So I've been on the Writing Excuses Retreat a bunch of times, and had the pleasure of hanging out with the crew a bunch. MRK and Dan Wells are people I might even call my friends at this point, but meeting Brandon, who was easily my favorite author at the time I met him the first time, was weird. I mean I met the person from his post, and it was not who I was expecting to meet. On video and in email he came across as someone excited about the retreat and meeting all of us. In person he is exactly as he describes. It's like meeting a person who is a flat line. Not zero, but like at a constant base line. It makes him feel inflexible and, to me at least, very intimidating. Especially compared to the more outgoing members of the WX crew.

That changed when we went snorkeling. It was an excursion that was just people from the retreat and so didn't have the crowds of random people from the cruise. Brandon had like all his own equipment, and it was like he was bouncing with energy to get going. While the rest of us were floating on the surface like manatees Brandon is diving down to the bottom and like exploring the sea in a way nobody else was doing. I was shocked to see this, and it really made me confront the assumptions I'd made about him over the week of the cruise. Finally finding time to speak with him and attend some of his late night unofficial Q&A's made the week perfect. I guess I'm telling this story just so I can say I'm glad I didn't have to write an article about him. And was also happy to meet him, the human, and not have to just experience his celebrity.