Support from Strangers

With all the crap that's going on around the world, it's easy to lose faith in humanity. And then people really surprise you.

I thought it was an innocent post on Bluesky. After all, I was constantly writing posts about my progress on my novel, Dark Water, for which I'd receive a few likes.

I have a few book-lovers who follow me, so I expected some mild appreciation from them.

Even when I finished writing the first draft, I had only a modest number of people who liked my sharing of that news, with a few of them congratulating me on my accomplishment. And I appreciated everyone's support.

Last Monday, when I received an e-mail from a publishing company, who had read my query and were interested in accepting my manuscript for review, I was over the moon. And being someone who likes to share good news on social media, I wrote the following post:

It reads, "I don't want to jinx myself or get my hopes up, but I received a response from a publishing house regarding my novel. They've read my query and are interested. They've asked me to submit the manuscript.

"I'm just excited that someone would respond so soon."

I tapped Send, put my phone down, and got to work on preparing my submission, including the synopsis and a bio. After I sent Dark Water to the publisher, DW and I went for a walk around Bruce Pit, where my thoughts and our conversation was more about the decision I had come to over my next camera system than about my novel.

During the walk, I only looked at my phone to look at the Merlin app, which was listening to myriad birds at this small wetland site. I could see that I had notifications on Bluesky but I was focused on the birds.

DW brought her camera and took some great pictures, whereas I left my camera at home. As far as I was concerned, I was done lifting that heavy camera and was looking forward to acquiring a much lighter setup.

When we returned home, I was shocked by all of the likes that I had for that post. At that time, I had more than a hundred likes and a few reposts. Many people also replied, congratulating me on the submission and wishing me luck.

These were mostly responses from total strangers. I know, almost everybody is a stranger on social media. On Bluesky, there are hardly any people that I've actually met in real life: some, I've known since my days on Twitter, but the majority of people are only virtual acquaintances.

But these likes, reposts, and comments were from people who weren't following me, nor was I following them. They were all over the world, from the UK, Australia, the U.S., and elsewhere.

All evening, my phone kept pinging from people offering support. By the time I went to bed, I had more than 500 likes and dozens of congratulatory notes.

The next morning, I had more than 900 likes, 34 reposts, and two quotes (people who reposted my message and added their comments).

I had 72 comments, which I think is a record. Even when I was at my peak on Twitter, I wouldn't have this many people responding to a tweet.

Before I went to bed, that Monday, I knew that I couldn't reply to everybody who left a comment. It would consume all of my time and I don't think I could keep up. So I simply liked their comment.

Twenty-four hours after posting my message on Bluesky, I had nearly 1,100 likes.

I wrote this post to all of the well-wishers and those who liked my post (at the time of writing this post, there are more than a thousand of you!). Your support means more to me than the e-mail that asked me to submit Dark Water.

Thank you!

I still don't have my hopes up and I hope I haven't jinxed myself. But if the publisher likes the manuscript and wants to pursue printing my book, I hope to share that good news and would be delighted to have that kind of support again.

And, of course, I hope my supporters buy the book when it eventually comes out. Stay tuned.