Saturday, June 14, 2008

My first official piece of fan mail!

This is what being a writer is all about...getting fan mail! And I got my very first piece of fan mail last week. It's from my boss' daughter who is nine years old. I gave him a copy of SORORITY 101: ZETA OR OMEGA? to give to her. According to him, she breezed through it in a couple of days and then sat down and wrote me this note.

~*~WARNING: This is the recipe for adorable, wrapped in cute, with a dollup of precious on top!~*~
























See??? I told you!!! I can't tell you how many times I've read this letter. Or how many people I've shown it to. Or how many times I've teared up looking at it. I carry it around with me and will eventually frame it for my writing room...so that when Caitlin Brooks is a famous author, I can say I knew her when.

I used to write fan mail when I was little...mostly to professional athletes. However, I did write a fan mail back in 1999 to a favorite author, Barbara Delinksy, asking her for advice about being a writer. She told me if I wanted to be a writer, I needed to just do it. Simple advice...but most appreciated. And two years later, I did "just do it," completing my first novel. I even thanked Ms. Delinsky in SORORITY 101.

Have you ever written fan mail? If so, to whom? Did you get a response?

For those of you who leave a comment on this thread, I'll enter you in a contest to win a copy of BOTH of the SORORITY 101 books.



Feel free to enter as many times as you'd like. Each comment will count as an entry.

Hugs,
Marley = )

SORORITY 101: Zeta or Omega? (Available Now! Puffin Books)
SORORITY 101: The New Sisters (Available Now! Puffin Books)
GHOST HUNTRESS SERIES (Coming May 2009, Houghton Mifflin)

33 comments:

the story siren said...

i wrote a fan mail letter to Alf. if anyone even remembers that show! and i did get a response from Alf, an pre-made signed photo, i was super excited!

i would love to be entered into the contest!!!

TinaFerraro said...

Oh, yes, Marley, this letter is soooo sweet! Thanks for sharing.

Some years back, when I was trying to break into romantic suspense, I wrote to an author whose books I was very impressed with, Joanna Wayne. She wrote back. In fact, we corresponded through e-mail a few times. After I sold PROM DRESS, I saw her at the RWA Conference, went up and introduced myself and told her my news. She hugged me and it was a very nice moment indeed. :)

Simone Elkeles said...

I love the letter, Marley! So cute! I was a big fan of Shaun Cassidy in the day, and I wrote him and was in his fan club. Do they have official fan clubs anymore?

Elainareads said...

Aww the fan mail is so awesome.
I've never written fan mail before but I can think of a bunch of people that i would love to write to.

=D

Christina said...

Congrats on the fan mail!

I wrote a letter to Santa... but I don't think that counts.

Khy said...

Congrats on the fan mail! It's an awesome letter.

I don't think I've ever written fan mail to anyone...I should get on that.

Dona Sarkar-Mishra said...

Oh Marley, congrats! That is such a sweet letter and doesn't receiving something like that just make it all worthwhile??

I have written fanmail to Jennifer Weiner (who responded and was AMAZING) and Jhumpa Lahiri (who did not).

Congrats again!

Meredith said...

I'm not really sure if I ever really wrote fan mail.
On MySpace I have written to a few of the authors of books that I really liked and gotten some responses. I just wanted to let them know that I had liked the book and was looking forward to reading others that they had written.

TinaFerraro said...

Simone, I loved Shaun Cassidy, too!

Meredith, speaking as someone who has received one of your lovely MySpace messages, we authors really appreciate them!!!

BTW, on Monday, I am going to post a MySpace fan message I got this week that made me smile really BIG.

alexgirl said...

Such a cute letter.
I wrote fan mail to a boy band in the late '80's called "The Boys". They were 10-15yr old rappers & brothers, and I wrote them telling them how cute they were, and that I would gladly marry any of them.
...If you can believe it, they did not accept my marriage proposal.

The Golfing Librarian said...

I'm going to have to stop reading your blog. Between your fanmail and Simone's post about her Father, you're stirring emotions that I've spent a lifetime trying to suppress. Guys aren't supposed to feel all those "girly" emotions! :)

BTW, please sign me up for the contest.

