Category Archives: hodgelany

Hello there everyone. Sorry I’ve been away for so long.

One of the problems with doing a blog like this….

You know, only after typing that sentence did I realize something. I don’t really consider this a blog. Rather, I know this is a blog. This entity that you show up and read is a blog. But I don’t think of myself as *writing* blogs. I think of myself as writing something else. Something nameless. Something somewhere between a news post, an editorial column, and an open letter to the world.

Anyway, as I was saying, one of the problems with writing something like this. (Something that I update according to my whimsy, but that a fair number of people show up and read.) Is that if I don’t post anything for a while, it actually starts getting harder to post. After two weeks of silence, I start to feel like like I should have something *Really Cool* so say when I come back.

But I don’t. I don’t even really have any especially exciting reason for not posting for a while. Truth is, Me Being Busy Playing Catch-Up After A Convention + End of The Semester Grading + Thanksgiving + Two Signings = Radio Silence on My End.

I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t even checked my Amazon Ranking for, like, two or three days…. an unprecedented event.

(470, by the way.)

Let’s see, what news do I have? The Name of the Wind has been nominated for Borders’ Original Voices award for 2007. Point of interest, I’m the only person in my category whose title does not have a colon in it. For some reason that fills me with pride.

It just snowed here in Wisconsin. About 10 inches. My first snowfall as a homeowner. I shoveled for a solid hour tonight, great exercise that has reminded me how truly out of shape I’ve become. Take it from me, kids, being a writer has certain perks, but physique isn’t one of them.

Other news…. Hmmmm… it seems like after almost three weeks of being gone, I should have more to report….

Oh, right, my meeting with Gaiman.

In brief, it was pretty cool. About four hours before Gaiman was scheduled to do his reading, I went from being nervous about meeting him, to a different sort of nervous. Suddenly I was worried that Gaiman wasn’t going to be cool enough to live up to my expectations.

I know it’s silly to idolize authors. I know this because I *am* an author, and it’s silly for people to idolize me. Over these last couple months I’ve had people get nervous about meeting me and/or have various degrees of anxiety-related endearing geekiness when we talk. When people e-mail me and tell me that they’re nervous about meeting me a signing or a reading, I laugh and say, “Believe me, I’m really not that impressive.”

Anyone who has actually met me will back me up on this…

So I know firsthand that it’s silly. Authors are just people. But the fact remains that when we love a book, we want to love the person who wrote the book. We want them to be as cool as the stories they write, and Gaiman writes one hell of a story…

So as Gaiman’s reading approached, I grew increasingly nervous. What if he wasn’t cool enough?

I needn’t have worried. He was very relaxed and laid back. Very witty and articulate. He’s a marvelous public speaker. He gave us a early taste of his upcoming “The Graveyard Book.” He’s a great reader, too. Though I wasn’t surprised by that, as I really enjoyed the audio book story collection, “Fragile Things” which he read himself.

My reading was a half-hour after his, a hard act to follow. But I muddled through as best I could, reading a bit of my novel, a bit of poetry, and an essay I once wrote on the slow vs. fast zombies debate. It was a pretty good time.

I had about five minutes left in my time slot, and was trying to decide how to fill it, when one of the people organizing the conference came in and said, “Mr Gaiman wants to make sure he has a chance to talk to Pat before he leaves. I’m afraid I’m going to have to steal him…”

I gave the audience a look that said, “Are y’all cool with me heading out a little early?” They looked back, “Are you kidding? It’s Neil Gaiman! Run you fool, run!”

So I went over to meet him. I tried my best to not be a total spaz when we met. I didn’t want to be all gushy and fanboy. Personally, I enjoy it when people get a little geeky over my writing, but I figure he has to get that sort of thing all the time, and it has to be wearying after the first ten years or so.

So we hung out and chatted for a bit. Me and Neil. I have a picture somewhere, but I can’t find it right now…

He was, as they say, “a hell of a regular guy.” He told me that he’d had the chance to read the first few chapters of my book, because his publisher in England had given him a copy. He said something very flattering about my writing, but unfortunately, the book was too big to fit it into his carry-on luggage for his flight home. (The UK book is even bigger than the US version.) After that his life got a little busy, what with two movies coming out, books, signings, and generally being Neil Gaiman. So he kinda lost track of it. I can understand that. I’m overwhelmed right now and I can’t be a fraction of as busy as he is…

So yeah. The whole experience was lovely. We chatted and I asked him some comic-book questions, as I have some people sniffing around about doing the graphic novel adaptations of the book. It was lovely, and he gave some good advice.

Now here’s the crux of the story. Gaiman got ready to leave, but before he could head out, one of the con-goers caught him. The guy asked if he could send Gaiman a copy of his brother’s novel to read, so that Gaiman could give him some feedback. Gaiman politely refused, explaining that he wished he could, but he really didn’t have the time.

But they guy wouldn’t take the gracious refusal. He asked if Gaiman would maybe just look at a few chapters instead. Gaiman explained, again, that there just weren’t enough hours in the day, and besides, his brother would probably get better, more in-depth advice from a local writer’s group….

But the guy really wouldn’t take no for an answer. He tried a few more times from different angles. And here’s the thing: Gaiman stayed cool through the whole thing. He didn’t get bitchy or snippy or exasperated. Considering that he must get hit like that all the time, I was truly impressed.

The end. Moral: Gaiman is awesome.

I think that’s all I’ve got for now….

Oh… one other thing. I’ve been invited by writer/author John Scalzi to offer up one of my already written blogs for promotional re-post on his site: Whatever.

Any advice? Of the blogs you’ve read on here, which one do you think would be best for amusing/entertaining/hooking in new readers?

I’d appreciate it if you let me know what you think in the comments below.

Later all,

pat