Wednesday, May 09, 2007



Lunch with John Robison

Pinch me! Two lunches out in one week!

Today I had the great pleasure of meeting John Robison, author of Look Me In The Eye due out in September from Crown. LMITE is his memoir about his life growing up with brother Augusten Burroughs as a child with Asperger's syndrome. (Don't tell anyone - he gave me a galley copy to read!) You can find his blog at the link below.

How's this for crazy? Remember how I had lunch with Pat Wood, whose debut novel LOTTERY is also taking the publishing world by storm, like John's book? Their books are cross promoted on Amazon! Pats' blog is http://pkwood.blogspot.com/ . John's is at http://jerobison.blogspot.com/ Someday I'll learn how to do those linky things on blogger. Drop by and tell them Kim sent you.

John is 6' 4" tall and quite handsome, as you can see. Very Christopher Reeve. I'm 5' 5" on my tiptoes so I wore heels - he still dwarfs me! We talked of autism, Asperger's, publishing, aspirations, goals, ups, downs. A glorious two hours. I think the best description of him is "Renaissance man." He's worked in Rock n Roll, Is a photographer, writes, works on cars, so much!

I noticed something at lunch and I have to comment on it. In my book, I have a scene where a tip is left at a restaurant. My character says something like, "You can learn a lot about someone by how they tip. Do they take off a few pennies for service or piss and moan about not tipping on tax or do they just leave a good tip?' John left our server a VERY good tip. He's a generous spirit. I love that.

So, John is reading my book as I'm reading his. Mind you, my book is fiction, funny, has my voice and an autistic nine year old who is telepathic. What on EARTH will John think of it! LOL! I'll let you know.

Tomorrow I'll snap a photo with yet another tall, good looking man, David Kirby, author of Evidence of Harm and one of my beta readers.

Geez, I LIKE being a writer! :)

21 comments:

Maddy said...

Oh to walk [or better still lunch!] in such illustrious circles. I'm so glad that everything is working out so well for you.
Cheers

Trish Ryan said...

That is so cool! Your writing is taking you places (and feeding you!)

Kim Rossi Stagliano said...

I nibbled - soup and a few fries. I'm a cheap date! LOL! John had a hearty meal which was nice to see and a big dessert! I was especially glad to see that as I had baked him a large cake and brought it with me for his family to share tonight. See COOKING entry - food = affection. Yes?

Anonymous said...

How very cool! I am so happy that your writing is taking you to places that you have always wanted to go, and it should, you have a great writing style. I can't believe you met John, I can't wait until his book comes out. I pre-ordered it on Amazon. It sounds like it will be facinating! Have fun tomorrow.

Drama Mama said...

LOVE him, love that YOU love him. LOVE that he's a good tipper. I knew he'd be.
He's one tall drink of water alright.

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

Geeze you are like a Literary Rock Star girlfriend!!!

When you're not too busy hob-nobbing in the Big Leagues, send little ole me an email to let me know how things are going!!!

You make me wanna rub shoulders with you! In a non-sexual-we-love-literary-things-and-wanna-be-best-selling-authors way, of course! xo

Laura said...

Whoa, I don't read for a few days and suddenly it's all novel talk and hobnobbing with authors around here! Will you still take time to slum with the unpublished bloggers like me?! ;)

I just had a "book club" dinner out. We didn't actually read a book this month, but a night of good gluten and casein filled foods every now and then keeps me sane!

Anonymous said...

I am very excited about his book, and yours too! Were you interviewing him for an article? I'd love to hear what he had to say.

MaNiC MoMMy™ said...

Oh, I just thought of something funny. I guess it was hard to LOOK HIM IN THE EYE since he's so tall!

Bwahhahahahah. I am so funny!

Michelle O'Neil said...

I was just about to e-mail you for the full report.

Now I don't have to.

Great picture!

Great lunch!

I'm hungry. Next time I'm coming with.

Unknown said...

Congrats! How exciting! I can't wait to read this book. I am the mother of a teen with Asperger's and eye contact is a weekly conversation around here!

Anonymous said...

Hi! Got your details from a friend in BC. I have two girls with autism and epilepsy, one has tics and the other has ADHD as well. Life is challenging, yes, but so much fun. We moved to Scottish Highlands from the busy SE England and the improvement in behaviour is amazing. Did the GFCF diet when they were little but have been able to come off it since they have physiologically matured and can now handle the protiens.

Stephen Parrish said...

Finally we get to feast our eyes on a full-length, unobstructed portrait, and all I can say is Wow.

You don't look so bad yourself, Kim.

(Sorry. I couldn't resist. You're a babe.)

Anonymous said...

Stephen, I am slapping you across the Atlantic Ocean and half of Europe. And, um, thanks. He who must not be named agrees with you. ;)

Kim Rossi Stagliano said...

Amanda, do you think the move helped their behavior?? You do have your hands full. Welcome and please do come back!

Anonymous said...

...so cool that your writing is taking you places you want to go!

Anonymous said...

It's not so much that it's taking me places so much as I am MEETING the most wonderful people. And my two worlds, autism and writing, are combining in a unique way.

LadyBronco said...

How fun!

Brava, Kim!

ORION said...

SOOOO!!!! Jealous!!!!
I wanna go to lunch!
But Kim and I did breakfast.
That was way cool.
Thanks for the link!

Anonymous said...

HOW EXCITING!! you are a rock star!

and i know exactly what you mean about the tipping. while in mexico recently with my family, i cringed at the squibbling over pesos and centavos. really. jesus. leave a BIG FAT TIP.

Mindy Tarquini said...

Oh wow! Lucky you! I'm late to the party, but I'm still jealous!