When I discovered a few months ago that Neil Gaiman was going to be in Charlotte, I pounced on the chance to see him. I put the event on my calendar to leave early from work - turned out to be a splendid idea - and used a gift card to pay full price for his novel at the bookstore, which required the novel's purchase there to attend the event. (I was appalled to discover I could have bought it from Amazon for $11 less, so I feel like I spent that money to see Neil and thus the money was well spent.)

The talk was scheduled for 6, but knowing the bookstore's lack of space and having discovered Neil was going nowhere else in the southeast, I arrived at 4:30, just as chairs were being set up. A very excited 17-year-old and her father were already there, with a few others milling around, but said 17-year-old (Courtney) dove on the front-row chairs as soon as we were allowed to pick seats, and the three of us ended up bang in front of the podium, about four feet away. Oh, a few hard-core loudmouth geeks showed, as they invariably do at gatherings of this ilk, but for the most part the cameraderie of those waiting was splendid. We tended each other's seats, which was a necessity considering there were about 100 seats and eventually about 200 people showed, and chatted amiably. (I wore a flowery blouse and Sigrid Olsen jeans, and I think the 17-year-old's father and I looked like a couple because everyone else seemed to be wearing some sort of Goth/alternative ensemble or the pieces thereof. The very sweet girl next to me had lace gloves, argyle tights, and glitter eyeshadow. One of these things is not like the other...)

Surprise, the talk began almost on time. Neil looked pretty much as you expect, with some fairly wildish hair - English eccentricity, ho! - but otherwise subdued. From four feet away, I was worried he was tired from the marathon New York signing the night before (which ended at 1:30am, he said) and he would be a disappointment compared with all the glowing things I'd heard about him.

My fears were unfounded.

As soon as he started speaking, Neil showed why he has such a reputation for being engaging. He has naturally or by experience excellent speaking skills with a twinge of dry British humor in his comic timing, and the best term for his manner is "charming". I had heard nothing about Anansi Boys, his new novel and the reason for the tour, so I was pleasantly surprised to find the passage he read was couched in that selfsame dry humor as his off-the-cuff speech. I found myself watching with head tilted and a warm smile on my face, genuinely enjoying the experience, and sad when the reading ended. Hearing an author with excellent speaking and reading skills present a passage from his own work is something new to me; I expect he's far better at it than most other writers.

The question-and-answer period followed. People asked about movies - MirrorMask comes out in the next few weeks, and Coraline will be filmed by the people who make James and the Giant Peach next year - and about sequels and new works. I can tell you he's a busy man, between working on a new novel (a children's book about a child who is playing in a graveyard, gets lost and ends up being brought up by the dead/undead), a new collection of short stories, a 6-issue series of Eternals for Marvel, and contemplating Sandman's 20th birthday. He has another adult novel tickling at the back of his mind, and he does have sequels considered for American Gods, among other things. I so admire him for being so good at so many genres.

That very thing was what I realized I wanted to ask him, so a third of the way through the Q & A I started raising my hand. He glanced at me - red hair 4 feet in front of him is hard to miss - but went on to others. Eventually I lowered my hand as others asked their questions, because I wanted those standing up for so long to get to ask. I figured my question would keep.

The extremely organized autograph line took me maybe 40 minutes to go through. We were allowed to get his new novel and two other items signed. When I got to the table, Neil smiles perkily at me and said, "Hallo...I saw you with your hand up but by the time I came round to you, your hand was down again." It was then I realized he'd been trying to take questions in turn, which is why he hadn't called on me. Cool. So I asked him about how he knew in which genre to write a story idea - since I, like him, want to write in 3 or so genres - and he smiled and said, "I don't until I start working on it. I told my editor about a short story idea and he told me no, it was a novel. And that became Anansi Boys." Made me feel much better about how I'd bounced Libra from idea to idea before I realized it fitted graphic novel format. We chatted for a few minutes, he signed my hardback and the books for Jeff and Alex (my writing partner) and then I stammered, "I know we're not supposed to get more than two books signed, but...I love American Gods and I'd like this one for me, if you wouldn't mind."

Well, of course he didn't mind.

If my work with Alex picks up like we hope, if my writing takes off as it should, if I ever get a fiftieth of the success of Neil Gaiman, may I always approach readers with the same humility, charm and patient gratitude as he shows. He's a gem.