I was just saying on Facebook this morning that I never know what to say when meeting people I admire. I turn into a gibbering idiot. What I mean is, “Your work made me think about the world differently, gave me hope when I really needed it, forced me to reconsider how I dealt with all the things we’re taught to fear and hate, and I really think your story made me a better person” and what comes out is, more often than not, “um, hi, I really love your books.”
I said that to Laurie King after having rehearsed in my head two dozen questions about Holmes and Mary and the May-December mentor-apprentice relationship and how teaching somebody something is so intimate and how easy that is to tip over into this whole thing without any boundaries at all and how she was the first author I ever read who GOT that, really got it. I said “I love your books” and went out into my car and banged my head on the steering wheel for a while.
Which was a head better than when I met Herb Brooks and could barely SPEAK.
What amazing encounters have you all had with people you admire?
A.