KB Inglee
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Touching Greatness

9/23/2014

7 Comments

 
Because I am a writer and belong to several writers' groups I know quite a few well regarded writers. Some of them would even admit to knowing me.

I have met and had conversations with many more. I'm sure Robert B. Parker, Sue Grafton, Lee Childs, and dozens more, had no memory of me once our conversation ended.

Was that name dropping? Well, this is going to be a blog about name dropping.

I often wonder why the near misses are the encounters I remember.

When I was newly married I worked on Cape Cod, an hour's ride from home. One of the people I worked with suggested we get our Christmas tree off her land. She had a stand of lovely cedars just the right size. Once we had chosen the tree and cut it she admitted that maybe we had crossed the line onto Kurt Vonnegut's place and actually stolen the tree from him.

One day walking past the Harvard Museum, I passed a man, clearly a professor, talking to parents about the use of the internet. This was back when I was doing my first draft longhand and my second on my typewriter. I knew that Stephen Jay Gould had an office in that building. I gobbled up his magazine columns and owned at least one of his books. I convinced myself that this man who was struggling to be kind to parents, was in fact SJG.

When I was in college I lived in Maine. I was in graduate school when my father died in a Maine hospital. Some years later I found out that at the time an unpublished Stephen King worked in the laundry in that hospital. Did he wash my father's sheets?

My favorite radio host keeps mentioning places on the air that are close enough for me to walk to. I know he is from around here and maybe lives here now, or his family does. Since he is a radio host all I have to go on is his professional photo, so I am sure I wouldn't recognize him in a restaurant or bicycling by my house.

When I joined Sisters in Crime, they sent me a list of mystery writers by zip code. I was able to track most of them down, but there was one I couldn't find no matter what. Charles Todd seemed not to exist at all. There was a perfectly good reason for that. It took me years to solve the mystery. Turns out CT is a mother and son writing team and neither bore the name Charles Todd. I did in fact track them down, and become friends.

Funny that I have saved up these near brushes with fame. I imagine everyone has them. I'd love for you to tell me some of yours.

7 Comments
Claire
9/22/2014 10:14:31 pm

I think we all do this to a certain degree. I confess to doing so from time to time - don't go around all the time saying I'm friends with Max Gail (Wojo from Barney Miller) but it's true. And yesterday we were talking at work about Lois Lane from Superman comics and I said I'd met Noel Neill, who played Lois in the original TV series, had picked her up at the airport and taken her to an appearance at Northeastern University. The best part was going out for drinks afterwards with a bunch of students.

Admitting to doing it, that's usually quite another thing. I think we try to be so casual about it...like it's an everyday occurrence.

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KB link
9/23/2014 04:26:56 am

Even famous people have to have friends, so why not us.

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kaye george link
9/23/2014 03:33:34 am

Mine might be more removed than yours. An employer's college roommate was Paula Prentiss. And I was born in the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles. My mother says she would spot famous people in the hallways. I don't remember exactly who she said, but I always imagine Bing Crosby and Bob Hope looked in on me. Oh, and once when were waiting in for a seat at Home Slice in Austin, our son told us that was Lance Armstrong with his family at the table next to us while we waited.

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KB link
9/23/2014 04:29:41 am

I hope Bing sang to you.

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kaye george link
9/23/2014 05:22:04 am

Maybe that's why I always adored both those men.

Ramona DeFelice Long link
9/23/2014 08:01:48 pm

I consider all of my author friends famous--or on their way to fame. I'm happy to be along as an observer.

Reply
KB link
9/23/2014 08:49:49 pm

Hardly simply an observer.

Reply



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    The best advice anyone gave me about writing historicals was that you need to experience what you are writing about. The result has been not only more believable settings but a wonderful job teaching history to kids at living history museums.

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