Last night I did something I haven’t done in a while: I went out for beer and ribs with a couple writer friends of mine to just…well to just talk.
I’ve heard different people say that talking about writing is a lot like literary masturbation (yes, I just said that). Essentially, they are saying that it is fun to talk about writing but it doesn’t ultimately get any writing done.
That is absolutely true, but what they fail to say in that rather disturbing turn-of-phrase is that sometimes it’s good to just talk shop. Take a break from the actual work and talk about what has us excited about our projects. That excitement is sometimes lost when we’re in the trenches actually plugging away.
It was rejuvenating for me and for my friends too (I’ve already heard from both of them this morning asking when we can get together again). I was able to sleep last night for only the second time in weeks (mind is always way too busy to shut off) and I’m actually looking forward to a couple projects that have been dragging.
Cute Moment of the Night
My one friend brought two books that he had just received from the publisher. They are respectively the first and second books he has had published. He had graciously brought us copies which he was signing when our waitress came by. I made a big production of mentioning to her that here was a soon-to-be-famous author signing his new books.
Her eyes widened and she asked a couple questions of the group, pausing to thumb through one of the books.
Nothing more happened for a couple hours (around the books) but, just as she was about to go off shift she dropped by our table and tentatively asked if we were all authors. I said yes, we all were authors just getting together for a social night. She then asked (more than a little shyly) if she could have our autographs.
We all laughed because collectively we probably don’t even come close to a good mid-list author but we agreed to write down the titles of our books and each gave her our autograph.
It was fun. And it was funny. And it was sort of gratifying.
