hang on to your ego...

I just got an email from one of the characters in my 2005 Nano Novel. Not one of the people who formed the basis for any of the characters, but one of the characters themselves, who had apparently been reading some of the extracts that I published elsewhere.

"Hello swiss (as i don't know your proper name),
I was reading your contribution on Reader Meet Author (which is incidently very good) and was just wondering where you got the name Ben Brundle from as it is the same name as mine?"

Ah, nothing quite like a spot of ego surfing, is there?

Here's my first hit on Google:

"[insert real name here - let's say it's ST for now, eh?] had spent most of his adult life working for Norfolk Southern, one of the largest railway companies in the United States. He did not finish high school and, after short stints in the Navy and the fire department, he worked as a trackman for Norfolk Southern for 27 years.

ST's career ended abruptly on a November 1, 1999 on an Indiana country road when the dump truck he was driving slipped off the narrow road after ST avoided a near collision with a second vehicle owned by Norfolk. ST's truck dropped down into a ditch and rolled over, injuring his neck and back. He underwent several operations, including one to fuse two discs in his neck.

Reached on the telephone, ST declined to discuss the details of the accident, but said the fact that his case made it all the way to the Supreme Court keeps reminding him of the accident that took place nearly seven years ago. “I still have to live with this painful experience,” he said....."

Wow. Talk about a parallel universe. I was awarded $1.5m apparently, although the railway are appealing and the case has yet to be finally settled. I know who I'm rooting for, anyway.

There's the basis of my 2007 Nano, right there.

No. On second thoughts, forget that I said that. I refuse to commit this early! It's too soon.

Oh, and Ben... if you happen across this too one day, welcome! It was nothing personal, I promise you. Any similarities to characters, real or imagined, are purely coincidental....