Almost Famous

You can rack your brain all weekend waiting for inspiration to come to you.

Or you can just sit down at your desk Monday morning and find that it was there all along. Right before your eyes.

In this case the inspiration was on a business card that had been sitting on my desk since Saturday.

On Saturday morning, I'd done a book-signing event with fellow mystery writer John Knoerle at The Book Stall at Chestnut Court in Winnetka, Illinois.
"Lost" in a bookstore  window display

Before he left, Knoerle handed me his business card, which I stuffed into my pants pocket. Upon returning to my ordinary life at home, I made sure to put Knoerle's business card on my desk so that I wouldn't forget to send him the pictures that I'd promised I'd send, something I've still yet to do (reminder to self: fulfill promise to send pictures).

At first glance, Knoerle's business card looks like a standard author's business card. There's his name, e-mail address, phone number and the cover art for his latest book, The Violin Player, a Chicago-based mystery that sounds like it would strike a sweet note for a genealogical buff like myself (reminder to self: order The Violin Player).

All weekend that business card sat on my desk. Occasionally I'd see it when I'd check e-mail but I never really looked at it.

Then this morning I saw something on the business card that I hadn't noticed before. This is what I saw:

John Knoerle

famous author

In my mind, I also saw Knoerle giving a knowing wink.

I'm sure, like me, he's had friends or family tell him, "Oh, now I can say I know a famous author."   

Not just an author. A famous one.

To be an author, you have to be a bit bold, I suppose. You are, after all, putting your words out in the public domain for all to see. Not everyone possesses enough confidence in their words to do such a thing.

To be a famous one, you just have to have a sense of humor about what you do. 

There's little doubt that Knoerle possesses a good sense of humor. If you read his bio, you learn that he began his creative endeavors as a member of the DeLuxe Radio Theatre, an early 70’s comedy troupe in Santa Barbara. He moved to LA and worked as stand up comic, opening for the likes of Jay Leno and Robin Williams at The Improv and The Comedy Store.

One of the great things about this weekend job of mine is that you get the opportunity to meet some of the most intriguing people imaginable. Like Knoerle.

One of the worst things about it is that you get paired to do your first public reading next to someone who not only has a comedy background but has a theatrical voice that rivals that of Kelsey Grammer. Like Knoerle.

Famous authors John Knoerle and Randy Richardson

Fortunately I don't think I embarrassed myself too badly. Although when I view the pictures, taken by my dear wife, I cringe when I see Knoerle's eyes shaking hands with the audience while mine hide under my striped blue-shirt.

Still, it was a good experience. Not only did I meet a famous author (see, it says so right here, on his business card) but I sold a few books, got to meet the wonderful people who work at The Book Stall (a true North Shore treasure), and even got a little bit of press coverage, which you'll likely be reading about here on this blog on Wednesday. 

Best of all, a friend that I hadn't seen in fifteen years came, albeit too late to witness my awe-inspiring reading debut (see, it was awe-inspiring, it says so right on his blog). On this blog you frequently see her name as the commenter, Marybeth. Way back when I was an undergraduate we exchanged notes back and forth between our library carrels. Anything to keep us from doing what we were supposed to be doing in the library: studying.

I still have all those notes with the Marybeth postage stamps drawn on them. They were in some ways the beginning of my writing career.   

A fringe benefit of writing a book -- one that I hadn't seen coming -- is its ability to draw people back into your life that you may have thought lost forever. It is perhaps the greatest reward I could have gotten from my words.

They all tease that they knew me before I became "the famous author." Sometimes that's all it takes to make you feel famous. Even when you're not.  

Comments

[Marybeth]

Yeah! now I am a famous blog reader!! You may have been avoiding your studies. I;however, was trying to inspire a reluctant writer - guess my job is done!! Keep up the wonderful writings! Since you exposed my flaw of always being late, I will have to point out your spelling error of MY NAME! So much for loyal friendship:) I am upset that I missed the awe-inspiring reading- the awe part being that you actually read aloud in front of people. Get used to it I have a feeling more people are going to want to hear from you. It was really great to see you again.

[Randy Richardson]

Marybeth,

I apologize for misspelling your name. It's been corrected on the blog entry, so all future blog readers will know the real famous blog reader, Marybeth.Of course, now that you're famous, you might want to change your name anyways. Otherwise you'll have long-lost relatives calling you up asking for money.

Randy

[storyteller]

Poet Laureate Ted Kooser offers a humerous perspective on fame in his poem, "Success," read during an interview on NPR - it's in the first minute, so take a listen at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4965544

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