I'm up in Utah right now doing school visits and getting ready to present at the LDStorymakers writing conference. I love conferences because I get to see all of my cool writing friends. Also, the bow-tied editor himself is coming out to be the keynote speaker.
I'm going to pick him up at the airport in a little while. I wonder if I should have warned him about my driving skills beforehand. Then again, most of my girl main characters are bad drivers, so if that hasn't clued him in as to why I may have to circle the airport several times before I find his terminal, well, he just needs to learn to read between the lines a little better.
Anyway, that's not what this post is about. This post is about the fact that I continually sabotage myself with my own forgetfulness. Example one: I hate hair hanging in my face, so sometimes while I style it, I'll stick two bobby pins at the sides of my hair so it will dry up and away from my face. I generally remember to take the bobby pins out when I'm done.
But I didn't on Monday when I went and spoke to a YA lit class at BYU. It wasn't until afterwards when I was running my hands through my hair that I realized they were still there. I'm hoping that since bobby pins are brown, maybe no one noticed them.
Example two: yesterday I was hurrying to go to The King's English bookstore to sign my stock and say hello to fellow author and friend, James Dashner, who was doing a book signing. Trying to be quick about things, I put my earrings in while I was curling my hair. Then I rushed off the bookstore.
It turns out James was there on Tuesday, not Wednesday--argh--but I still got to meet and chat with the ladies at King's English and sign some of my books.
It wasn't until I was going to bed last night that I looked in the mirror and noticed that I was only wearing one earring. I thought I'd lost the other one--but no, further investigation revealed that I'd only put one in.
I really shouldn't try and do two things at once and I just hope everyone I met on this trip expects authors to be eccentric people who do things like only wearing one earring at a time.
You'd think I would have learned after my infamous sandal incident. My house has a lot of tile which is hard on my feet so I have about three pairs of flip flops I wear around the house all the time. One day I couldn't find a matching pair, so I just grabbed two that didn't match. One was black and one was bright yellow.
A few hours later the school called me to come get a sick child and it wasn't until I was walking into the office that I realized I was still wearing the mismatched sandals. Yeah, this is a great way to impress the office staff. They're probably all waiting for me to do a Van Gogh and cut my ear off or something.
11 comments:
LOL! Wonder what you'll be wearing at conference tomorrow? I know, I know--a toothbrush behind your ear--right?
All the more reason not to videotape/vodcast your presentation! If it makes you feel any better, I went to church with 2 different loafers on!
If it makes you feel better, I think teenagers wear visible bobbypins in their hair these days--something we would never have been caught dead with in the 80's. Sort of like parting your hair down the middle. It just wasn't done!
The Whitney Awards...Yay! My fingers are crossed for you. I wish I could be there to hear your presentation. Break a leg!
Janette is my roommate at the conference. She had to be up early, and I didn't. Being considerate of me, she got dressed pretty much in the dark this morning. I'm looking forward to seeing how she looks.
But then, despite her protestations, Janette always looks great!
"Being considerate of me, she got dressed pretty much in the dark this morning."
Marsha,
Janette was just letting her "Pullman" show! That's just the way we are. :)
BTW, tiny "ol Pullman, WA, has two finalists, in multiple catagories, in this year's Whiteys. Good luck to Janette and Williard Boyd Gardner!
At least you were wearing all of your clothes, had all the buttons and zippers properly deployed, etc. Someday, your kids will have a hard time telling whether or not you have Alzheimer's.
Give your dad a hug and your mom a hug and a kiss from me!
letting your bobby pins show is completely fine in this day and age. i'm sure no one judged you. :)
You looked great at the conference. No worries.
My 17 yr old daughter did my hair for the conference and insisted I do the bobby pin thing because it was "cool".
Hey, I was in fashion and didn't even know it . . . there is something odd about that . . .
I was in that YA lit class . . . don't worry, I didn't notice the pins. And if I had, I probably would have written it off as a writerly quirk. And maybe used it in a book.
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