Hug an Author Day Is Coming! This Is Why We Write

I wrote the following shortly after last year's inaugural Hug an Author Day. Still true today.

***

God knows authors don't need any more exploitation in their lives. What they need are hugs: concrete assertions that they exist and have value, that what they've invested so much of themselves in was worth doing and has had an impact. They need to be reminded that they are not merely the insights and assertions of their writing but real and whole human beings whose needs are legitimate claims on the rest of us. They need to be given permission to do the awkward self-promotion that their publisher and their own ego-needs are crying out for them to do, and they need to be reassured that they are not less loved or respected for having done so. They need a hug--or something very much like it--and they're not likely to get one unless there's time and space devoted to it.

Call me biased, since some of my best friends are authors, but I wish every day were Hug an Author Day. I'll settle for every September 15. I've marked my calendar; I hope you will too.

***

Some Ways You Can Celebrate Hug an Author Day

* Take an author to work--invite some coworkers to start a lunchtime book discussion group.

* Write a review of a book you enjoyed as a kid or more recently on Goodreads or some other social media outlet.

* Change your profile picture to the book cover of a favorite book.

* Like a favorite author's Facebook page.

* Find a book signing event happening in or near your community, and go to it.

* Or, you know, hug an author.

What ideas do you have for celebrating Hug an Author Day? Figure it out soon--Hug an Author Day is coming quick! Mark your calendar for September 15!

One last idea ... My book Deliver Us from Me-Ville is available as an ebook for 99 cents for another week or so. If you haven't gotten the book yet, you can get it for a song right now. (Seriously; it's cheaper than "Good Girl" by Robin Thicke.) One reader called it "a joyfully sarcastic look at our own self-absorption from a Christian perspective." That reminds me: if you post a review of the book during the sale, send me a link and your mailing address, and I'll send you a free copy of my booklet Parable of the Unexpected Guest.