Nothing beats connecting with fans in-person

This was really special. My favorite thing about writing books is seeing the community that connects with the story and congregates around it. Novels are such an intimate connection between writers and readers and other readers (and characters!).

My email newsletters are essentially love letters to fans of The Uncommon Series. But email only goes so far. Too often, we let screens intermediate our relationships. So when I travel, I always try to connect with fans in-person.

In June, I grabbed beers with a fan in Dublin who’s in the process of building his own startup. Last week in Boulder, I had lunch with Daniel Zacek, a fan who is a veteran entrepreneur and runs a software development firm (I also made sure to visit the locations of many scenes from the novels, hence the Laughing Goat hat).

As always, the conversation went deep. We covered living in Boulder vs. abroad, the psychological toll that entrepreneurship takes, sources of inspiration and motivation, and living a creative life. It was a lovely reminder of focusing on what’s most important: finding those moments of connection with all the other humans making their own way through the labyrinth of life.

Daniel wrote up a wonderful blog post about our chat:

http://danielzacek.com/musings/2015/10/3/my-lunch-with-eliot-peper

I look forward to continuing it next time I’m in Boulder. In the meantime, I’ll keep writing.