Big Fish in a Moderately-sized Southern City

Daniel Wallace was in town last night for The 2010 Southern Writers Series. My wife and a good friend of mine made it out to the Richland County Public Library for a Reading-Q&A Session-Signing. Daniel read from a novel he just finished writing. It's really a wonderful thing to hear an author speak his own words. You get a better sense of the rhythm and mood when an author reads his work. After reading from his freshly-completed novel, which sounds like it will be fantastic, the floor was opened for questions. The folks who had gathered asked some good questions, and Daniel was ready with good answers.

One of the things he said that really stood out to me was having to do with being a writer. As a writer, he said, you think that it's your job, but really it's not. You write in your free time, between hours at your job and hours with your family. Essentially, and this is my paraphrase, being a writer is what you are, not what you do. On being published, he said that there is really no difference between being published and being unpublished. It only feels different to the one who hasn't been published yet.

After the Q&A session, Daniel went to the back of the room for a signing. I only had a couple things for him to sign. But it was nice to meet him. He's got a very gracious and humble attitude. I boldly asked for, and he graciously gave me, one of the pages from his reading. He inscribed it to my wife and I, and titled and dated it (I would post a picture of it, but I won't feel comfortable with that until the book is published).