Kids Ask the Darndest Things
I did an online chat about High School Bites on Monday. The girls were 9 and 10 years old--about eight of them. They were great! And they asked me very important questions.
Do I like pizza? (Yes.)
What is your favorite color? (Green.)
Do you root for the Yankees? (This is the MOST important question, and the answer is YES.)
What got me smiling--besides the great questions--is how kids really zero in on what's important for them to know about and identify with an author. They asked me the questions that were important to them.
Which got me thinking about my bio on my books, and also about how I "relate" to the authors I read. My bio is usually mildly humorous. Like this one for The Roofer:
Erica is a native New Yorker, roots for the Yankees, and believes you can take the girl out of New York, but not New York out of the girl.
I very rarely have a "lofty" bio--just usually a mix of odd facts about myself.
And when I read an author I really, really like, in this era of the web, I do go to their website or do try to find out more about them, their research methods, whatever. If I read a book with cultural or historical implications, I especially will try to find out more.
Which also got me thinking . . . I have met one author who think is a total b*tch--a term I don't use lightly. Absolutely and totally, and she makes my skin crawl. I have met one other I think is simply psycho. Also a b*tch, but I think it's because she is somehow not medicated properly and it's less being truly mean and backstabbing and more . . . just . . . crazy. And I cannot read either of these women. Either of them could write the most brilliant book ever in the history of publishing (neither has), and I couldn't read it because they as people just ruined that experience for me by how they behave in person.
So tell me . . . what is your relationship to the authors you read? Do you like knowing about them? Do you visit their websites? Are things like the Yankees important? (Silly question, that last one. Of COURSE it is.)
Go Yanks!
E
Do I like pizza? (Yes.)
What is your favorite color? (Green.)
Do you root for the Yankees? (This is the MOST important question, and the answer is YES.)
What got me smiling--besides the great questions--is how kids really zero in on what's important for them to know about and identify with an author. They asked me the questions that were important to them.
Which got me thinking about my bio on my books, and also about how I "relate" to the authors I read. My bio is usually mildly humorous. Like this one for The Roofer:
Erica is a native New Yorker, roots for the Yankees, and believes you can take the girl out of New York, but not New York out of the girl.
I very rarely have a "lofty" bio--just usually a mix of odd facts about myself.
And when I read an author I really, really like, in this era of the web, I do go to their website or do try to find out more about them, their research methods, whatever. If I read a book with cultural or historical implications, I especially will try to find out more.
Which also got me thinking . . . I have met one author who think is a total b*tch--a term I don't use lightly. Absolutely and totally, and she makes my skin crawl. I have met one other I think is simply psycho. Also a b*tch, but I think it's because she is somehow not medicated properly and it's less being truly mean and backstabbing and more . . . just . . . crazy. And I cannot read either of these women. Either of them could write the most brilliant book ever in the history of publishing (neither has), and I couldn't read it because they as people just ruined that experience for me by how they behave in person.
So tell me . . . what is your relationship to the authors you read? Do you like knowing about them? Do you visit their websites? Are things like the Yankees important? (Silly question, that last one. Of COURSE it is.)
Go Yanks!
E
Labels: author bios, book chats, the Yankees
posted by Erica Orloff at 9:14 AM
9 Comments:
I visit my favorite author websites, read and comment on their blogs, buy their books, etc.
I love knowing the tidbits about their lives, their loves and hates... what makes them tick... what makes them human.
Neil Gaiman, Erica Orloff, Heather Brewer, Jackie Kessler, Martha O'Conner and Christopher Moore are my favorites :)
ewoh:
LOVE Christopher Moore. Heather, of course. :-) And Neil Gaiman. And somehow, yes, knowing little tidbits makes it more interesting. Equally fascinating are the ones who have managed to do this job and never let anything slip out about themselves--tough to do.
E
I do like knowing something about my favorite authors...and I'm with you, Erica.
Before I was published, I met one of my favorites at a signing. I had my absolutely most treasured, well read, practically falling apart copy for her to sign. She flipped it open. Said, "Hmm. An old one." Scrawled her name and tossed it back at me.
I've NEVER bought another one of her books........=)
Hi Maureen:
I would be devastated if a favorite writer acted like such a jerk. You know . . . . I don't read her, but I met Debbie Macomber--and she was just about the loveliest author ever. A real gem of a person. That is the case of . . . I wouldn't normally read that kind of book, but having met her and thinking she is so lovely, I would certainly recommend her to people who like that sort of book--and I would check her out if I was on an airplane or that sort of thing and would gravitate to her book in the bookshop over someone else's. And I have made a point of telling people that I think she is the real cream of the crop in terms of how she treats her fans.
I always check out an author so I can find out more about them and just love it if they hava a blog.
There have been people I've met/come across on loops who I really don't like and I know I won't ever buy their books.
Btw, Debbie Macomber was our key note speaker at the RWNZ conference last year. She was amazing. She really worked hard throughout the whole weekend. And she did a small workshop for pubbbed authors on promotion and marketing. Wow!!! She really goes the extra mile for her fans. And she was such an adorable person. Like you, her books aren't my usual taste, however, I do have one in my TBR pile simply because of how lovely she was.
sara:
Good for her that she traveled all that way--wow!
I love meeting readers, but NZ is a LONG way away! :-)
E
Go Marlins! ;)
Jude:
You are now banned from this blog. ;-)
That's okay. Lainey has foreign porn spam in HER comments section. ;)
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