Will you buy the old, outdated used books?

Sometimes I go into the used bookstore and I walk amongst the old paperbacks with the worn spines, each line telling of a time someone held them and eagerly devoured the words within. I stand there and I feel as if they are all lost children, separated from their parents. There was a time someone held them with hope and excitement. There was a time when they were shiny and new. And it makes me sad.

As an aspiring writer, one of the moments I look forward to the most is getting something published and seeing it on the shelf in the bookstore for the very first time. I often ask myself, how would I feel if I stood there amongst the used paperbacks and there, staring up from the shelf was the work of my own hand?

Jam it back in, in the dark.