Who would you queue for? And once you have queued, do you mind the brief and often impersonal contact achieved in 30 seconds or so? (Yes, I know, many of you stop and spend time on each fan, doodling and chatting and being friendly. But not all queuees do.)
Sara Paretsky was wondering this on her blog recently. She felt that she’d want her special Sara-ness to be recognised. So do I. My witchyness has to be acknowledged for complete happiness, but sometimes I’m willing to receive the 30 second blank stare simply to have been that close to X. It’s better than not having got close at all.
It’s the several hours in the queue I’m not too keen on. Let’s face it; I’m too old and nervous to cope well with any wait, so I don’t think I could do the Jacqueline Wilson style queue for most of the day (or was it just JW who spent eight hours signing, rather than her fans?). What makes sense is to plot and plan how you get to the beginning of the queue. Daughter and I did a careful recce in Cheltenham last year in anticipation of beating all the John Barrowman fans to it. (Not me, her.) And Michael Morpurgo at the National Theatre went accidentally well, with us just happening to be at the front.
I didn’t care enough for a Neil Gaiman signature to stand on a London street for hours that time a few years ago, when I had no idea of his cult status, and marvelled at the snake of people all over Covent Garden. When Terry Pratchett’s signing in Manchester turned into a barricade, thanks to Waterstone’s staff, we didn’t bother staying, either, despite Son’s admiration for Terry.
On the other hand, the queue for Wilbur Smith at the local bookshop last year wasn’t all that slow, despite him taking the time to shake people’s hand. Twice. And he asked people if they were ‘together’, which seems awfully risky to me.
Offspring and I stood in line to meet Sara Paretsky the first time we saw her. And she was friendly. The second time I took an alternative route, and asked to interview her, which can cut down on waiting time. It needn’t, since people often run late on tours. But you can wait sitting down, and generally you get more than the blank 30 seconds.
In theory there are people I’d wait hours for, except I don’t wait well. And close up some people can be a disappointment.
Is it my imagination or is SNOW falling on your site, Bookwitch? How seasonal! Thanks! This virtual snow I can cope with very well….
I admired the people at the Bath Kids Lit Fest who asked staff how long a given queue was likely to be after an event, then went for lunch/shopped/saw a movie and then CAME BACK just in time to join the tail-end. Genius.
It is snow. Not slippery at all, or cold, or damp.
When the pre-ordered snow appeared here yesterday, I quickly went over to my other three blogs and made it snow there too…
Elen – I have almost done that! Except sometimes you find that X has packed up and gone.
I love the wordpress snow (started on my yesterday too).
I used to do some waiting in line (as we say here in the US — New Yorkers say “on line” but I don’t), but rarely. I did it years ago to get a book signed for my nephew by Terry Pratchett and, also, years ago a couple of times for Philip Pullman. I enjoyed watching the fans both times.
I’m fortunate now in having gotten to know some of my idols and so would probably not wait in line for them although I’d probably watch the line as I still think that is fascinating.