Carolina said...

The letter is so cute. I've never written a fan mail letter.Please enter me in the contest.

Anonymous said...

i love that letter please enter me in the contest

Marley Gibson said...

LOL on Shaun Cassidy! I loved him, too. My first fan letter was to Rick Springfield, though. I still have my membership card somewhere for his fan club.

Marley Gibson said...

Oh...and I forgot the time when I met Don Henley at a booksigning for his Save Walden Pond tour and I was a nervous wreck...I said, "We really like your music, Mr. Henley." My husband actually stood behind me and SNORTED!!!!

Anonymous said...

OMGS...that's the sweetest thing!

Isn't it amazing how just one small letter can make all the blood, sweat, and tears that go into writing worth it...

Sirena

Kiki said...

What an adorable letter!
And I think it's fantastic that she chose a great pen name and is on her way to becoming a great writer, too.

Anonymous said...

How sweet. The letter I mean. LOL I really do think it's cute and sweet. And I'm sure it made your day. Whenever you're feeling down and having one of those down and out days you can always look at that letter and know it was worth it. Please enter me.

Breanna said...

Thats way adorable! I bet that was so exciting! She is such a sweet girl. What a great person to get your first piece of fan mail from!

I love how she's writing a book now and that she's using a pen name! Once again, adorable.

I'd love to be entered to win your books!

-Breanna

Breanna said...

Oh and I forgot to actually answer your question.

I've never written any fan mail before, weirdly enough. I totally should though. If I were an author I'd love to get fan mail.

Cara King said...

When I was a kid I wrote to Zilpha Keatley Snyder, one of my favorite authors, and told her that my best friend and I were *just* like the two girls in her novel The Changeling... and she wrote me back.

Definitely a revelation...

Cara

Chelsie said...

I think my friend once miraculously had Eminem's address, so I wrote him a letter telling him how insanely hot and awesome he was... =P Ah, good times. Lol. But other than that, I've never really written fan mail... mostly cuz I don't have the time or energy to put a stamp on it and mail it.

Lori T said...

Wow Marley, what a great letter!!

I never really wrote any fanmail...although, I may have written a letter to Scott Baio...yes, I know this truly dates me. And I believe I got the standard "signed" photo of him.

I would love to be entered in the contest.

MarjoleinBookBlog said...

Ow this is nice! i started writing fanmail in my teens, going to a different time with my parents divorced and bullied at school.
I started to write to a musical theatre actor. And he wrote back! and not only one time..!
And now..sometimes i am looking back on that time..an can not believe what can happen in ten years time. This actor is now a good friend of mine! Sometimes real friends are coming in your life in funny ways!
xo Marjolein

Anonymous said...

whose shawn cassidy?

Marley Gibson said...

Anon...

Shaun Cassidy is the son of Shirley Jones (Patridge Family) and Jack Cassidy. He's David Cassidy's half brother. He starred in The Hardy Boys in the 70s and also had a brief career as a rock 'n roll singer. I believe he's a big producer now a days.

Anonymous said...

I saw this comtest on MySpace and want to be entered. I've heard a lot about this series and want to read it. I haven't written fan mail but I once rode in an elevator in Dallas with Troy Aikman. That was cool.

Anonymous said...

Please enter me.

jj

Unknown said...

the biconic woman, was the fist i wrote and i was always a memeber of her fan club LOL gosh that tell my age?
im wanting to win for my daughtre

Lenore Appelhans said...

A couple of years ago, my best friend's daughter wrote a letter to the tooth fairy which was way adorable.

I wrote lots of fan letters, but I never had the guts to send them.

Lenore Appelhans said...

Oh, and I wanted to add that I had a pen name too at that age - but unfortunately, it is not coming back to me at the moment. I know it was very flowery...

Breanna said...

Ever since I first read this I keep thinking of fan mail! I'm definitely going to send one of my favorite authors some fan mail soon.

-Breanna

Kwana said...

That's the best letter ever! I'm smiling like crazy over it. Congrats.