Yesterday, I received a wonderful email from a man who attended one of my more recent library appearances. Not only was I happy to hear from a reader, but I was especially happy to hear from a male one. Typically, my readers are female — mostly likely because I am female and because my protagonists tend to be female. I think, by and large, too, that women read more fiction than men, and I write fiction, so that is another reason that the majority of my readers are women.
However, at my latest appearance, a man came to it with his wife. They had both attended a prior appearance of mine and purchased and read “Ticker Tape.” He told me that he enjoyed it for the very reason that I mentioned in my discussion — Marvin, my Vietnam veteran, gets a happy ending to his story. There are a lot of books out there about the Vietnam war experience and the horrors the fighting men endured; that’s not the book I wanted to write. I wanted to write about one man, one broken man, who overcomes that brokenness in spite of himself, and that’s what I tried to do. The man who came to my appearance said I had done that and that he appreciated it, having fought in that war himself.
So, when I received the email yesterday from a different man and he also said that he liked “Ticker Tape,” it did my heart good. Let’s face it, I do not know what it’s like to be in battle, and I do not know what it’s like to be a man, but I am a human and I can empathize and imagine things. However, I did, and still do, worry that I may have glossed over or fallen short of depicting how things were for those who fought in Vietnam and who brought that war home in their very souls — it was not my intention, so hearing lately from two different men has made me feel much more confident about that book and its reception with readers.
I will share the email, minus the sender’s name:
I enjoyed meeting you and hearing your story as an author. I've also read your first 5 books, just finishing 'Trouble on Tybee' today. I'd like to say I "enjoyed" all of your books, but some of the darker portions of "Twinges" holds me back a bit. That says more about me though, than about your writing. I just can't enjoy bad things happening in books much anymore, so Twinges was a bit tough for me at times! All of your books "held" me throughout! I thoroughly enjoyed the other 4 of your books, and much of Twinges was also enjoyable! I especially liked your "State of Georgia" story, being a widower myself I found that you understand the loss and emotions involved in trying to continue on after the loss. As a 20 year military veteran I also enjoyed "Ticker Tape", again you understand some of the thoughts and feelings of veterans. Thank you for doing what you do, and I encourage you to continue as you do it so very well!
I did write back to him to let him know that I fully understood his feelings about “Twinges.” Even though “Twinges” has been very popular, I get why it would bother some people.
I found it very interesting that his two favorite reads have my two favorite characters. Georgia is my favorite female protagonist and the one that readers often ask to read more about, so I may have to come up with more adventures for her, and Marvin — the Vietnam veteran — is my favorite male character (although Joe in “Her Ride or Die” is a close second).
One of my major goals for this year is to have 25 appearances, beating last year’s tally of 24 by one at the very least. I held one in January, and wrote about it in last week’s “Tomes and Topics,” and I have one scheduled in western Nebraska at the end of this month. Winter months are usually pretty slow because the weather is unpredictable, and it’s hard to get people to come out of hibernation to attend a reading. In March, I have 5 events scheduled so far, and May already holds 3 (I’m waiting to hear back about a 4th). Thus, I’m well on my way to making that goal happen.
You may be wondering, “What about April?” Well, a longtime dear friend and reader of this blog has invited me to Florida and offered to arrange appearances for me down there. I’m hoping she can get that done because I am really looking forward to visiting Florida for the first time in my life, and I would love to connect with new readers while I’m there.
Another major goal, naturally, is to write and finish my next novel. I mentioned last week that paying subscribers would start receiving sneak peeks of it starting today, and that’s exactly what’s going to happen. Remember, this is a ROUGH DRAFT and a work in progress, so don’t expect perfection, and be aware that much will or may change between now and the final published book.
Here is a photo I shared yesterday on my social platforms to let my readers know that I am working on the next novel. So many replied with things like “hurry up” and “I can’t wait,” etc. Sorry to say but I’m not going to hurry, and you will have to wait because this is a process.
If you’re not a paying subscriber, I’ll see you again next week — unless you’d care to upgrade now, so you have access to what’s behind the paywall if you’d like to read portions of the next novel before it’s available in book form.
If you are a paying subscriber, read on for the beginning of a novel I’m calling “Last in Class.”
Tammy Marshall
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