Ask the Author: Nikki Weber
Answered Questions (2)
Nikki Weber
My TBR for this summer has gone completely off the rails, but I do have one particular goal: to read books by 3 new-to-me authors who will be attending the Ashland Mystery Festival in Oregon in October. I'll be attending (as a fan, not a presenting author), and I really want to know some of the characters and writing styles for the authors who will be presenting/meeting fans.
Here's a funny (mortifying) story: back in 2018, when I was an active blogger writing about podcasts, I went to a podcasting event for fans. I met several of my favorite podcasters, but I missed the keynote address by a VERY popular podcaster. At the time, I wasn't using much social media, so I didn't know what he looked like. I missed the keynote because I was volunteering at a booth...the booth where this very same podcaster would be a half an hour later.
When said podcaster arrived at the booth and asked a question about where the presenters were supposed to go, I spoke to him like he was any ol' guy, and even pointed out a different podcaster, as if I was telling him something he didn't know. Ten minutes later, when I realized who he was, I wanted to run and hide.
So, believe me when I say: I will be attending the Ashland Mystery Festival with photos in my phone of each author, so that I don't make a fool of myself! :)
Here's a funny (mortifying) story: back in 2018, when I was an active blogger writing about podcasts, I went to a podcasting event for fans. I met several of my favorite podcasters, but I missed the keynote address by a VERY popular podcaster. At the time, I wasn't using much social media, so I didn't know what he looked like. I missed the keynote because I was volunteering at a booth...the booth where this very same podcaster would be a half an hour later.
When said podcaster arrived at the booth and asked a question about where the presenters were supposed to go, I spoke to him like he was any ol' guy, and even pointed out a different podcaster, as if I was telling him something he didn't know. Ten minutes later, when I realized who he was, I wanted to run and hide.
So, believe me when I say: I will be attending the Ashland Mystery Festival with photos in my phone of each author, so that I don't make a fool of myself! :)
Nikki Weber
Oh, this is an easy one, and it's even related to writing! When I was eleven years old, I had a teacher who was really into creative writing. She gave us an assignment to write a story, and we wrote it in phases/chunks over several weeks, with lessons about writing and "show don't tell" all along the way.
In the end, I had written a story (approximately 5K words) called The Boy Who Turned To Stone. One of the plot points was something about tears falling from the eyes of the boy who had been turned into a stone statue. I wish I could remember more details about it. I know it wasn't a witch who turned him to stone (I don't like reading or writing about witches), but not much else.
The reason I don't know anything else about the story is because, after it received praise from other teachers and I won an award for it, the teacher lost my story. This was back in the day when it was all hand-written (we weren't doing word processing on computers yet, just playing The Oregon Trail), so there was only one copy.
When I asked her to check her teacher's bag and her home, she said it wasn't there. She swore it was gone. I was pretty disappointed, but my parents -- who have two other kids and aren't very precious about things like this -- were outraged and they swear that the teacher kept the story and was going to "do something" with it, like publish a kids book by plagiarizing my work!
I'm not too broken up about it now, but it is definitely one of those mysteries that we'll always wonder about.
In the end, I had written a story (approximately 5K words) called The Boy Who Turned To Stone. One of the plot points was something about tears falling from the eyes of the boy who had been turned into a stone statue. I wish I could remember more details about it. I know it wasn't a witch who turned him to stone (I don't like reading or writing about witches), but not much else.
The reason I don't know anything else about the story is because, after it received praise from other teachers and I won an award for it, the teacher lost my story. This was back in the day when it was all hand-written (we weren't doing word processing on computers yet, just playing The Oregon Trail), so there was only one copy.
When I asked her to check her teacher's bag and her home, she said it wasn't there. She swore it was gone. I was pretty disappointed, but my parents -- who have two other kids and aren't very precious about things like this -- were outraged and they swear that the teacher kept the story and was going to "do something" with it, like publish a kids book by plagiarizing my work!
I'm not too broken up about it now, but it is definitely one of those mysteries that we'll always wonder about.
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