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coffeesnob318Last night, Maggie and I went to Dallas to meet Jen Lancaster (affectionately known as JenLan to Maggie and me). She was signing her latest book, If You Were Here - her first work of fiction.
Fun was had:
- She read an excerpt from the novel. I always love to hear writers read their own work, to hear their voices when they present something that they're proud to have created.
- The Q & A went well - she answered all the questions with friendly humor, even the lame ones wherein the askers yammered on about other people's books.
- She communicates easily. She definitely held the conversation when I was up there. After she asked me a few questions, to which I responded briefly, she asked if I'd read the book yet, and I said that I'd finished the first chapter. Then she said, "It picks up." And my response to that? "Good." What I had meant to say was that the book was good so far. You know, that I was enjoying it. She gave me a startled look and smiled and graciously believed me when I corrected myself. Proof that there are some things that an MA in Communication just can't teach you.
- My favorite moment of the night - she laughed when Maggie conspiratorially leaned in and said, "I wouldn't be friends with any of these people."
There were also these things:
- The SUPER whiny person behind us in line who bitched for what seemed like forever on the phone about the store manager asking her to move to her designated space (ticketed event). All of the misunderstanding could have been avoided if she had read the website and followed the instructions there before she showed up. Literacy is your friend, lady. I think I'm going to email a comment to their HR department, giving the employees kudos for dealing with obnoxious fans.
- To speed up the process (I assume this is the reason), two employees were there to take pictures of us with JenLan with our phones.
Gem #1, taken when clearly neither one of us was posing:
Gem #2, still blurry, but hey, at least we're actually looking her way this time:
So anyway, I'm glad I went. It was less stressful than I expected, and I got to meet someone I admire.
Fun was had:
- She read an excerpt from the novel. I always love to hear writers read their own work, to hear their voices when they present something that they're proud to have created.
- The Q & A went well - she answered all the questions with friendly humor, even the lame ones wherein the askers yammered on about other people's books.
- She communicates easily. She definitely held the conversation when I was up there. After she asked me a few questions, to which I responded briefly, she asked if I'd read the book yet, and I said that I'd finished the first chapter. Then she said, "It picks up." And my response to that? "Good." What I had meant to say was that the book was good so far. You know, that I was enjoying it. She gave me a startled look and smiled and graciously believed me when I corrected myself. Proof that there are some things that an MA in Communication just can't teach you.
- My favorite moment of the night - she laughed when Maggie conspiratorially leaned in and said, "I wouldn't be friends with any of these people."
There were also these things:
- The SUPER whiny person behind us in line who bitched for what seemed like forever on the phone about the store manager asking her to move to her designated space (ticketed event). All of the misunderstanding could have been avoided if she had read the website and followed the instructions there before she showed up. Literacy is your friend, lady. I think I'm going to email a comment to their HR department, giving the employees kudos for dealing with obnoxious fans.
- To speed up the process (I assume this is the reason), two employees were there to take pictures of us with JenLan with our phones.
Gem #1, taken when clearly neither one of us was posing:
Gem #2, still blurry, but hey, at least we're actually looking her way this time:
So anyway, I'm glad I went. It was less stressful than I expected, and I got to meet someone I admire.
