Making a Literary Life Friday: Kindness

Believe in Karma? There just might be something to it. It's a wonderful thing to cast goodness into the world -- whether karma exists or not. We know just how wonderful our readers are, we hear from you all the time and trust you're doing your share to make this world a more gracious place -- but we'd love to hear what kindness someone has bestowed on your literary life.

Lisa Marnell
Almost two years ago, author Elin Hilderbrand (currently number four on the NYT bestselling paperbacks list with her novel, Barefoot, and also listed on the NYT hardcover books with A Summer Affair), offered to help me in my agent search for my first YA. Elin lives on Nantucket; her husband and my husband are best friends. Elin was busy with three kids, busy writing, having construction done on her house, but she graciously gave me her time. More than that, she gave me unbelievable positive encouragement. It meant the world to me!

Amy MacKinnon
Where to start? How about a lovely kindness from one Michael Kindness. He's a sales rep for Random House and yesterday, of his own free will, he toured me around area bookstores, introducing me to the staff. Now I'm a stay-at-home mom who seldom leaves the house, who gets lost driving to the next block, so to finally see these stores I've only heard of was magical. Porter Square Books, Brookline Booksmith, Newtonville Books among them. A lovely dream come true. At the end of it, he told me he would be discussing Tethered later today on his podcast today over at Books on the Nightstand. Thanks, Michael!

Then, a book I've longed to read appeared in my mailbox! Debutante Danielle Younge-Ullman sent me her amazing debut, Falling Under. It was clear from the first sentence that this is a powerful book. I can't wait to finish it. Thanks, Danielle!

Finally, a friend emailed to say an ad for Tethered is up at USA Today. Surreal. Thanks, Shawn!

Hannah Roveto
The greatest kindnesses on this literary journey thus far are from Amy, Lisa and Lynne. While I have been blessed with support from my parents, family and friends, they are the ones who assured me I could write a novel when journalism instead of fiction came out of my fingers, and then it seemed, the next time I sat down, I could indeed. And as we all know, the more we do it, the better it gets.

Lynne Griffin
The kindness and generosity extended to me by my husband and children tops my list. They ceaselessly give me time to write, believing my stories need to find their readers. Random acts of kindness have come to me in the form of feedback from my wonderful writers' group, in editorial guidance from my fantastic agent and editor, and most recently in the form of comments from authors and booksellers. Thank you, Jeanne Ray, Martha Moody, Pat Wood, Margot Livesay, Beth Simpson of Cornerstone Books, and Jess Foley of Barnes and Noble, Hingham. The fact that you took the time to read Life Without Summer and then comment so thoughtfully is deeply appreciated.