Mr. Neil Gaiman

What to say about last night?

It could be lack of sleep, but the whole thing is kinda jumbled together in my mind. Mainly impressions.

--Neil is shorter than I expected, but I expected he'd be shorter than he looks in pictures. If that makes any sense.
--He's quite at home on the stage. Not fakey comfortable like I did at AI, but really comfortable.
--A great reader. Does voices and everything.
--Manages to be down to Earth while dropping names. But it doesn't seem like name-dropping because he seems truly awed to know these people (Dave McKean, Charles Vess, Tori Amos, Amanda Palmer, Terry Gilliam, Terry Pratchett, etc.)
--Very funny, and can ad lib. (or has prepared what seem like ad libs and delivers them as if they are off the cuff)
--Coraline looks amazing. Even with the technical glitch in the middle that caused previous groups to go mmmmmrrrrMMMMMMMRRrrrmmmm.
--Will buy Blueberry Girl for Elizabeth and Clerissa as soon as it comes out.
--I liked what I heard of The Graveyard Book. Like Ali, I focused more on nuts and bolts than I probably would have. Caught many things that a former critique group would have just reamed him about. But it worked in the story.
--Definitely want any audio versions of his books that he reads.
--Neil telling us about the reaction of the LA group when he stopped at the halfway point of Chapter 7.
--Boulder group had great questions but horrible handwriting. Apparently, LA was just the opposite.
--Neil's favorite breakfast is "probably a cheese omelette, but only if I make it." He was a bit nonplussed that anyone would use their one question to ask that of a published author.
--A little over a month ago, I started using a different color ink in my Vesta notebook each day so it was easier to tell how much I'd written that day. Seems one Mr. Gaiman does the same. "Page and a half. Horrible day. I suck."
--Event organizers seem never to be all that organized. There was a traffic jam at the inner door after the reading as people who didn't get the book before the show lined up in the lobby to get it after. The people who just wanted to leave had a hard time getting around the clump. Make one door the actual Exit door and the other the one for shoppers. Easy fix, but noooo.
--With apologies to anyone from PPW who might read this: This was by far the best perk I've gotten from being a volunteer. Second row, stage right, two in from the aisle. Reserved seats. Gotta love it.
--Must save some dubloons for next trip to Beads, Beads, Beads.

That's all that's coming to mind right now. If you ever get the chance to see Neil Gaiman in person, do it. He's amazing.

October Goals

Oops. Forgot to post these--again. Last month was:

Done--Rewrite 2 chapters of MMG.
Done (barely)--Write 31 pages of Vesta.
Done--Quick polish of Vesta for CWC.
Done--Complete CWC critiques. (3/3)

Done and dusted, just by the tips of my fingernails. If I'd clipped them, well, failure.

This month? More of the same. With an addition of Ali's challenge about reading a little differently.

--Rewrite 2 chapters of MMG.
--Write 31 pages of Vesta.
--Complete CWC critiques.
--Read Dexter and The Graveyard Book with an eye to "nuts and bolts."