The one about the Mad Libs

Last month, when I visited my sister and her family, my nephew gave me a book of D&D Mad Libs.

I loved Mad Libs when I was a kid. When I couldn't get a Guess & Show book for a long road trip, I got Mad Libs. They tickle that part of my brain that enjoys clever surprises and really dumb jokes.

A week after I saw them, I went to a convention in ... I think it was Mississippi. When I got there, I noticed that I had my new Mad Libs in my backpack, and I had an idea: take it with me into my panel, and do a Mad Libs together with the audience. When someone asks me a question during my Q&A, I will ask them for a noun, a verb, or whatever is next in the thing. Then, at the end of my Q&A, I'll read the thing we made together.

It looks great on paper, but in practice, something isn't quite clicking. I'm not sure what it is. It feels like one of those things that will be so obvious if and when I solve it, and then this will work in practice the way it works on paper ... but I can't find it, so I'm going to retire this bit.

The ENTIRE reason I took the time to post about this, on Tumblr specifically, is so I can relate this moment that happened yesterday.

I was in my panel (in a room with the worst sound and lighting I have ever been in at a con) doing the thing. I asked the person at the mic to give me a noun. They thought for a moment, and said, "ship."

I said, "Oh, that's more of a verb for me," and there was DEAD SILENCE in the room.

And that's how I knew that nobody from Tumblr was attending my panel.

I'm in Atlanta for Comicon all weekend if anyone wants to come say hello.