From Booking Through Thursday:
Have you ever written an author a fan letter?
Did you get an answer?
Did it spark a conversation? A meeting?
Yes, I have! I wrote two authors around the time that I was 12 and 13. The first one I wrote to was Ann M. Martin, the author of the Baby-Sitters Club. It was right before our birthdays (hers is seven days before mine) and so I wished her a happy birthday and mentioned that I was an August baby too. And I told her how much I loved the BSC.
A few weeks later, I got a letter back. She–or her official fan mail answering assistant–wished me a happy belated birthday and thanked me for the letter. I’ve since lost the letter I got back, but I do have this photo, that came with it:
(You can click on it to see a bigger version.)
As you can see, I even made a scrapbook page about it. I’m not entirely sure now that I’m older that it really was Ann M. Martin who answered my letter because I know she got tons of fan mail back then, but at the time I felt really special to get a response back from an author I adored.
The other author I wrote to at 13 was Cherie Bennett, who at the time was writing the Sunset Island series that I was addicted to. I would always check my local library for new books in the series every time I went. I also got a response back from her, actually answering the questions I had asked. (I no longer remember what it was I had asked and I’ve also lost that letter too.) I always saw authors back then as these glamorous, busy people, and getting personalized letters back in response to my fan mail completely made my year.
I remember reading Sunset Island when I was a teenager; I loved those books!
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