Friday, February 10, 2012

Authors, Egos, And The Lack Thereof...


I've never met Brandon Sanderson and I'm admitting here that I've never read anything he's written (I just haven't had the time--hopefully that will change, and--come one--the guy writes 400,000 word books...). Today my son and I attended the Life, the Universe, & Everything writing conference at Utah Valley University, and it was the first time I saw the author Brandon Sanderson in person (he's at the far right in the above picture...). 

To the attendees at the conference the writers who produce the Writing Excuses podcast are like rock stars, except I doubt they have ever trashed a hotel room...okay, maybe Mr. Tayler has in the past. When my son and I checked the day's schedule we noticed that the conference set time aside at 7 p.m. this evening for book signings by the authors in attendance. My son brought a copy of a Brandon Sanderson book in hopes of getting it signed. Unfortunately, we had to leave before the signing time. During a break between podcast recordings the authors remained in their seats and fielded questions from brave fans, but mostly they signed books. They didn't need to, but they did. My son got his book signed by the author. That's a first for him and the simple gesture impressed me. Mr. Sanderson didn't have to sign the book. He could have said just wait until tonight, but he didn't. Thank you Mr. Sanderson for making my son's day. He even got to ask the last question of the day to the panel--he was flying!

Egos. I can't say if these authors have huge egos. I mean, I've only spent a few hours in the same room with them, but if they do, their egos did not interfere with our experiences. We had a good time and when someone takes time out of their life to do something special for someone else, especially since they don't have to, that's a class act. That's what I saw today.


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