“Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing.” (Margaret Chittenden).
Today is National Authors Day. I know that because I saw it on Facebook, and when I checked it out online, Google said it was true. In fact, Google said National Authors Day has been around for almost one hundred years. It was established by Nellie McPherson in 1928 to celebrate American authors and their literary works.
According to what I found online Nellie McPherson, an avid reader, spent time recovering in a hospital during WW I. She wrote a fan letter to an author, Irving Bacheller, about how she liked his story, Even Holden’s Last Day A-Fishing. When Bacheller responded to her letter and sent her another of his stories, McPherson wanted to do something to thank him and all authors who wrote the books she enjoyed.
Eventually, she came up with the idea of a day to honor authors. Since she was the president of the Women’s Club in her town, she used that connection to get the General Federation of Women’s Clubs to officially endorse and approve the holiday in 1929.
Twenty years later, in 1949, the U.S. Department of Commerce officially recognized November 1 as National Author’s Day to promote writing and encourage new authors while fostering a love for reading.
Now these many years later, with the internet and social media, more people know about National Authors Day. That’s fun for writers and readers.
So how do we celebrate National Authors Day? I think the best way might be to read a book. That sounds like a fine way to honor a writer who got an idea, sat at his desk and put words together for a book, fiction or nonfiction.
A fun thing to do – besides reading those books – is to send a note or message to a favorite author if said author is still living and can be found on social media. You might share what book you’re reading online and/or encourage others to give a favorite book you loved a read. You can write a review online to share your thoughts about a book you’ve read.
You can buy an author’s book at a bookstore, book event or directly from an author. A great time to do that here in Kentucky is next Saturday at the Kentucky Book Festival in Lexington at the JosephBeth Bookstore. Many authors will be gathering there ready to talk to readers about writing and their books. I’ll be one of them. Love the Book Festival.
Another way to celebrate is just to take a few minutes to think about some of the books you’ve loved or that have inspired you. I’m often asked in interviews which books or authors I like best or that have inspired me in my own writing. I have a hard time picking a favorite author. I have read so many wonderful books and I feel each book I read did add to my store of words and potential ideas.
I like to think that everything an author experiences or reads or sees goes into a great creative cauldron somewhere inside them and gets all stirred together. Later an author can draw from that stew of words and experiences to help them write their own stories. So what better picture to share on National Authors Day than one of me with a sweatshirt that threatens to include whoever I meet in one of my stories. 🙂
I suspect that most authors don’t really want criticism, not even constructive criticism. They want straight-out, unabashed, unashamed, fulsome, informed, naked praise, arriving by the shipload every fifteen minutes or so. ~Neil Gaiman
So today was the day to share some of those good words with a few of your favorite writers to thank them for sitting at their desk for hours, days, weeks and sometimes years to write the stories we love.
“There is no perfect time to write. There’s only now.” (Barbara Kingsolver)
If you are an author, then Happy National Authors Day. If you are a reader, then Happy Authors Day. It takes both writers and readers to make a book work. I thank those of you who have picked up one of my books and let my stories come to life in your minds by reading my words. You’re the best.
And someday, who knows? You might not be careful enough and end up in some author’s novel. Thanks for reading!