I bought a few pity books at the Literacy Signing yesterday, mostly from writers I’d never heard of and a few in genres I never read. I’m not entirely sure why. I’ve been in a heady sort of limbo the last few days. With my PAN status I’ve been elevated to one of the coveted slots, being identified as a published author…but without an actual book to pimp. And it’s a weird thing to be around so many people, where they look at your face and then half a second later their eyes drop to your badge – like an instantaneous judgement – are you PAN? PRO? neither? an industry professional? Are you *someone*? And you can see the dismissal as people evaluate and move on. On the other hand, I’ve had perfectly lovely conversations with strangers in the hallway or at the luncheons, where once you get past the… Read more