To My Joplin Readers

Thank you.

Every morning, I check my email. Every morning, I have a few emails from people who were there. Your stories touch me - sometimes they make me cry. I am overwhelmed by your support and your approval of Avalie's story, and your approval of my work. Every single email I have gotten from Joplin tells me that I got it right, and for that I am truly grateful.

 I love reading your stories, and I'm sorry for your tears - most of you tell me that the book made you cry. I cried, writing it. I hope, in the tears, there is some healing. I hope that some of the in-jokes make you smile. I hope that when the tears stop and you put the book away, you move on and feel better.  This new normal in Joplin is so weird, but it's settling in, isn't it? It's starting to begin to feel okay, most of the time.  Maybe some days you don't think about the storm at all.

Since May 21, 2012, over 25,000 people have downloaded When The Storm Passes - over 99% of you got it for free. That makes me happy. I don't think anyone who lived through the storm should be paying me to read about it.  Those readers who have bought the book, I hope it didn't suck.

I really thought, writing the book, that Joplin might hate me for it. I have worried about getting it right, about being as realistic as possible in a fiction novel, about you, my Joplin friends. I didn't want you thinking that I was profiting from your pain. That has never been the plan.  For me, it was just a story that demanded to be told, for the kids as much as anyone.

The kids that write to me, thank you.  This book was written for you and about you, really. I love hearing from you, and your support has been so amazing to me.  I think that adults who read Avalie's story process it differently than you do, and both viewpoints are important to me.  A young man I'll call S., who is still sleeping on a friend's couch a year later, told me that this book changed his life. I don't know. I think the tornado did that. But thank you for your confidence in me. Thank you for telling me I got it right.

I'm not convinced, though, that this book is my best work. There are several things I'd change - and someday, I may revisit the book and do it better in a revised version.  After all, I wrote it in a week. You're reading the first draft. It's not perfect. I'd give myself three stars out of five on it. That's okay, too.

My promise to Joplin - if this book happens to turn a profit, I will donate some of the proceeds back to you - to Bright Futures, to Rebuild Joplin, to the Humane Society.  If Joplin High School or the middle schools want books, I will do my best to see that you get them as I can afford to buy them (yes, I have to buy my own books!).  And I promise, on my life, that the next book is not about a tornado :)