My line slowly inched forward. I kept looking back. People brought
every copy of their books for him to sign. He didn’t mind. When his line was nearly
empty, I asked the person behind me if I could leave for a few minutes. She gave
me her blessing. Then I went to Michael’s table. He was just finishing with a
younger fan as I pulled my book out of the backpack.
The fan left and I stepped up. I told him I was trying to
multi-task. I was stuck in the line that was never moving and figured I would at
least see him.
The last thing he said to the previous fan concerned writing
stories in other people’s universes. The public doesn’t know what is planned. The
publisher is often planning the next 2 years out. Either with books ready to
print or consigning work to other authors. Michael’s suggestion to the fan was
to contact the publisher before investing time on writing something that won’t
fit the time line. I never thought of that before.
After I handed over my book, he asked about my polo shirt.
yes, I was wearing my obligatory UofA shirt. He asked if the ‘A’ was Arizona. I
asked if he went there. He said no, he lives in the Pheonix area. So that got
us chatting about AZ and monsoons and mountains.
He asked if he could personalize. I said, I would like something
more old school: name, date, and convention. He normally doesn’t do that but I think
he liked that idea.
When I got back in line, the line moved about 50 feet. Not far
but much further than I expected. We made progress. I think I waited another 1 ½
hours to get my autograph tickets.
AH
