Last Night I got to hang out with Neil Gaiman, with my daughter and 1098 other fans. Tickets were free (part of the University of Calgary Distinguished Writers Program), but everyone had to have a ticket so the event wasn’t mobbed. I scored two, in an on-line registration that sold out in 16 seconds.
Gaiman is a wonderful writer, a wonderful reader of his work (with a beautiful reading voice), and funny on-stage. His voice and words washed over us, as he wove spells with his stories. He read short stories and poems, but nothing from his newest books.
He also spoke, in his understated but very funny way. “So the lovely thing about being me is that they let you do whatever you want. And it’s brilliant.” He was referring to what kind of stories he writes – he said his agent wouldn’t tell him how much a British editor offered for him to keep writing stories like American Gods, because his agent knew he likes to write whatever he wants, not what someone else wants.
And I think he nailed the value of story, especially for children who are learning about the world: “You go away and come back knowing things you didn’t know before.”
Now to work, back into my own stories, newly inspired.
Maureen