Day 19

I enjoy weekends. I get to sleep in and be relatively unproductive for the entire day. Today was really no exception to that rule, but I actually accomplished some things today.

I woke up around 8:30, which is still sleeping in, and listened to the music on my radio for a little bit. Then I got up, showered, and went to the kitchen for breakfast. There were donuts on the table; not having to make myself breakfast helped move me on with my schedule much more quickly. I went to church and then came home to do some work on a research job I'm consulting on.

After a few hours on the Internet, I went to the mall. I had planned on just walking around and people watching - you'll have no idea how fun it is to just watch crowds of people until you do it for yourself. I shopped through a couple of computer stores and then parked myself in a bookstore.

I like to read the comic books and graphic novels they have set out. They tend to be short and the artwork is always fairly well done. I read two different graphic novels and the newest superhero comic book before the employees noticed me and gave me an ultimatum: "Either buy something, or leave."

I put my reading material away and walked up to the front of the store. To my surprise, there was a book signing at the front of the store. I walked over to the table and looked at the books strewn across it. It was one of my favorite authors!

Ironically, though, there wasn't anyone else at the table and no one seemed to be walking towards him. I took the opportunity to have a nice conversation with the man. We talked about his current book, all of the other books I had read, and even the projects he had coming up.

Our conversation went so well that he offered me a ride home after the signing was over. It had come up in our chat that I write a lot on my own and he was very interested in reading my work. When we got to my house, I pulled out a couple of short stories that I had finished recently for him. I was elated to see how impressed he was with my work.

My idol, impressed with my work.

We exchanged business cards before he left. He wants to work with my on one of his future projects. He's co-authoring a book with someone from Europe and they wanted a third writer on the project. He did say he's have to talk with his partner before anything could be finalized, but I'm optimistic.

I know this might sound dorky to you, but it would be like a basketball fan being asked to play a game of 2-on-2 as Michael Jordan's partner.

How cool would that be?

Day 19 of 100 - Summary: Networking with strangers can be incredibly productive.