When you're reading this, you and/or your loved ones are going to one Christmas party after another, ones your employer or your best friend is hosting. In addition to catching up with old chums, talking about old times, or sharing off-grid office humor, you're meeting new people. They talk about how work has been rough this year, their cross-country flight to see a grandbaby born (whether it's their first or tenth), and their annual summer trip to the beach with three generations' worth of family there.
But then there's an author at the other end of the table, nibbling on those tasty, homemade cheddar garlic mashed potatoes, patiently listening, sometimes commenting.
Have you asked them what they do? If you have and directed your attention back to that mother bragging about her teenage son's plans to study abroad in Ireland next spring, first of all, I forgive you. But please! Re-direct your attention back to that hard-working author who has spent so many days alone, struggling to find the time to write their novel, agonizing to find flowing words, while drinking the dregs of one cup of coffee after another. Ask them what they write, what their current work in progress is about, and how they came up with the idea. They may have writer's block. In their talking, and you intently listening, they may have an epiphany about the turning point of their story.
Most of all, ask how you can get a hold of a copy of one of their books--as a Christmas gift. You may have been stuck on what book to give that avid reader in your family. Wouldn't it be so cool if you were there when they unwrapped their gift and with wide eyes and giddiness enveloping their body and mind, they welcomed another book to their ever-growing collection and mentally added that to their TBR list? Then you can say you met the author at a Christmas party.
Having been mostly silent more times than I care to admit at gatherings, whether for Christmas or the 4th of July, and seen Yesterday a few times, I can empathize with Jack. To where I've called these taken-for-granted authors Jacks.
Yesterday is one of few movies that elicits so many emotions (like that fall-out-of-your-seat John Lennon scene). Those who have seen the movie know the part where Jack plays Let it Be for his parents...
While you may compare your Christmases to the ones portrayed in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation or Home Alone, please don't cause authors to feel like Jack (in the above scene) in Yesterday.
And how about you? How's your family? How's work going for you?
