Four Dollar Coffee

This afternoon I'm under a deadline to finish the newsletter publicizing TCA's concert next weekend. Jaci and I went to Fellows Riverside Garden this morning for the children's book fair entitled "Plant the Seed to Read." I was working at the FirstBook table; Jaci was with our friend Deb at the Treez Please table.

When we were finished with our duties, I ran her home, grabbed my laptop, and headed for someplace where I could sit in a comfortable chair with my laptop and focus on the newsletter. I ended up at Border's in Warren, as the Rosetta Stone evidently isn't open on Saturday afternoons. So much for supporting local businesses.

I sat down with my mocha and my apple tart, and a gentleman sitting at the table next to me leaned over and said, in a British accent, "I can't understand why Americans are willing to pay four dollars for some ground-up beans and hot water." I said I just wanted some quiet time with my laptop, that's why I was willing to pay the money. He didn't get the hint, because he kept talking to me. Ahhh, maybe that was his standard pick-up line. He mentioned he's from Ohio. Wait, if you're from Ohio, if you were born here, then what's with the British accent? After a while another woman walked up and sat down. She had her Bluetooth in her ear, and he asked her if it was uncomfortable. Looks like this boy was exercising all his pick-up lines (unsuccessfully) this afternoon.

But the point of this post is this: he asked if I was a writer and, without skipping a beat, I replied in the affirmative.

I don't normally think of myself as a writer. True, I am a published author, although the odds are very high that you've never seen my book. And I am employed as a technical writer. And my very first job when I dropped out of college was as a promotion and public service copy writer for a CBS affiliate.

But when I think "what am I", I first think musician, then geek, wordsmith, and fiber artist, in random order. It was fun today to realize that I am a writer. I love playing with words, looking for just the right turn of a phrase to communicate elegantly what I'm feeling or thinking. I haven't necessarily been trained in writing, but I love what I do and I'm good at it.

So I'm going to sit here with my $4.00 mocha and turn phrases in such a manner that recipients of the TCA newsletter might be compelled to pay money to buy tickets to next weekend's concert.

Y'know what? I'm a writer (she smiles).