Pen to Paper

Michael Bay and Marvel had a baby!

For an hour and a half tonight, Neil Gaiman told me stories. It was beautiful.

There were a few hundred other people there, too.

Funny thing – it took me 45 minutes to drive there during rush hour, and about 12 to get home (if that).

He was as charming speaking as he is on his blog. Gaiman is an exceptionally talented person, but has a real air of humility about him (even saying something “I won a Newberry last year”) (which was followed with a digressing into how knowing the definition of “claptrap” ruins all speeches forever), you sense this is just an introduction to something else he wants to say, not a demand for praise and attention.

During the Q&A (”I will be doing the A,” Gaiman clarified), several people asked far more interesting questions that I could think of (or questions I thought of, but hadn’t phrased interestingly in my mind), and one little girl asked a simple question but was so cute we all loved her for it (and it gave Gaiman the opportunity to use more self-deprecating humor). The 2nd question, though, started off with “I’m also a writer…” and turned into the frustrating “I’m having trouble writing and want advice, can I tell you what the story’s about?…” Gaiman handled it far better than I would have, though, using it as an opportunity to get some great advice about writing in general.

So, yes. I spent an hour and a half with one of my man-crushes tonight. And a few hundred other people.

It’s really just two words: ——- Awesome.

Paced like an anime series. Well acted.