"You write really well!"

I just have to laugh. Like, so many people who know me, or have known me for a while, and then discover I'm an author . . . So they ask politely about my books, and I give them a card so they can find my Web site. And later they come back, all surprised: "You write really well!"

Um, yeah. That's what I do.

I mean, I appreciate the encouragement, and I know that not everyone will love my writing. But I just can't help laughing at how surprised people seem to be. It would be like me going to their office and checking out their work and saying, "Wow! You do this job really well!"

"Well, yeah," they might say, "that's why I have the job."

I guess it comes with the explosion of independent authors. Now anyone can call themselves a writer. No application necessary.

Still, I find it amusing that people seem to think I've been hiding this side of me, this "talent" or whatever. I really haven't. It's just not something that's easy to show off like, say, juggling. Being good at writing is a quiet sort of thing.

Even my own parents said to me, "You know, this is a book I would have read anyway, even if you hadn't written it!"

I love the people in my life. And I don't mean that in a sarcastic way; I truly do love them. They make me smile, and they make all the work worth it.