Miami Book Fair

Spent a lovely afternoon with the family yesterday, visiting the Miami Book Fair on it's final day. Found many good deals on used books, bought a handful of new books (including an autographed copy of Adam Johnson's "The Orphan Master's Son"), and attended some very interesting and entertaining lectures and readings by contemporary authors. We've done this before and it's always a treat. On this occasion we took my daughter (nearly 13) and my sister in law. My wife had a list of lectures she was interested in and I had my own. She grabbed her sister, I took my daughter, and off we went our separate ways. It worked out well and I believe my daughter had a wonderful, educational time.
One of the lectures we attended was comprised of three authors, all of them writers of Young Adult fiction. I thought my daughter might find it interesting to hear directly from authors regarding books she might actually read. We decided to purchase novels from two of them. It was a whole new experience for her. I'm hoping she's discussing her day with her schoolmates today and speaking about it in glowing terms. Any encouragement these kids can get toward enjoying books is an improvement over the status quo.
I received a different type of encouragement myself, yesterday. Watching and listening to all these authors gives me a sense of longing to be there, speaking as an author and reading excerpts of my work. I need to break through the research phase and begin the actual writing. I'm afraid I'm stalling at this point and it's scaring me. I don't want to be a potential writer anymore; somebody who is capable of writing a novel, just hasn't done it yet. If I wait any longer I'll simply be somebody who never wrote anything. A nobody.
We all got together at the final lecture, one that both my wife and I had on our lists: Jaime Bayly. It was terrific and a perfect way to end the day. Walked a couple of blocks to my car and we left downtown, heading home. On the way there, we compared titles and exchanged anecdotes. Everybody had a story to tell. Can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Can't wait 'til next year!