Is author bumping the same as stalking? Depends on the POV I suppose. But if I want to see a favourite author, of course I’m stalking, no doubt!
That said, did I stalk Irish writer, Cathy Kelly when I bought a ticket to ‘Afternoon Tea with Cathy Kelly’ from my local bookshop?
She was publicizing Once in a Lifetime and I excitedly turned up at the venue, a large reception room in a gracious hotel in Hobart (Australia). It was hot, the room stacked to the brim with women who buzzed like bees in a bottle, drinking tea, eating the sumptuous spread on each table and anticipating seeing a star from the writing world. Cathy bounced into the room, all blonde Irish vivacity, and began to talk about life for an hour with barely a breath, taking questions from the floor and walking and speaking the whole time. A whirlwind in motion.
I remember I wore an orange silk knit cardigan, a tiny thing, very sweet… loved it. I also remember that I had just had my first book published in the UK – a fantasy called The Stumpwork Robe. And being gauche and green, I took a copy of my book along with Cathy’s latest in my handbag. My idea was to shanghai her in a corner, get her to sign her book and then give her a copy of mine to read!
I had no need to shanghai her. As she went to sit at the table in order to sign books, she said to me as she passed, ‘I LOVE the colour of your cardigan, it caught my eye through the whole afternoon.’ We chatted about colours that we liked and both being blonde, what suited us and then I held out her book for her to sign. I passed my own book over in a brown paper bag and doesn’t that smack of something tacky! I whispered that I was a new writer and she tipped the book out of the bag and said in a loud Irish brogue, ‘Be proud of this and sign it for me!’ in front of the line of readers waiting for their turn with her. I flushed red with embarrassment, not a good look with orange, and sweat trickled under my arms as I walked past them all later, my eyes downcast, their whispers reaching my ears. ‘Who is she? What’s she written?’ Gaaah!
The other bump was at another author talk – Australian writer Posie Graeme Evans after her historical fiction The Dressmaker was published. A gregarious woman, she talked spontaneously and with great charm for ages and then sat to sign. When I reached the table, she said ‘I know you! I worked with you!’
I thought Crumbs, did you? And madly trawled back through my working life to think when and where?
‘You were at the ABC,’ she said. (Think Australia’s version of the BBC)
It was true… I had worked as a researcher/journalist years before, a lifetime before. And what frustrated me but made me realise what a memory for faces she has, is that she remembered me but (absolutely no offence to her at all) I could not remember her. She had meanwhile become a famous TV producer responsible for the globally popular Mcleod’s Daughters and the author of four best-selling hist.fict novels and yet she still recalled my face after all that time… 20 to 30 years ago!
My response in the queue? I flushed red with embarrassment (not so bad this time because there was no orange cardigan to clash with) and sweat trickled under my arms. I turned away at the end of our chat, eyes downcast, aware of the whispers. ‘Who is she? What’s she done?’ Double gaaah!
Despite me having another book published for print and both that title and the previous one released as e-books, the flush factor, let alone the confidence factor, doesn’t appear to get any better as I get older. Ah well, as they say, that’s life!
Prue just released a wonderful new book, a fantasy called A Thousand Glass Flowers as an e-book in the first week of September with the print version following later in the year.
Prue on Prue ~
The best way to describe myself would be to use a quote written about me on a recent blog (http://markwilliamsinternational.com/)
Here it is: ‘I live in Tasmania, have a pet Tasmanian Devil called Gisborne, eat kangaroos’ testicles, have the most ridiculous one-star ever awarded on Amazon, and wrote a novel on Twitter…’
Believe it or not, most of it is true. My husband and I own a farm so we do have lots of kangaroos around, but the testicles? Ugh! As to the Tasmanian Devil? I wish I did have one for a pet, but as recently reported in the Huffington Post, http://huff.to/f3zxSd the poor little things are suffering the ravaging effects of a disease that is bringing them to the edge of extinction. Better the scientists and conservation zoos look after them than me. And I do have a one star on Amazon… a woman bought my first book thinking it was an embroidery book despite the blurb and then gave ME a one star despite her mistake. And yes, myself and 50 others wrote a Jane Austen style novel on twitter which was mentioned by The Times (UK) no less. Me in a nutshell!
Thank you, Prue! This has been a real delight!
Prue can be reached at Mesmered's Blog and at Prue Batten.com
Prue can be reached at Mesmered's Blog and at Prue Batten.com
