what a great night

2-5-10


What a fantastic evening!!

Brandy got to my house a little before 6. She was able to meet Luna and chat with the boys a bit. Poor Bobby burst into tears not long after she walked in. At first I thought that he had hurt himself based on how he was holding his hand, but after I finally was able to get him to tell me what was up, turned out he was just sad I was leaving and I think he thought I was just going to walk out without saying goodbye. He calmed down and I distracted him by promising that Ken would play Lego Star Wars with them. This was very happy making for both, although I did hear later that Ken had to deal with their melt down when game time was over. Sorry, babe!

We found the place quite easily. It looked like some kind of little convenience store. We checked in at the counter and the lady directed us next door to wait since we were so early. Next door was a cute little book store that had some very wonderful books. We browsed there for 20 minutes and then headed back.

Clearly, we should have stayed at the actual place. Turned out the 7-11 looking place was not was it looked like on first glance. They had wacky products for sale including bottles marked with labels indicating they were lost languages. There was Viking odorant. There was various facial hair you could purchase, including handlebar mustaches. There was dodo chow. Yes, this place rocked.

There were probably 30 people total, maybe a few more once we all went to the back room, which was a much larger room than you would have imagined for how small the front store was. The 4 writers were there, live and in person. I instantly felt star struck. I of course recognized Joel Stein instantly. One of the other authors, Neal Pollack looked familiar to me and I realized that on the back of his book, Alternadad, there was a picture of him. I was only a few feet from these people, and I felt giddy.

The evening started and the 4 writers sat down and the moderator started us off. It was very casual and light, which was very nice. The questions posed were along the lines of asking for things like what their favorite piece was or how do you find ideas for stories and how to do you pitch stories to editors. The authors knew each other and there was some joking around. They were able to prompt each other on different anecdotes that they thought their colleague should tell. They were all quite funny.

Although I was most thrilled to see Joel, Neal actually impressed me a lot more than I expected. He was matter of fact in why he writes certain articles and books and I didn’t feel like he was bullshitting us. Really, none of them seemed like they were just blowing smoke. It was as if we were at some dinner party and these were guests that were just talking about their lives.

The ultimate question would be, did I get anything out of this? Yes, I did. It was nice to hear that even though I think of these people as successful and well off in their chosen field, they really are not. It is tough, even for seasoned writers, to make a good living. Neal has multiple books to his name, yet he is still writing copy for Nickelodeon just to pay some bills. Joel whores himself out to anything, and he is ok with it since the money means a good life for his wife and kid. There is obviously writing for cash, and there is writing for passion. If you are able to combine the two occasionally, you are lucky, but mostly writing is a job. And a tough job to be financially stable. Newspapers are dying out, magazines may not have too much longer, at least not in their current format. Books are great, but you have to have a truly remarkable lucky break to get something popular. Blogs are great, especially for reaching large audiences, if you have the right subject matter. It all comes down to the fact that whether or not I am any good really doesn’t necessarily mean I will be successful.

Brandy and I talked about it on the way home and Ken and I talked about it a bit last night. If I really want to have any audience, I will need to do a few things. I need to pin down one topic matter and stick to that. I need an editor. I need to self promote. Although it is agreed that mommy blogs are an oversaturated market, I might use that as practice until I fund something that is better. I am thinking at this point, perhaps doing a weekly or even bi-weekly blog that is 100% mom talk, but not as much free writing as I do now. I would come up with a specific topic, whether that be birthday planning or maybe preschool shopping, and the blog would be a certain amount of words, and edited correctly so that it is free of typos and poor grammar. Then, I would post it under a new blog page, and email it out to the masses. See if I can get some readers, and really see what I am capable of. Perhaps that will give me not only ideas on how to proceed for real, but also just give me some more practice.

What it comes down to is, I don’t expect to make gobs of cash on this. I love to write, and occasionally I actually do a piece I am proud of. I like it when people read my stuff, and give me any kind of feedback. If I happen to make a buck or two here and there, that is gravy. Who knows, maybe by all of this will give me some kind of wonderful book topic and I will compile that at some point. Maybe nothing will happen and I will only end up entertaining friends and family with what I write. The seminar didn’t inspire me to quit my job in order to pursue a career in journalism. It did inspire me to hone my skills and to really challenge myself to be a better writer, and not just one of the masses who thinks just because they can type must mean they are the next best selling author.

I still worry I am not that good. I worry I am barely average. I still write, though, because it is my release, whether it is giving an opinion on a news story or recapping my evening. I will never stop, but I am hoping to be better.

My night should be good this evening. I have to admit, I will probably miss my kids a bit simply because last night I didn’t see them much and tonight they will be spending the night at my parents’ house, but I am looking forward to date night. The Hangover and Zombieland are both due in my mailbox this afternoon. Ken is picking up the chips and salsa and we are set. When I get home today, I have to gather the bedding, clothing and friends for this evening’s festivities. I also have to get all this stuff into my car with it raining. Not the best thing. It may be time that the boys each have their own little suitcase. Luckily, I have tons of various bags that I can use for now.