second, hap-
pily sharing a
bagel, some
coffee, con-
versation and experience
with a group of readers who
had, by the end of the meet-
ing, become her friends.
And that is truly what any
reader is to an author—a
friend.
A very good friend. H
"
"And that is
truly what
any read-
er is to an
author—a
friend."
HYLAND
