Wiser people than I am have emailed me, urging me to delete all references to a certain reader who’s been the subject of my last few blogs.  And you know what?  They’re right.  I have a tendency to blog before I think, which leads to some posts I’ve come to regret.  Up till now, I haven’t deleted a thing because my posts are at-the-moment reflections of what it feels like to be a writer, good and bad.  But as my email advisers have pointed out, there’s no point giving certain people unwanted attention.

So I’m going to delete those posts.

But many writers have to deal with nasty reader letters.  I recently spent a lovely evening with another writer, and of course our conversation got around to just this subject.  She told me about the reader who lambasted her for having a character who smoked — how dare she promote tobacco use!  This writer now has her husband screen her email, just to shield her from the worst letters.  We shook our heads at how the oddest things can enrage a reader.  I, for instance, once got an angry email from a woman who said I’d given breastfeeding a bad name, all because Jane Rizzoli was having such a hard time figuring out how to breastfeed. Then there’s the acquaintance who’ll never talk to me again because I’d cast aspersions on foreign adoptions in HARVEST.  

If you’re a writer, I’d love to hear about your weird reader letters.  Email me about the most outrageous, scary, or insane letter you’ve ever gotten from a reader.  I’ll share your tales on this blog — and I promise not to name any names!