A Brush with Greatness: Killing time in Line at the Bank

I had to run a few errands on my lunch hour yesterday – pick up a prescription and deposit a royalty check at the bank.  Of course, when I arrived at the pharmacy my prescription wasn’t ready. I insist on using my corner pharmacy in an effort to “buy local” but when my son has an ear infection I kinda need to get the antibiotics relatively quick. You can imagine my mood when I pulled into the bank and saw five cars ahead of me in line for the ATM.  The world, it had seemed, was conspiring against me.

I opted for a quick run into the bank in hopes that most of the with banking needs were just as lazy as I usually try to be and were exercising their right be lazy by  not walking the thirty feet from the parking lot to the lobby. Sadly, the line was long inside, too. 

I took my place in line and quickly morphed into full people watching mode. I love to people watch, In fact, it has to be one of my favorite past times.  That’s when I noticed the woman standing in front of me in line – she was reading her Kindle. After a few failed attempts to peek over her shoulder I was finally able to decipher what she was reading – ASYLUM LAKE.

I could tell she was far enough in to have made some sort of commitment to the book – somewhere in Chapter 9 if my memory serves. Brady had already had several encounters with the Scrabble Board and young Lionel was beyond his visit with the Reed family. If this woman were going to bail on the story she probably would have done so by now.

The line dragged along slowly as I watched this woman page along on her Kindle.  The internal debate was raging – do I introduce myself? Do Iask her if she is enjoying the story? I could feel my anxiety level rising as I wondered what to do.  Would an introduction be a cool and memorable moment or might it just come across as desperate and strange?

The pace must have picked up as I stood there debating my options. Without warning the woman was called to the counter and was soon out the door. Later, as I drove back to the office, I thought about her missed oppportunity to meet the author of such a fine tale (insert sarcasm). That’s when it hit me – the missed opportunity wasn’t hers. I had missed the opportunity to thank a reader for investing their time – and $2.99 unless she downloaded it on a free day – into my debut thriller.

You see, at the end of the day the fact that I published a book really isn’t any great feat. Trust me, anyone with a computer can upload an ebook to Amazon and call themself an author. It’s having readers that allow me to be a SUCCESSFUL author – and even that is subjective. I shouldn’t feel as though I am making a reader’s day by introducing myself, I need to focus on the fact that they have made my day by choosing one of my titles to spend their time with.

Whoiever you were, mysterious woman in line at the bank, just know that I think you’re great!

And that, my friends, was my brush with greatness.