Today’s blog is brought to you by…my laundry.
Yep, you read that right—my laundry.
I was sitting in the laundry mat, just minding my own
business, when another woman started to talk to me. I have never seen this
woman before but she was friendly and I noticed her reading a book. That was
all it took for me to start yappin with her. I know me chatting with someone is
shocking because I am so shy and retiring. (Don’t roll your eyes at me, Mia,
you know I am so quiet that you have to pull a conversation out of me when we
are on the phone or in person.)
Anyway, back to the blog.
It is a strange how the simplest thing will set your mouth
and sometimes your imagination off on a tangent that has nothing to do with
you. I had a 30 minute conversation with this complete stranger. We talked
authors and, of course, I had to pimp out some of my favorites. As a matter of
fact, I actually wrote a list for her. She normally reads Harlequin books, but
she kept hearing things about 50 Shades
so she picked that one up. I asked her how she liked it and she was hesitant to
tell me. I wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed that she read a book with BDSM or
if she was going to be embarrassed that she liked it. This lady was about 12
shades of red by the time she was finished telling me about how she was
interested in BDSM and Erotic romance. We talked about how hard it was to find
friends that were interested in reading those
kinds of books.
As we sat there discussing books, she started to feel more
and more relaxed. I was a bit afraid she was going to step into the TMI zone
but she kept it in the normal range of conversation. I told her about some of
the many groups on Facebook and that I was sure she could find a group that fit
her needs and interests. She said she had FB but only used it to keep up with
family and friends, never knowing that she could make friends on there that she
may never meet in person. I told her a bit about RP and how some of us had
never met and may never meet but that we had become close friends and that a
few of us met our best friends there.
We moved on to how I had friended several authors and that
they would actually talk to their fans. She was gobsmacked that the authors
would spend some of their time just shooting the shit with their readers. I
mentioned that a few authors even had their own groups and they ran contests
and that it was a great way to learn more about the authors. I told her that the
best part was that it was a great way to keep up with release dates and what
the author was working on and what to expect from upcoming books.
She said she had always wanted to meet and talk to a few of
her favorite authors and that she just didn’t know how to go about doing it.
This brought up The Romantic Times convention and Authors After Dark along with
some of the other conventions. She said she would look into it and hopefully be
able to go to a few. She was excited at the prospect of meeting other readers
and authors.
By the time we finished talking conventions, her laundry was
done and she said that this was the most enlightening book conversation she had
ever had at a laundry mat. She gathered her laundry up and headed out, and I
started this blog. Who knew that a great book discussion could be had with a
complete stranger that I will probably never see again.
So where is the strangest place you have ever had a book
discussion?
Sinfully Sarcastic,
Shmuttmeister
What an awesome spin on such a dreaded chore! Yay for erotic fans! As I read through this, I kept waiting for the freakishly awkwardness to hit...and she turned out to be normal! What are the chances? Great post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Willow. I was afraid she was going to TMI but nope she was completely normal
DeleteWow that is so cool. I haven't had a weird book conversation but I have had my work mates get gobsmacked by what I read especially when I gave them some of my paperbacks of Cherise, Lexi and Sophie to read. I can't wait to meet you in person Tina in just 3 months lol.
ReplyDeleteI know can you even believe it is so close !!!
DeleteI could have been that person not to long ago. I love to read but had no one to talk about my books with. Then I found all these groups on FB and it lets me talk about my books and more importantly find new authors and books from all these great groups!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean till I started to go to Kris Cook's chats I didn't know any authors. I only read 6 or 7 authors and never read erotic romance. Now I know tons of authors and can even call some of them friends.
Delete