Sunday, October 21, 2007

Collaboration/The Life of the Party


So, Michael Reaves, my sometime-collaborator and long-time friend, is coming up from L.A. for a short visit. We have a book-signing on the Star Wars novel at the local Powell's next week, and will hang out for a few days bracketing that.

Reaves and I go back almost thirty years. We have collaborated on several novels, short stories, and a bunch of kidvid animation for the tube. Currently, we are working on a fat fantasy novel, the first draft of which I hope to have done by Christmas. (Since this book is being written on- spec and not on a deadline, we may do something with it we haven't done in a while -- have people read it and offer comments we can use for the rewrite. More on that as it develops.)

Kicking around with an old pal for a few days will disrupt my home-alone-hermit-routine a bit, but is not that much of a challenge to an introvert.

Last night, Dianne and I went to a birthday party for a woman we know, a real sweetheart, Nancy. She and her husband Bob are great to sit down and visit with, smart, funny, talented, but in a house full of people, most of whom Dianne and I didn't know, we realized once again how tiring that small-talk party experience can be. Bright folks -- lawyers, doctors, singers, musicians, artists, teachers, but above our critical mass.

After a while, it starts to become for us a Phil Spector production: A wall of sound ...

Highlight of the gathering was when Bob gave Nancy a kitten; last year, they lost both their cats on the same day. One was terminally ill and had to be put down. The other was hit by a car while they were at the vet's. New kitty is nine weeks old, adorable, and named "Ella," after the jazz singer, Ella Fitzgerald.

Um. Anyway, what I find is that I am much better talking to folks one-on-one, or in small groups, and especially with folks who share likes or values. Talking to writers. Discussing current event with somebody who keeps up. Having a beer with the silat gang. At science fiction conventions when I have what they call Small Group sessions.

At a gathering full of strangers, I tend to become a wallflower ...

8 comments:

  1. Kind of find it hard to beleive after me you, but then remeber I'm pretty much the same way. So, I can sympatthize with you.

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  2. So when's the reading? Post the date-- Todd and I will see if we can stop by to heckle...

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  3. What the heck happened to my spelling? Looks like I wrote it while drunk....

    Anyways, I think you understood what I meant.

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  4. Tuesday next, seven p.m. Powell's, Beaverton ...

    Yeah, I know -- I put on a pretty good dog and pony show when I'm in my writer-in-public mode ...

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  5. Same way, and I think pretty common for people like us. I'm great in small groups, lousy and downright antisocial in mid-sized groups, and just fine when thousands of people are watching me.

    I took a personality test once that said "You're an artist. Or maybe Madonna."

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  6. My wife brought home a book recently by somebody who had done the research. Apparently the introverts are outnumbered by the extroverts two-to-one.

    I would have thought there were more of us, but that's probably because most of the writers I know are wallflowers, too. Couple-three come to mind who aren't -- Barnes, Jean Auel, maybe David Gerrold. Not sure about David, could just be his con-persona. Barnes seems genuinely happy out and about, and Jean does, too.

    Lot of folks are good at hiding it. Johnny Carson was an introvert -- once he retired, he didn't stay in the limelight.

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  7. Brad --

    Yeah, Typoman dogs my postings, too. Looks fine when I hit the return key, but morphs once it hits the net.

    How'd the job thing go? You still having to fly off to Africa so often?

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  8. Actually went back to Dallas twice. No Africa this month, 2 weeks next month.

    And should be in Seattle Feb/Mar of next year.

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