Brushes with the Famous and Not-So-Famous
My youngest daughter tells people I have two pen names, and that my name, Erica Orloff, doesn't match her last name because I am an author and need to avoid the paparazzi. Um. Not so much.
But today, I got the best fan letter EVER. Today, I heard from a twelve-year-old girl who wrote me a snail mail letter, care of Penguin, because she could pick "anyone famous" in the whole wide world to write to and she chose me because she loved High School Bites. So I promptly sat down and wrote her back. I also sent her some signed cover flats (she asked for my autograph). As letters go, it was sweet, and I was humbled.
Next week, I go speak to NINE classes of third graders. I am sure that will be equally wonderful. And I know--because it happens every time I talk to kids--that I will look out at those cute little faces and see a few who really, really, really want to be writers. And I will tell them a writer isn't something you become, it's something you are. And I hope they remember our day together.
And it got me to thinking . . . have you ever had an encounter with an author--someone famous, someone you had always wanted to sign your book, or maybe just someone you've run into over cyberspace . . . and it impacted you in some way? Or you were just delighted to meet them? Or maybe they were just strange!
I used to be a book editor. I can recall one BEA in L.A. when I met James Patterson. Way shorter than I imagined. Nothing like I expected. The poor man was blinded by fans flashing cameras at him. I met Billy Dee Williams at the same event. Totally cool! But the most amusing thing to me was running into a fairly big-name self-help guru and finding him to be a lecherous, drunk groper. Creepy!
My favorite author encounter was with John Updike. I met him in college when I was chosen to attend some swanky cocktail party with him because I was a Creative Writing student. He was the most gracious man I had ever met with that level of fame, and he spent considerable time talking to students. I was awed.
So no, I don't hide from the paparazzi, and no, despite my dear sweet fan, I am not famous. Or even almost famous. But it was a nice letter. And it got me thinking . . . you all must have stories! Share!
Peace,
E
But today, I got the best fan letter EVER. Today, I heard from a twelve-year-old girl who wrote me a snail mail letter, care of Penguin, because she could pick "anyone famous" in the whole wide world to write to and she chose me because she loved High School Bites. So I promptly sat down and wrote her back. I also sent her some signed cover flats (she asked for my autograph). As letters go, it was sweet, and I was humbled.
Next week, I go speak to NINE classes of third graders. I am sure that will be equally wonderful. And I know--because it happens every time I talk to kids--that I will look out at those cute little faces and see a few who really, really, really want to be writers. And I will tell them a writer isn't something you become, it's something you are. And I hope they remember our day together.
And it got me to thinking . . . have you ever had an encounter with an author--someone famous, someone you had always wanted to sign your book, or maybe just someone you've run into over cyberspace . . . and it impacted you in some way? Or you were just delighted to meet them? Or maybe they were just strange!
I used to be a book editor. I can recall one BEA in L.A. when I met James Patterson. Way shorter than I imagined. Nothing like I expected. The poor man was blinded by fans flashing cameras at him. I met Billy Dee Williams at the same event. Totally cool! But the most amusing thing to me was running into a fairly big-name self-help guru and finding him to be a lecherous, drunk groper. Creepy!
My favorite author encounter was with John Updike. I met him in college when I was chosen to attend some swanky cocktail party with him because I was a Creative Writing student. He was the most gracious man I had ever met with that level of fame, and he spent considerable time talking to students. I was awed.
So no, I don't hide from the paparazzi, and no, despite my dear sweet fan, I am not famous. Or even almost famous. But it was a nice letter. And it got me thinking . . . you all must have stories! Share!
Peace,
E
posted by Erica Orloff at 8:17 PM
17 Comments:
I got to goof around with Bill Murray and John Candy one day, on the movie set of Stripes.
I spent one-on-one time with Pulitzer-winning poet Maxine Kumin.
I pushed Stephen Spender (W.H. Auden's friend, and a legend in his own right) around in his wheelchair one day.
I drank whiskey with Jon Silken, a widely-anthologized English poet.
I partied on the band Rush's tour bus, and got to meet one of my drum idols, Neil Peart.
I met Matt "Guitar" Murphy in a bar he was playing in, and we talked about his days on Saturday Night Live with Paul Schafer as bandleader.
Hmm...
Oh, yeah. I know this wonderful author whose blog I visit regularly. :)
When I was in college, my professor friend Leon Driskell had just won some sort of award for something he published, and I asked him how he felt about all the fame and fortune coming his way.
He said: The fortune amounts to five hundred dollars I have to spend at the grocery that I wouldn't have otherwise had. The fame we can do without.
I couldn't agree more.
Jude:
Many brushes with famous and no-so-famous. Pretty cool. Drinking whiskey with an English poet . . . sounds like a wonderful night!
E
What a wonderful letter to get, Erica. And the writers amongst those kids will definitely remember you fondly.
Brushes with fame??? Hmm, I got nothin'.
Wait...my dad played poker for years with Stompin' Tom Conners 'k, he's so Canadian you probably have no idea who he is, which is probably a good thing.
Oh, and I met Barretta's bird at Universal Studios when I was about 10. He didn't swear at me or grope me :P
And like Jude, I encountered a very nice author online ;-) She is extremely gracious and down to earth. Generous with personal and industry info and slowly breaking me of my inclination to think that 'authors' must be otherworldly creatures that l'il ole me could never walk in the footsteps of. T'anks
Lainey:
Stompin' Tom Conners? Love people with names like that. LOL!
