on Jane Friedman site:

Many years ago, I was at a book launch for a writer I didn’t know for a book I hadn’t bought. A mutual friend urged me to approach this writer with a question about how to publish the book I was working on. I hesitated for all the right reasons: I didn’t know this writer, why would he share this precious information with me? Was this the right venue and moment? I barely knew what questions to ask. Etc. Etc.

But my friend insisted he was a nice guy who wouldn’t mind a few questions. So, I walked up to him and asked if he had any pointers to offer on the publishing journey. I swear I saw smoke coming out of his ears. He was incensed that I would ask him this question on his big day, and he curled his lip in disdain and stalked away.

I felt about three inches high. How dare I—a complete stranger and newbie writer—have the audacity to ask him for advice about something that probably took him years of rejections and hard work to achieve, and I wanted him to spill the secrets of his success in a sentence or two? (At his launch? Yikes!)