Link This | Email this | Blog This | Comments (8)

Excuse me...are you somebody?
March 27, 2008

No, I don't think Jake Gyllenhaal will be at the conference.  Darn!!

By the time you read this, I'll be on the plane to New York City.  Probably ho-hum to a lot of you, but for me, it's pretty darn special.  I'll be attending the Novelists, Inc. Conference.  Since I've never been, I'm happy to write about it and hopefully discover some new and maybe not so new authors.  I can't tell you who will be there except for the speakers and some panels because I couldn't get a list of the authors attending.  

This is only a problem because I like to read up on the people I've never heard of (there's a few writers out there that I'm not familiar with...yet).  I don't like to meet someone and not have a clue what they've written.  I'm sure the organization has their reasons for keeping it secret, but I can't figure it out. (Most conferences have a booksigning, so the website ususally has a list of the authors.  Since this is a business conference, there won't be a signing.)

So, my plan of action is to find someone who knows everyone and hang with them.  Of course, they may get suspicious when I keep saying, "Who's that?"  (Because you know, some pictures that authors have on their books may have been air brushed just a little or maybe was taken 20 years ago and I sure don't want to be the one who says, "OMG, you don't look anything like your picture!"  But really, I only said that once.)

Since so many of you have attending a lot of conferences (or anything else that had people you've read, but never met in person), how did you handle not knowing who's who?  Did you just walk up to them and ask who they were?  Were you ever disappointed?  Shocked into saying something you regretted?  How did you phrase it ("are you someone important?")?  Did anyone ever approach you?  What did they say?  How did you feel about it?

Bottom Line:  If you see me in New York, just assume I have no clue who you are and introduce yourself.  I love meeting people and then I can ask you who everyone else is.
                                                              

Posted by Barbara Vey on March 27, 2008 | Comments (8)