I love meeting authors from all different genres and walks, just to hear their stories of the biz and how they broke in, and their passions. I met Debbie Macomber at a conference where we both spoke. I would never choose one of her books, not my thing, but I know she is a giant in women's fiction and she was absolutely lovely and really projected a graciousness.
E
Chris Vogler was a big one for me. He was awesome. Definitely a philosopher-type I wish I could talk to all day, every day.
Also, as you know I am so inspired by Debbie Macomber. I hadn’t read her yet when I first heard her talk at an OCC meeting. But afterwards, I *had* to meet her. Of course, I made a total gushy fool of myself telling her how much she’d moved me.
Anyway, I’m a total fan now. Though, like you, I probably would never have picked up one of her books otherwise.
:) d
Since I've lived in the DC area since 1989, I've had lots, LOTS of brushes with the political side of fame. Lotsa senators, congresspeople, mayors, ex-presidents. I once saw Marion Barry speak at my school (GWU). I could see how he managed to ge re-elected time and again. The man has a very witty and self-deprecating sense of humor.
But really, I don't care about any of those political brushes with fame. I'd rather meet authors! I've managed to meet two of my faves: Suzanne Brockmann and Vince Flynn, both gracious and humble folks. The one author I'm dying to meet is Kate Donovan.
As for non-author types, they scare me. THese celebs live in such rarefied air, constantly surrounded by sycophants that I'm sure they wouldn't know how to deal with a normal person. Celebs I've come face-to-face with are few and far between: only Paul Reiser ("Mad About You"), the real Erin Brockovich (honestly, I couldn't stop looking at her enormous cleavage), and Troy from The Apprentice. Meager.
I love your story about the fan letter! How heartwarming. Have fun speaking to the third graders and tell us all about it!
Karm
While Spender was more the intellectual, Oxford gentleman type, Jon Silken was really down to earth regular folk. He sometimes worked as an unskilled laborer in England to make ends meet. One day in the English Department secretary's office, I asked him if he had been working hard (on his writing). He smiled and said, "I'm afraid it's not what most people would consider hard work but, yes, I've been fairly diligent." Put things in perspective for me.
And I almost forgot: I was one of eight aspiring authors to be selected for Kristy and Kelly Montee's (the sisters who write under the pen name PJ Parrish) critique workshop at Sleuthfest last March. That was fun, and they actually liked my work.
And...
I was one of only a few hundred people to ever see Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. (President and Vice President at the time) side by side on the flight line at NAS New Orleans. They flew in on Air force 1 and Air force 2, and it was rare (because of security reasons) to see them speak together like that.
And...
His appearance on Leno last night (wearing a really bad rug) reminded me my California girlfriend's roommate dated Weird Al Yankovich. Does that count? :)
Only counts if you actually met weird Al, Jude!
Okay, play three flat chords on the guitar, picture Willy Nelson's voice coming out of a very old John Wayne and sing after me:
"The good ol' Hockey game, is the best game you can name. And the best game you can name, is the good ol' Hockey game."
Mr. Stompin'; Tom Conner's ladies and gents. What a poet, eh? ;-). But as I recall, he could certainly hold his whiskey!
Sidney Poitier spoke at one of my cinema classes. I could see the charisma and the dignigied energy radiating off him. When I walked up to him to shake his hand, he actually looked me in the eye and thanked me for introducing myself. I went home and cried.
Living in SoCal has lead to meeting several celebs... none of which was even remotely interesting.
Having lived in the DC area I met several politicos... and for the most part they were just folks doing their jobs.
When I was in Jr. High, I went to a talk given by Ray Bradbury. I was able to talk to him afterwards and he signed my copy of The Martian Chronicals. That would have to be my most memorable meeting. Unfortunately it was around the time I was ten and I just don't remember that much about the evening.
However, I daily email/blog/IM with many amazing writers on the internet, including all of you and a grand assortment over at the backspace site.
Erica, I would frame and hang that letter on the wall.
I cried when I met Virginia Henley. It wasn't pretty. *ggg* Did the same, when Dara Joy told me she hoped that the next time we met that she'd be asking for my autograph. Sob. Still gets to me.
Karm:
I am looking forward to it. As the show used to declare: "Kids say the darndest things."
E
Jude:
Weird Al! How very odd . . . :-)
E
Mary:
I always thought he was a class act.
xo
E
Ewoh:
Honestly, i had never thought of doing that (framing it) but now . . . it's going right in a frame. :-)
E
Jordan:
It's so wondeful when we meet people who invoke that in us. The best thing is when they don't disappoint. I used to date a contractor who built BIG houses and built one for the father of Michael Mann. So he got me and my whole family on the set of Miami Vice (back when it was a cool show to be on). Don Johnson was SUCH a jacka**. I mean a total jerk. And the other guy, whose name escpaes me right now, was the greatest person.
E
I met Jimmy Connors when I was 11, but he unfortunately had some horrendous intestinal thing at the time and had to, um, run.
I shared a Chinese food banquet with the entire Mets team, including hottie Keith Hernandez, when I was 13 (my best friend at the time was Joe Torre's stepdaughter)and totally thought at least ONE of them would ask my frizzy-haired, braces- and training-bra-wearing self out. And was surprised when none did.
I met Muhammad Ali in a hotel lobby in 9th grade with the rest of my cheerleading squad. He was very gracious and gentle.
I met Anne Lamott--one of writing heroes--at a book signing last year, and was humbled and seriously amused by how humble and seriously amusing she was.
And, of course, you've heard all about my Dave Navarro not talking to me story.
And yes, I've been thrilled and blessed to have you as a confidant and mentor, so thanks!
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