(I moved this over here from HarryAHistory.com because I feel like it fits better here.)
The reading of my book at Terminus was one of the best nights of my life. It immediately followed a live PotterCast - one which was two hours and one before which I drank far too much water. Even after all the normal melee that accompanies the end of a podcast, I had a trip to make. So I was very late. I also hadn't eaten in hours, and a miraculous Lizzie, reading my mind as usual, shoved a bag of pretzels in my hand. It was about then that Brian of Draco and the Malfoys noticed I was shaking and dropping things. He walked with me to the ladies' room, waited outside for me, all the while talking in this slow, calming voice as though talking a person off a ledge. When we finally got to the room to find it full, I started to walk to the front. Until I realized I didn't have my book. There was Lizzie again, handing it to me. And I dropped it. Someone gave me water and I dropped that; I handed off my bag to a waiting staffer, but not before I dropped it. It was a farce.
I knew I'd be nervous, just not crushingly so. Still, it got better once I got up there, and, well, the rest of it is on YouTube somewhere if you're interested (and don't mind a very fast-talking author; I swear I'll slow down in the future). In my head a brilliant response to the reading would have been some laughs and good applause when I was through; so, when I looked up from the last line to see the room rising, the crowd looking like a wave coming to crash at my feet, I got a physical check, an actual stagger. It's very good that I was already sitting.
(Also, thank you to the people who extended the flattery to an even higher level by hanging with me in the elevator lobby and talking; I wanted to extend the night as much as you guys did, and it was such a wonderful come-down, cool-off, to have most of my nerves expunged and have a nice, calm chat with awesome Potter fans. Thank you.)
