This morning, something completely unexpected and bizarre happened to me.

Several months ago, I came across a website for Leah Stewart, the author of the novel in today’s blog entry title. Truth be told, I don’t even remember how I found her site. But I was intrigued by the “Community” section that encouraged visitors to post personal anecdotes about friendships.

So I did.

And after that, didn’t give it another thought until this morning.

(OK, not exactly true. I did give the author and the novel more thought, and even went to my local Barnes and Noble to find the book. Alas, it was not there. I was totally bummed. Then studying for the grueling ASPPA DC-1 exam began, which forced me to abandon all thoughts of reading purely for pleasure, unfortunately.)

Anyway, I checked my Comcast email this morning, and saw a note in my inbox from Leah Stewart, which perplexed me. In fact, I nearly deleted it without opening it, because I tend to be hyper-suspicious about emails from people I don’t know. But I decided to open it, and here is what it said:

Dear Lori,

We've been having a contest for friendship stories posted to my website--the best will be published in the paperback of The Myth of You and Me. We'd like to include yours. Do we have your permission to do so, and if so, could you send me your mailing address so the publisher can send you something to sign?

many thanks,
Leah

If I had any idea that the author herself would be reading these stories, I would’ve been a hell of a lot more careful in writing it! As it was, I had dashed off a few paragraphs without hardly thinking about it.

I am 100% my skeptical father’s daughter, so I did venture back to www.leahstewart.com to see if this was all legit. It was, so I responded to Leah and told her that my story could certainly be included.

How freaking cool is that?!?

Labels: accomplishments, books, good news, technology, writing