Anyway, of course I read the excerpt, but being the unoffendable person I am, I found nothing wrong with it. She actually told me about some of the stuff she had in before she revised it. I still found that stuff funny. I'm weird. But during those email chats, we really hit it off. She was a wonderful, funny person.
A few months later, we got the chance to meet at ALA (photo below). She was so excited to see me (and I was excited to see her too) and even came out from behind the signing table to give me a big hug. We chatted for a few minutes and she signed my copy of Flash Burnout. It was so great to finally meet her in person.
A few months later, she sent me a signed copy of The Mermaid's Mirror, her second book, as a thank you for helping her out with that excerpt. She included a long note too- unfortunately, the manuscript had been rejected and she was working on revising it to send to other publishers.
I was astonished to hear last month about her pancreatic cancer diagnosis and I prayed that somehow things would work out. I didn't think that something like this would happen this soon.
But, like in her final post on her blog from last month, I'm glad she achieved her dream of being a published author and that she was lucky to live as long as she did after battling breast cancer. I'm glad I was able to meet her. I'm glad she has two wonderful books out there for the world to read. She is going to be missed immensely.
RIP L.K. Madigan.
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Such a sweet post. Thank you for taking the time to acknowledge an individual who shared their dreams with the rest of the world. Her greatest story is one of survival and opportunity -- and perhaps that was the story she was to leave behind with this world.
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks for sharing! It's really cool that you two had a good connection.
ReplyDeleteI was shocked when I heard the news on Twitter yesterday, too. It seems like just yesterday I read her blog post, and now she's already gone. :( At least her books will live on...!
Thats extremely sad, I must admit that I didn't know of her work before reading your post but its still very sad news to hear, its tragic that the awful disease struck her twice.
ReplyDeleteJames, she adored you. She really did. I think so often, readers think how authors touch them, but our readers touch us too, in coming out to meet us, in their kind notes to us - in so many ways really.
ReplyDeleteI loved that book in which you read an excerpt. I'm sad it won't ever be published. But I'm thankful I got to read it. And more importantly, got to be Lisa's friend.
I'm so glad you were able to meet her!
Such sad news, it just never seems fair when someone in their prime is taken.
ReplyDeleteHappy that you two were able to make a sweet connection that touched you both.
Dear James,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your kind words. Lisa really valued your critique of her work, and she considered you to be her friend.
Sincerely, Neil Wolfson