25 March 2004
Survived my day of hell! Woke at 6 to write Lit paper, then rushed back after Lit to do ConWest paper. But that is boring to read about, so I'm going to stop.
After the high of meeting Jasper Fforde, meeting Garth Nix was low-key. After my ConWest midterm, which I finished way ahead of other people (most likely a bad thing), I rushed over to Books of Wonder and arrived a half hour early thinking I would never get a spot. But it was nearly empty! So after a bit of aimless wandering throughout the store, I bought Sabriel and sat down. Garth Nix arrived a little after 5 and there was a further delay of ten or so minutes before he came back out and spoke. He was of average height, with glasses and in a black shirt and beige suit. When he spoke, he looked over our heads, and I wondered if he was nervous about public speaking, if he finds it easier to concentrate on solid items, like ceilings, rather than moving humans.
He spoke about how the name Sabriel was coined--it's a combination of sable, which was what heralds called black, and the -riel Hebrew ending of angel names. Very cool. Then he told a story about a ring that he found in Persia 7 years ago which was accompanied by a voice telling him, "This ring will bring you good luck for 7 years, but after those 7 years you must pass it on or else you will reap a harvest of tears." I couldn't help but think he was bamming us, and that at the end, he would make some sort of weighty pronouncement such as, "And then I became the Lord of the Rings!" But he continued on, and said that this morning, he woke feeling very hot, like he was in the Persian desert again, and the voice repeated what it said all those years ago. Then he said that whoever raised their hand first would get the ring, cause he'd taken it out of his jacket by then, you see. A young girl got it, and I must admit, I felt rather jealous, even if I didn't really believe his story. I turned out to be right about the story; he'd made it up. The girl looked rather downcast after that; I think she truly believed she would have amazing luck.
After that, he answered some questions, like how do you get over writer's block, are there going to be any more Sabriel books (there are novels, but they won't be written/published for a while), etc. Then it was time for autographs! I got to ask him how he liked working in publishing, and he said he enjoyed it. I replied, "Yeah, because I want to be a writer too, so I feel like I ought to know how they get published." He said, "Well, my business side liked it. Do it if you really love books" and so on and so forth. It was lovely fun, all in all.
Yay!!!! I love the freedom of no impending doom/homework! Apprentice is on tonight and guess who's watching it? Damn straight, it's me!
After the high of meeting Jasper Fforde, meeting Garth Nix was low-key. After my ConWest midterm, which I finished way ahead of other people (most likely a bad thing), I rushed over to Books of Wonder and arrived a half hour early thinking I would never get a spot. But it was nearly empty! So after a bit of aimless wandering throughout the store, I bought Sabriel and sat down. Garth Nix arrived a little after 5 and there was a further delay of ten or so minutes before he came back out and spoke. He was of average height, with glasses and in a black shirt and beige suit. When he spoke, he looked over our heads, and I wondered if he was nervous about public speaking, if he finds it easier to concentrate on solid items, like ceilings, rather than moving humans.
He spoke about how the name Sabriel was coined--it's a combination of sable, which was what heralds called black, and the -riel Hebrew ending of angel names. Very cool. Then he told a story about a ring that he found in Persia 7 years ago which was accompanied by a voice telling him, "This ring will bring you good luck for 7 years, but after those 7 years you must pass it on or else you will reap a harvest of tears." I couldn't help but think he was bamming us, and that at the end, he would make some sort of weighty pronouncement such as, "And then I became the Lord of the Rings!" But he continued on, and said that this morning, he woke feeling very hot, like he was in the Persian desert again, and the voice repeated what it said all those years ago. Then he said that whoever raised their hand first would get the ring, cause he'd taken it out of his jacket by then, you see. A young girl got it, and I must admit, I felt rather jealous, even if I didn't really believe his story. I turned out to be right about the story; he'd made it up. The girl looked rather downcast after that; I think she truly believed she would have amazing luck.
After that, he answered some questions, like how do you get over writer's block, are there going to be any more Sabriel books (there are novels, but they won't be written/published for a while), etc. Then it was time for autographs! I got to ask him how he liked working in publishing, and he said he enjoyed it. I replied, "Yeah, because I want to be a writer too, so I feel like I ought to know how they get published." He said, "Well, my business side liked it. Do it if you really love books" and so on and so forth. It was lovely fun, all in all.
Yay!!!! I love the freedom of no impending doom/homework! Apprentice is on tonight and guess who's watching it? Damn straight, it's me!