Hey friend....

"What really knocks me out is a book, that when you're all done reading it, you wish the author wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could just call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it..." The Catcher in the Rye.

In 1945 this would have been a much more difficult task than it is now. No internet, no personal author webpages, no Facebook or LinkedIn. No Twitter (Thank God!). But do we ever do this? Have I ever done it? I have read books that have rocked me to the core. That have completely transformed my entire way of thinking. That have transported me to magical worlds. And save a few exceptions, (Shakespeare, Camus, Salinger, Angelou) most the authors who have really impacted me are still alive.

But I've never reached out. I've never sent an email or a tweet. Maybe a Facebook following. But nothing about how their words, their stories, their ideas have impacted me. And why not? Is it easier to separate my experience from who they are? Is it easier to keep my experiences tight to my chest, personal, and unique? That if I were to reach out, it would somehow break the illusion that the world they created was mine alone?

And what would I say? Hey - I really liked your book. Or - I can sooo relate to what you've written. Is there anything that I could put into words that would fully convey what their work has done for me?

Yes, I think there is. I think quite simply, I can say Thank you. Thank you for writing. Thank you for sharing your words with the world. Thank you for not keeping your words to yourself. Thank you.

So today, I am going to take some time to reach out to some of those authors - and I encourage you to do the same.