I’ve been under the weather for a couple of days, nothing major, but enough to distract me, so imagine my surprise when I saw how much above and beyond you guys had donated to our charity from Giving Tuesday, Mary’s House of Hope at A Safe Place. Thank you for donating on Tuesday and for continuing to donate. You guys are the best! In fact you’ve been so amazing that we’re going to keep the fundraising going. I’ve signed so many books and we will continue to give away signed books as long as you guys keep giving so generously to this wonderful charity.
I’ve chosen to do a couple of very personal blogs recently. One with the video from my Pikes Peak Writer’s Conference keynote speech where I talked publicly for the first time about what has happened in my life when fans became obsessed, and/or turned into haters, or worse. Then I followed up with an equally personal blog explaining why I chose the charity that I did. Your reaction to both blogs has been overwhelmingly positive and supportive, thank you all so much. In fact, you’ve been so lovely about it all that I’ve decided to continue to share.
When I was first being interviewed about the Anita Blake novels, almost every journalist asked me some variation of this, “Why did you decide to write a strong female character?”
My reply was a variation of, “Growing up I learned, that you were either strong, or a victim. It never occurred to me to have a main character that was anything else but strong.”
My grandmother fought back against my grandfather and never let his abuse turn her into a victim. She was a fighter and she helped make me one, too. She’s a big part of why Anita Blake is so strong, stubborn, and unflinching. Her telling me that Rawhead and Bloody Bones would get me if I was a bad little girl, instead of the boogeyman, would give me a plot for the fifth Anita Blake novel, Bloody Bones, and send me researching Celtic mythology, which led me to write the Meredith Gentry series. My grandmother probably helped me give strength to Merry in the face of the abuse of her own family. Helping turn her from helpless princess to Los Angeles Private Detective and Queen. You, the fans, have told me that Anita’s strength, Merry’s strength, have helped you be strong in your real lives. Strength shared is strength multiplied, let’s keep sharing the best of ourselves, and thank you again for your generosity to Mary’s House of Hope, at a Safe Place.