I receive a lot of mail from many nice people who live all over the world. I’ve even received a few critical letters, which I do appreciate because they make me step back, take a look at what I’m doing, and try to make it better. And then there’s the hate mail. Because I write mainly about the lgbt community, in my own name, I’ve even had death threats.

But sometimes I receive a letter from a reader that absolutely floors me. It just happened this morning, and I wasn’t expecting it. The only thing on my mind was winding up the next book, remembering to put gas in the car, and making sure I fill the gas tanks for the leaf blower.

And then I opened an e-mail from a reader who brought me to tears. Not in a bad way. In a good way that doesn’t happen very often. Evidently, I wrote a book that touched him in many ways, and helped him get through a very serious personal crisis in his life.

I write a lot about publishing and writing on this blog. I try to keep it positive because I don’t think people want to read negativity and rants here when there’s so much negativity and ranting going on in the world. Sometimes it’s hard not to rant, because publishing as a business can be stressful and frustrating, and deadlines are killers.

But when I open en e-mail like the one I received this morning, knowing that I helped someone get through rough times, it makes it all worth while.