You make a zillion dollars more than me, are decades older, have a blog with a billion readers? Awesome. I’m much more concerned whether you are a non-idiot who is funny & has something interesting to say.

I pride myself on being able to talk to just about anybody.

But I totally have a ridiculous fangirl thing for @gapingvoid (Hugh MacLeod, author of “Ignore Everybody”). I re-read his book once a month. Tell everyone to buy it. Read his blog. Follow his twitter. I’ve even bought a print of one of his cartoons as the first piece of art for my wall. Actually, the first art print I’ve ever bought in my life.

And he was on my short list of who I wanted to meet (aka stalk) at SXSW.

So instead of finding him in his booth or at a coffee shop or a bunch of other places I could have tracked him down for a conversation (because, as I lamented to Sarah Robinson, “I don’t think I could talk to him!” or “I might throw up on him!”), I chickened out.

And went to hear him on a panel on Monday.

And tweeted about it.

And 15 minutes before the panel, he @ replied back that I should go up to him before they start, and say hi. (omg!)

But I missed the tweet, in my lame effort to concern iPhone battery power. #technologyfail

And after the panel, even after I had read the tweet, I could have talked to him.

But I freaked and went down the escalator instead to grab lunch with a friend. #lameexcuse

Later I tried to find him in the expo at his table. He was either not there or was being interviewed on camera. #stalkingfail

So what’s the lesson?

I should have talked to him. When he *invited* me to.

Or found him at a coffee house, or some other place where he was not being bombarded by people.

The lesson is that everyone is fangirl/fanboy about someone.

We all are slightly insane.

This happens when someone says or does something that has a huge effect on our lives, before we’ve connected with them as human beings. It’s completely one-sided. And can get a bit wonky.

But really … we are all just people.

We want to make a connection with the very people who love our work.

I mean, wtf are we doing this for anyway, if we don’t get to talk to each other?

So the next time I get all fangirl over someone, I’m tracking them down & making a connection before I get too wonky.

And if you see me at a conference or tweetup, and want to come talk to me, do it.

If I’m sitting by myself, it’s not because I want to be alone, it’s because I’m an introvert and networking is scary.

If it helps, send me a @/DM on twitter first, and I’ll give you a specific invitation.

See you then.

Have you ever been nervous to talk to someone? (Did you every throw up on someone, because I’m kind of worried about that.) What happened when you got up the guts to talk to them?