a public thank-you

Bill O. is the friend I've never met. I ran across him online back in the late 1990s, when I was haunting the AOL message boards and first learning about the destructive power of the written word. Recently, I've been in touch with Bill and his lady Ruth, both of whom are talented writers (see Ruth's book here), and both of whom have shown remarkable generosity to me. Bill recently did two amazing things for me: he bought ten copies of my book Water from a Skull, and he sent me a significant amount of money, insisting that I simply keep it. A polite "gift-or-loan" discussion ensued, with Bill taking the position that he doesn't care whether the cash comes back to him or not. The money came at just the right time, too: without it, I would never have made rent this month.

My thanks to Bill and Ruth, who have been life-savers despite our never having met face to face. I'm lucky to know the people I do.


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