Greetings!
Last Tuesday I was in a store at the deli counter waiting for my turn. After quite a while, the same ticket number remained on the visitor monitor. The three deli workers were busy helping customers with that number and numbers before that. Since there were six numbers ahead of my number, I waited patiently.
I saw a man walked toward the deli department. He seemed to look at the display items around the counter, yet I saw him glanced over my direction a couple of times. When he was a little bit closer (i.e. a few feet away), he looked at me and said, "I want to tell you that you can self-publish a book." My immediate thought was I must have heard it wrong! I looked at him. He seemed to be a quiet gentleman (i.e. he was not someone who was openly friendly that would strike a conversation with anyone). I asked, "What did you just say?" He paused and did not answer right away. Then he said, "I have self-published a book." I was relieved that I had heard it wrong. How unthinkable it would be if he, a total stranger, really said what I thought I heard.
I said, "You have self-published a book! That's great!" He told me the title of his book, and said it was listed on 26 browsers globally. He said his book was on demand, and sold in many countries. He mentioned some countries. He said his book could help people in many different ways. Then he went on to tell me how he self-published his book in great detail.
Since there were other people around, we talked in a soft voice. I could not listen with my whole attention. My focus was on the deli visitor monitor and the deli counter for I did not want to miss my turn. As a result, sometimes I did not hear clearly of what he said. Besides, we were talking with our masks on. (In our state, we were required to wear masks.) He told me about the publisher that helped people to self-publish books. The publisher's name had a sound similar to a Chinese last name. For a brief second, I thought "Oh, it is a Chinese company!" As he mentioned the publisher again, I realized it was my misunderstanding. I kind of laughed within realizing the cultural effect in my listening / understanding. I asked if he had to pay any money up front. He said he had to sign a contract and pay a down payment. He related the fee in total. I said, "It is a lot of money!" He said he was not a writer, and used to work as an engineer. He submitted what he wrote, and the publisher did the rest. By self-publishing his book, he got to keep 80% of the sales while the publisher only got 20%.
I asked him, "How long does it take for you to write the book?" He said, "Five and a half years." I said, "Wow, you spent that many years to write the book! What cause you to write the book?" He said, "I answer to the calling." I did not expect to hear this answer. He continued to give me some more details about his book, e.g. the size, number of pages and the color of the cover. I observed it was almost my turn. I asked, "May I know your name?" Though he had repeated his name, I only kind of got his first name. The deli worker called my number, and our conversation ended.
He talked in length about his book and how he self published the book. I did not hear the title of his book clearly. I also did not remember his last name. Without clear information, I was not successful in looking up his book online.
It was not that unusual that people wanted to start a conversation with another customer in a store. Later at home, this chance meeting reminded me of other occasions that strangers suggested for me to write or keep writing.
I was with the Thursday Circle when it happened for the first time. The holistic center held classes and meetings throughout the week in the morning as well as at night. On certain weekdays, there were on-site healers and psychics. During the Thursday Circle, people sometimes walked in to join us. I observed they might be new to me, but oftentimes most of them were familiar with the teacher of the circle. It was probably because I did not attend other classes or meetings. One day, we had a few new faces. When the meeting was over, a woman stopped me while I was on my way out of the center. If I recalled correctly, the teacher had introduced her as a known psychic who had her own radio talk show. She talked about me writing. Immediately, I said, "No, I don't write. My English is not good." She said, "You do write. You write about your sons and other things that happened in life. You think nobody is going to read them, but people are going to read what you write. Keep writing." I believed she also talked about using the computer or Internet. At the time, I did not have an email address, and knew nothing about the Internet. As I wrote, I was not into asking questions. I walked out of the center feeling very unsettled.
Sometimes I looked back and questioned myself, "What is wrong with me? Why didn't I ask questions. I could have learned what to do or more about myself."
For example, in A strange conversation with a professor , I could have asked to talk to the medium and the professor, but I did not. There was one time in my experiences that I actually prayed to the divine for a second chance to talk to a woman. (Re The Lesson of Importance )
When people I did not know well talked to me, I seldom asked questions. Many times I felt unsettled afterward.
Writing this post made me realize I should change. I have decided that I will ask questions if similar situations happen again. As the Thursday Circle teacher used to say, "It was the you then. What has it got to do with the you now?"
Was Tuesday's talk about self-publishing a book merely a chance meeting that bore no significance? Had I ever thought of writing a book?
Good Night!
Love and Blessings,
Q of D
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