On Being “Famous”

Right off, I’m not famous—not one little bit. But sometimes, it’s fun when people are impressed that I’m an author. That happened to me twice in one day today and it does give you a warm fuzzy feeling. 

I don’t make a habit of going up to strangers and saying, “Hi, I’m Nan, I’m an author.” No, generally I get noticed as Nan Reinhardt, Romance Author, when someone asks me what I do—“I’m a freelance copy editor and a romance writer.” Or when another person, who already knows I’m an author, asks about my books in front of a group of people. 

This morning at the pool, a fellow swimmer asked when the next Women of Willow Bay was due out. I replied that it was out—Saving Sarah released on September 26. Someone else overheard our conversation and immediately asked what we were talking about. When I told her, she was really jacked because she’d never met a “real author” before. So jacked in fact, that she stepped out of her shower stall and pulled aside my curtain to see what I looked like. Oh, did I forget to mention this conversation took place in the shower area of the locker room? It did. She not only got to see a real author, she got to see one stark naked and dripping wet. End result, I promised I’d bring some swag cards to class next time—I don’t carry them in my gym bag, but apparently, I need to.

Second time was this afternoon at the hospital where I was having a biopsy done—that story is here, if you’re interested. The mammography tech asked what I was “self-employed” at doing and I told her. She was jacked, too, and wrote down all the details about getting to the Women of Willow Bay books because once again, I didn’t have any swag cards with me. We had this conversation while she was drawing on my boob, so the radiologist would know where to stick the needle for the biopsy. So you never know when the opportunity for promotion will present itself. 

All this to say, I’m learning that basically I need to keep swag cards on my person at all times, because you never know who’s going to be unnaturally and delightfully excited that they’re meeting a real author. 

How about you? Do you carry swag wherever you go on the off chance you get to tell someone about your books? I’d love to hear your, “Wow, you’re a real author?!” stories.