Today's is Readerville's 8th birthday --  and I wanted to thank Karen Templer for creating a wonderful writers and readers community online. I joined Readerville about 5 or 6 years ago, a year before the publication of my novel, ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS. At that point in time, I knew very little about the publishing world and what to expect from my first publishing experience. I "met" writers on Readerville who held my cyberspace hand through the process -- with advice, gentle words, encouragement, and warnings. I also met so many readers who kept reminding me why we writers write: because there are incredible readers out there who care so much about literature.

 Some of my closest friends now are folks I met on Readerville (my daughters used to call them my imaginary friends!) -- now they're real live friends I meet for coffee, writers retreats, etc. Many of them became contributors in my two collections, BAD GIRLS and DIRTY WORDS.

 Readerville has changed in the past year -- it's gotten better, I think. The Readerville Journal offers essays about books and writing as well as links to the important literary news. I check it every morning before I get to work.

 Redroom and Readerville are two different kinds of places -- but both serve a very similar purpose: to create community for readers and writers and  to celebrate writing.

 Happy Birthday, Readerville!