You can never tell who you’re talking to. If you’re an author, you need to remember that. Just the other day I was on the phone, making reservations for the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard for a summer vacation. I told the woman helping me that I needed to get back to the Cape by 4pm, since I had an appointment in Falmouth, Ma. at 4:30, and would I make it on the ferry she was suggesting?
She said, “Oh, yeah, Falmouth is 10 minutes from the ferry landing. Where’re you going?”
I told her, “The bookstore.”
“Eight Cousins?” She asks.
“Yes,” I said, “I have a new novel out, and I am doing a signing there!”
She asked me what it was about, and of course I told her, since anyone who asks me about my book gets an earful! She then tells me that both her grown children are teachers, one a reading specialist! I asked if I could send her information about my books, and so now I’ve made a connection to a teacher in a state where I had none before. All because I”m going to Martha’s Vineyard for a vacation.
Think I can write the trip off now?!