The Occasional Oddity

Tonight was host to a magazine happy hour---I generally don't attend these but as of late, I have few excuses not to.

At these events, I always end up meeting some strange people. Tonight, I met an older gentleman who confessed to me that he has found his new passion in writing erotica. He had everyone at the table read his work. He was seeking advice, which I offered. I told him that if he wants to develop his writing skills, he needs to read more in his particular genre. HA! I mean, it's true, of course. It isn't every day that an editor or anyone else recommends people read erotica.

The other odd character I met was a young guy from Montana. He self-published a book of poetry and photography via AuthorHouse. This is the same "house" that "published" BOB. I felt kind of bad for judging him about it. I find it a bit sad that a person would be so desperate to get published that he would waste his own money doing it. Partly, my reaction to it was based on the fact that I found neither his poetry nor his photography particularly moving. The photography lacked intrigue which was only highlighted by the fact that it was poorly printed and in black and white.

Not so oddly, both these guys confessed their endorsements for Barack Obama.