Justine Larbalestier

reading, writing, eating, drinking, sport

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RW2: Jetlag, my favourite fruit, and signing etiquette

Pt wants to know how to cope with jetlag. I have but two pearls of wisdom:

    1) Be very very rich and fly first class. On those rare occasions I’ve been upgraded to business class I’ve recovered from jetlag many days earlier than when I fly cattle class. I can only imagine how much faster the whole thing would be in first class. Or in your own private jet. Or if you could teleport. I would not say no to a door between Sydney and New York either . . .

    2) Don’t fly anywhere. You get no jetlag and the environment will thank you.

Little Willow asks what my favourite fruits are and gets extra points for being an American and spelling “favourite” correctly.

I may possibly have mentioned my love for mangosteens. I am also dead fond of mangoes (I read this wonderful novel recently that featured a character eating a mango for the first time without knowing what it was), pineapples, rambutan, figs, longan, lychees, dates, custard apples (I just realised I haven’t eaten one in at least two years. Crap. That’s what I get for missing Sydney winters), apples (when they’re crisp and not even slightly floury), grapes (especially champagne grapes), nectarines, sugar bananas, peaches, passionfruit, dragonfruit, these amazing brown fruit I had in Thailand that I can’t remember the name of sapodillas, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, mullberries, boysenberries, cape gooseberries and apricots.

I’m sure there’s some others that I just can’t think of right now. It’s much easier to say which fruits I’m not in love with: paw paw and grapefruit, but if there’s no other fruit going I’ll eat them. I just won’t melt with joy as I do so.

If I could only live off one food group I’d go the fruit and veg with major emphasis on the fruit part. I loves them. Anyone who does not love fruit is deeply weird and suspect.

Rebecca asks:

book signing etiquette. ex. 1: is it a bad idea to bring every book the author has ever written, even if they’ve written, like, 20? is it okay for book signees to start conversations with the author, or will that be considered rude for holding up the line?

It’s entirely dependent on how long the queue is.

If it’s short then most authors will be grateful to you for showing up at all. When they see you have all their books they may cry. Authors with teeny tiny signing queues are more likely to start a conversation with you than the other way round. They may not let you go at all. The thought of the queue going from miniscule to non-existent is too frightening for them. If this happens to you, smile politely, ask them questions, and as soon as another of the writer’s fans shows up, back away slowly and make good your escape.

I have no advice for you if no other fan shows up. It may get tricky and involve staging a diversion. I imagine Maureen Johnson would have some excellent suggestions, but I fear they would involve a stun gun.

If the line is very very very long then they’ll probably have a limit on how many books you can sign, and the author may be too ecstatic with joy at the size of their queue to be capable of coherent conversation.

But I can only surmise. I have never had a queue of unusual length (QOUL). It’s something I aspire to, like having my name bigger than the title on my books. Some day . . .

Posted by Justine at 0:06, 25 January 2007 under Bloggery, Cons & Other Gatherings, Food, Frippery, Mangosteens, Ranting, Travelling, Writing life | 5 Comments »

Comments

  1. Little Willow Says:

    Thank you. Favourite is so much prettier with the u – and so is colour.

    You have just proven that you are the real Justine by mentioning mangosteens.

    I love fruits and veggies. My favorite fruit = strawberries. I am a vegetarian.

    January 25th, 2007 at 1:35 AM

  2. Rachel Brown Says:

    If the brown fruits looks like kiwis on the outside but are brown inside with a few black seeds and taste somewhat like dates and brown sugar, they are called chikus or sapodillas. Is this them? http://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com/sapodilla/pages/Tikal-Sapodilla.htm

    January 25th, 2007 at 5:15 AM

  3. Rebecca Says:

    thanks! :D and what about blackberries? those things make me melt. *sigh*

    stun guns, hehehehehehe.

    January 25th, 2007 at 5:48 AM

  4. Perry Middlemiss Says:

    I’ve only started to suffer from jetlag since I started travelling with children. They have a tendency to sleep when tired and seem to get over the jt problems faster than their parents. The trouble is their method conflicts with mine; which usually amounts to getting outside in the daylight as much as possible the first day, drinking lots of water, walking all day and staying awake until it’s dark.

    Haven’t had the chance to be upgraded to first or business class on a long-haul flight as yet. Best I’ve had is one of the emergency exits.

    January 25th, 2007 at 9:22 AM

  5. 5. Justine Says:

    Rachel Brown: Thank you! That is indeed the fruit. Yum!

    Rebecca: Added. I love all berries.

    Perry Middlemiss: So you’re saying children cause jetlag? Interesting.

    January 25th, 2007 at 9:36 AM

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