Last night our whole family went to see Ransom Riggs in Tulsa (we have a pretty amazing library system here, and wonderful organization called Booksmart Tulsa that promotes writers and brings in speakers from all over). And as he spoke, I couldn’t help thinking:
1. He’s really funny and genuinely nice
2. He makes you want to read his books
3. He’s a little bit nervous
4. I like him even better because he’s a little bit nervous
I mean, he wasn’t stumbling-over-his-words-and-sweating-buckets nervous, but there was an honest edge to his talk that made it…better. And he was so encouraging to the young woman who asked about writer’s block and was so excited about working on her own YA trilogy. It was pretty great, and I’m now an even bigger Ransom Riggs fan.
On top of that, the idea of talking to groups about my own books (they will be very small groups, of course, consisting mostly of my Mom) doesn’t seem so scary anymore. Because I learned that if you let people ask questions, answer them honestly, and treat everyone like they’re important, it’ll be fine. And I can do that. Even if I am stumbling-over-my-words-and-sweating-buckets nervous.