Writing is such a colorful and interesting profession. You meet all sorts of people in the writing community. You meet all sorts of wonderful, fabulous, truly splendiferous readers. You meet other authors, some you’ll remain passing acquaintances with, some you’ll see impersonally, and a few you’ll form steady, close relationships with.

I don’t have a lot of close friendships with writers. This is my fault, not theirs. I’m a hermit by nature. I get involved with writing and what’s going on in my world, often to the exclusion of all else. I often go weeks, if not months, without reaching out to my “friends.”  You might call this relationship one sided and selfish on my part. You’d probably be right.  It’s why I don’t have many “close” relationships,  because hello, if I were those people, I wouldn’t want to deal with me either.  It’s not that I don’t love these friends. I love them dearly. I’m fiercely loyal. I tend to be very emotional when it comes to people I love.  I’m just…oblivious to a lot and one day I look up and wow, it’s been awhile since I spoke to or emailed my loved ones.  But the people I call friends? They get me. They understand that just because I don’t reach out on a daily basis doesn’t mean I don’t love them or cherish their friendship. They just know that in typical Maya fashion, I’ve dropped off the face of the earth and eventually I’ll pop back up with an I love you and I miss you.

Why all this? Because today is a pretty special day for one of the people I love the most in the writing world.  Stephanie Tyler, oy! Have we been around the bend a few times and back over the years.  We’ve bitched, whined, moaned and kavetched with the best of them.  She’s seen me at my utter worst and I still hope she’ll see me at my utter best (one day!) When we get on the phone, geesh, we’re talking hours here not a few minutes here and there.

I love her to pieces and today her book finally, FINALLY hits the shelves.  So many of us have waited so long for Jake’s story to be out there. I won’t say told, because Jake’s story has been gradually told since 2005.  Stephanie is a wonderful story teller. She’s a natural story teller.  One that will be around for many, many years to come. Today is only the beginning for her. I dare you to read her books and not be grabbed by the throat and yanked into the pages. Yeah, she’s just that good.

I don’t rave about her writing because she’s my friend. My friends get no free passes from me when it comes to books. But why don’t you be the judge?  Go out and buy Hard to Hold today. Or tomorrow. Give yourself the treat that is her story telling.  I love books. I love recommending books. I recommend her whole heartedly.

I told Amy Knupp this morning in all seriousness that right now I’m in a bad place with my current book, and I can’t read Stephanie today because I’ll feel inferior. Next week I’ll be better. :)  Next week I’ll be finished with my current mess and I’ll be feeling a lot better about the world.  THEN I’ll be able to read Stephanie’s book and not feel like I’ll never ever measure up and that I’ll never be able to capture the essence of a perfect story.  Like Stephanie does.

Go buy. You’ll be as hooked on her as I am.