The more I read, the more I meet with other writers and talk, the more I realize that what I write is so different from what I see written around me today, that it makes me want to weep from terrible loneliness. I'd like to relate to someone, anyone, talk the same language, but my writing process is so strange (rewriting each draft from scratch every time, anyone?), my reading tastes so bizarre (Russian novels but in English, books written by writers long dead, absurdist stories of all kinds), my pastime so devoid of typical daily activities (I don't read news, I don't watch TV, I don't go anywhere, I don't party), and my business practice so against everything that's sane and practical (giving e-books away for free, not checking my sales, not aware of any numbers for that matter), that even among other writers I often feel like an outsider.

There are moments of doubt that grip me so hard, I think I will break. I have come across only one personal story that assured me that it's okay to be me. There are others like me. I read this Haruki Murakami interview by the Paris Review and I felt relief. Murakami said that he's a loner, he doesn't belong to any writing groups, he doesn't go anywhere, he doesn't see people, he gets up every morning very early at the same time, goes for a run, then comes back and writes. It sounded exactly like my days, except I write as soon as I wake up and do yoga before bed.

Send me your stories for Janna. Many of you have already shared your stories of sexual abuse privately with me, via email and messages and letters. I'm going to use some of them, anonymously and perhaps changed to fit the book, perhaps intact as you told them to me, unless you specifically asked me not to share them with anyone. I need more, however. I'm writing the last few chapters, and there is a courtroom scene where Janna publicly tells stories of other women who have endured the same pain that she has endured. I want these stories to be real, it's one of the reasons I'm writing this book. I have heard so many of them from those of you who don't dare to share them publicly, and it's because of this silence that so many of us are still unaware of the horrors that are happening right under our noses. I want to expose it, to make people aware, and so I'm talking for those who can't. I respect your privacy and, therefore, I always turn your stories into fiction where nobody can guess your identities. Moreover, I mix up certain facts that might be too specific and might make someone guess who's behind those stories, but these stories need to be heard and they will be.