I am a confessed people
watcher. Hate sitting in doctors’ waiting rooms but I amuse myself by watching
the people and imagining their lives, illnesses, personalities, and the like.
It’s much more fun in restaurants or airports where the stories about the
people are liable to be happier. But do you ever eavesdrop on conversations?
Come one, tell the truth! I know I do, though with poor hearing it’s not so
easy any more. Still, lots of mystery writers get ideas from conversations
overheard, and I’m no exception.
But last night the tables
were turned on me. I was in a restaurant with a friend, and we were discussing
another well-known restaurant in town. I mentioned that it appears in my
current work-in-progress—in disguise of course but it’s the one I had in mind. “It’s
very black part of the novel,” I said (as if I write very black!). I must have
spoken more loudly than I thought because I saw the young woman at the next
table turn around and look at me. From then on, she stole glances at our table.
As we were about to leave,
she turned and said, “Excuse me, but did one of you say you write mysteries?”
My companion was sitting closest to the other table and launched into almost a
rundown of my career. Enthusiastically, she described my books, my time at TCU
Press, and all the time the woman nodded, said appropriate words of interest,
including “I love mysteries” and “I read 85 books last year.” My kind of
person. She said she was a stay-at-home mom and had a lot of time to read, so I
asked how old her children are. You could have knocked me off my chair when she
said two were grown and gone and she had a teenager at home—and she said she
was 47. I’d have given her 30!
When I could get a word in to
Mary’s promotional speech, I asked if our new friend wanted me to add her to my
mailing list. She did and wrote out her email.
I came home, sent her my
latest newsletter, and had an almost instant reply saying she would look up my
books and promising to be a fan.
Dinner was good; finding a
new fan may even have been better.
Want to be on my newsletter
list? Email me at j.alter@tcu.edu.
I promise I only do a newsletter when I have something to shout about.
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