Visiting the Gothenburg Book Fair with Erik Lundh

Erik Lundh at the Gothenburg Book Fair 2010.
 I visited the 2010 Gothenburg Book Fair last Sunday. It was partly because of the books. I really, really, like books.

Mostly, it was to meet Erik Lundh. Erik is a well known agile coach. When Erik told me he, his family, and a friend of his were coming to the fair, it tipped the scale in favor of a visit.

While Erik and I were talking, which we did a lot of, I mentioned a problem I had with finding a good hook for a presentation I am working on. Erik offered to help. I accepted, and he dug into my brains to see if there was usable story in there somewhere.

There was, though we had to do a lot of hands on sifting to find it. Afterwards I scooped up the wrangled remains of my brains from the table, put it back where it belongs and screwed the lid back on.

The funny thing is that once my writer's block, well, presenter's block, had been removed, several other ideas that had been fluttering about in my head, searching for a context to live in, suddenly found a home.

I think the presentation will work out very well. Too early to give you any details, but watch this blog for more.

Oh, yes, Erik asked me if I could autograph his copy of my business strategy book Tempo!, which I of course did. It was a close call, because it nearly brought back my writer's block. I felt very un-authorlike.  I even tried to weasel out by claiming my handwriting is so poor it would reduce the value of the book. As you can see, I finally did pull myself together and write.

I wonder if any other authors find it as difficult to write dedications and autographs as I do. The problem is that I want to do it just right. I want to hit the right feeling with just a sentence or very short paragraph, and that is difficult.

I think the autograph writing business went well in the end. I probably didn't devalue the book too much.

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