A Tale of Two Authors

I spent the weekend at LIFE THE UNIVERSDE AND EVERYTHING at the Utah Valley University. It is one of my favorite writing conferences, not only because it is cheap, but also useful. And there a lot of Utah authors who attend.

So I had two very different experiences with a couple of them. The first is a woman I will refrain from naming because I am not going to portray her in the best light. I had met her a few times before, but I didn't expect her to remember. I was standing in the hall talking to someone I had just met, when she started lurking. (You know horning in on our conversation.) I didn't really think, but just greated her, doing what I thought was the polite thing, and inviting her in. I will just say she wasn't very gracious.

Later I saw her on a panel and she said some flippant and frankly rude things. The entire experience left a "bad taste in my mouth" and to be honest I don't know if I will buy any more of her books.

After that I stood in a long line to have Brandon Mull, one of my idols, sign my book. I was taken aback at the way he took time to talk to every single person in the line. He asked me what I was doing with my life, wanted to know about my kids, and laughed when I told him how much I liked a part of his book.

Lesson learned - be nice to everyone. When I am a published author I hope I can be as gracious as he was.