Discussion: Favorite Writer Story

Photo credit: Dave Morrison Photography on Flickr

Fun post today!

So once upon a time, not too long ago, I had to get a bunch of x-rays. Not because I was injured or anything, but part of having a disease where your body pretty literally eats its own joints is getting imaging done to track erosions of said joints from time to time. (This doesn't sound fun yet, but the story gets more fun, I promise.)

Anyway, so I was getting x-rays done on my hips, hands, and neck, which meant I had to wear one of those glorious hospital gowns. After I change, the imaging technician comes to get me and bring me to the x-ray room.

She's very chatty and peppy, and if you have ever met me in person, you will know I am not. I was feeling pretty awkward, both because of the gown and because I'm just naturally awkward in social settings, but I smiled and tried to answer her questions as she moved me around the room to take different x-rays.

After the technician asked me what grade I was in and I smiled and told her I'd graduated college months ago, and she apologized profusely while I turned red and laughed and said it was fine, she smartly changed the subject to something else. This something else was my employment.

"I'm an author and freelance editor," I said, and she immediately perked up.
"Oh! Cool, so what do you write?"
"Young Adult science fiction and fantasy—that kind of thing," I answered.

Usually, at this point in the conversation, people will nod and say, "cool" or something of the like and we'll talk about something else. That's not what happened this time, because this time it turned out the technician was a huge Young Adult and Science Fiction fan, so she basically had an excited freak out.

A really, really, really excited freak out.

What followed was her asking if I had my business cards on me (at which point I pointed to my hospital gown) and she was super excited and I pitched my book and she declared me her coolest patient and had me write down my author name so she could look me up and find my book. It was easily the most enthusiastic reception I'd ever had to revealing my author self, and remains my favorite writer story ever.

So now I want to hear from you: what's your favorite writer story?

Twitter-sized bite: 

Have a fun writer story you'd like to share? Join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)