Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Fame, Fans and No Fortune

Song Stuck on the Brain: "Here comes Santa Clause, Here comes Santa Clause, right down Santa Clause lane..." Arrggh! Make it stop! My co-worker was actually playing Christmas music today. Already. It's not even Halloween yet, come on!

I had a great weekend. Saturday, I joined my BFF on a jaunt to Olathe and Overland Park, KS. Eh, so it wasn't super exciting and it was a long drive, but the point is I got to spend time with my BFF and THAT is always fun.

Saturday night my three nieces spent the night with me. They're 9, 7 and 4. Actually, the four year old chickened out. She had come with me as a last minute addition. No one thought she'd want to sleep over, since she's never been without mama overnight before. But she wanted to come. My sister said she'd bring her an overnight bag later.

The 4 yr old did great until mama showed up at bedtime with her bag. Then she cried to go home. Poor kid. She was really hysterical at the thought of mama leaving without her. I think she would have been okay if mama hadn't shown up, so next time we'll have to plan better. The other two girls were fine. In the morning I stopped and picked up the 4 yr old and we all went to church.

We were early, so we sat on the benches in the hall to wait for morning worship time. An older gentleman walked past, smiled and said good-morning. Being friendly, I returned his greeting. He took about five steps past us, turned back and said, "Are you April Erwin?"

He caught me off guard. I didn't know this guy from Adam. I told him, "Yes".

He introduced himself and said, "I'm reading your book right now and I just love it!"


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You could have knocked me over with a feather. I mean the book has been well received by those who've read it, but the readership is a rather small circle.

He proceeded to spend the next five minutes telling me why he loved it and how much it had touched him. He told me how excited he was to meet me.

I thanked him profusely. After he was gone, the 7 year old turned to me, practically bouncing in her seat, and said, "You have a fan!"

I guess I do. :) It was a pretty awesome experience. I've received postive feedback before, but this was the first time I've been recognized solely by the picture on the back of my book. It was so positive to hear that the story is touching readers and it's not just a paperweight (albeit a light one.)

It gave me that little extra encouragement in the 'Maybe I don't suck as a writer after all' department.

Here's hoping you have a fan too,
A.

P.S. If you would like to know more about Missing Pieces, the book my fan was reading, click the link on the side bar.

1 comment:

April Erwin said...

You're more likely to be recognized from the DIY network or Celebrity Scrappers Magazine. :)