…isn’t always an unexpected pleasure, but in this case, it was.

There were actually two surprises yesterday that touched me.

One was a  message stating that I had a blog follower and I felt a tingle of excitement.  The email address looked familiar and after a few seconds I recognized it. Turns out it belongs to one of my cousins and I was grateful she was willing to sign on. Family has become a sustaining factor in my writing life. I know, you might say, they can be bias, but there are a few relatives that would let me know in a heart beat that I should give it up and go back to my former life. I will be forever grateful for the encouragement I get from all of them. (There’s another cousin who buys every one of my published novels as soon as they come out. How lucky am I?)

Which leads to the unexpected call…another cousin, who I haven’t seen in years, took the time to let me know how much she’s been enjoying my books. I never surmised she even knew they existed.

As a new author starting out, and with two years in I still feel like a novice, there is nothing more gratifying than hearing your books have been well received. It makes you feel the days in front of the blank page are worthwhile, because those blank pages can be daunting. Today, as I sit trying to fill them, those that will become the fourth book in the Scalera family series, I’m reminded of how important family is. My memories of good times will be the fodder I need to fill the pages with laughter and love.