… is that readers are wonderful things. Oh wait, that’s Tiggers. Sorry. But it actually does apply to readers, so we’ll just let it stand.

Seriously, though, I’ve been thinking a lot about readers lately. It’s such a strange thing for me, as an author, to fathom that I even have readers. And then there’s the business of trying to entice them (with promotional efforts) and keep them (by writing what I hope are the best books I can). But the funny thing is that we rarely really get to see them, meet them or interact with them, online or in person.

There are exceptions. I mean, I have met several of those of you who are regulars here and we talk on the blog or on the Avon Authors board. Which is ridiculously awesome, since I feel like a rock star when you all like my books. Still, it’s hard to remember that there are more than a couple hundred of you out there.

And then I started hanging out on MySpace. It has been a truly eye opening experience for me. See, at MySpace, I needed to search out some readers to friend. So I did searches, looked through reading groups, searched for my name and names of authors I’ve been compared to. But I didn’t just auto friend everyone! I actually looked and each and every page for every single person I invited to my site. And wow, what an amazing group of people romance readers are. There were pages for people who I never would have guessed were romance readers until I scanned down to their Book listings and saw their favorites there! There were people of all races, ages and interests who said romance was their place to be. There were people who skirted around or apologized for their preference and there were those who proclaimed it loud and proud.

It has been a marvelous experience, just seeing all of the people out there who prefer a romance when they pick up a book (or at least seek them out from time to time). So thank you to ALL you romance readers who spend your hard earned money and time on our books. Thanks especially if you take the time out to email or write and tell us what you thought. It means a great deal. Double and triple thanks to you guys who come here every day and comment and interact with us. It makes this lonely job all the sweeter.