It was so much fun! Not only did I get to meet my favorite authors, but I spent the weekend with 'old' high school friends...the last time these girls and I spent any length of time together, excluding class reunions was in 1988! Had a blast with them & cannot wait to do it again!!!
(Pictured top to bottom, left to right...Heather, Heather, Dallas, Tracy & Barbara)
So whether you are a certified stalker or not, I highly recommend attending one of these events because...
If you have never been to a gathering of authors in your preferred genre, I highly recommend doing it at least once. I totally enjoyed it and I am definitely not a star struck kind of person...seriously, I could care less if you are considered the bomb...so what??? I am not the kind to stalk a famous person at a restaurant or follow them if I see them out and about (not that that happens in Texas very often, but I have seen a few famous people in my lifetime). I actually wonder about people who freak out when they see someone who is relatively famous...I mean, they are just people too!
I did not even really care about obtaining autographs, but I was a little 'starry-eyed' at meeting a few of my favorite authors...not in the weird stalker kind of way though. I was NOT enthralled with the authors because they hit the top of the New York Times Best Seller List, therefore I should be honored to meet & congratulate them, but rather I was interested in meeting them because of the fact they are apparently humble enough to take the time to meet their readers and allow them the opportunity to express the enjoyment they get from reading their books...I was excited to be able to express my admiration of their books and to encourage them to keep writing because although they are not solving world hunger or organizing world peace, they are satisfying a reader's hunger with their stories and bringing a sense of tranquility to a reader as they are able to relax, take a break from their daily chaos and get lost in a good book.
I will tell you, this event was PACKED...so if you take any advice from me at all, make an ordered 'Must See' list, use the event provided map to locate the author's tables and head straight for the line of the author at the top of the list, then so on & so on.
I was able to see all the author's at the top of my list...sure there were others I would have liked to have met, but I would have been really disappointed if I would have went to this event and missed out on my faves!
My TOP 5 MUST SEE AUTHORS:
1. Colleen Hoover...what list did not have this awesome, down to earth author at the top? Now I had the privilege of meeting Colleen Hoover at a different event so I chose not to stand in the 100+ people deep line during the book signing event, however, she was gracious enough to attend the evening Meet & Greet and mingle with readers! Gotta LOVE Colleen Hoover!!!
(Pictured left to right: Tracy, Heather, Colleen Hoover, Dallas, Heather & Barbara)
2. Amy Harmon...her books are like poetry. I felt compelled to convey the fact that her writing was like didactic art...simply beautiful!!! She was so, so humble!
(Amy Harmon & me)
(Me & K.A. Tucker)
(A.L. Jackson & me)
5. Fisher Amalie...okay, this was not the longest line of the day with only 5 or so people in front of me, but good grief I waited over an hour because a particular self-centered group of 3 readers decided to be impolite and have a 45 minute pow-wow with her. Do NOT be that selfish person at an author event...be considerate of other readers. Amalie Fisher was gracious with the group, perhaps a little too much so as she did not tell them to move on, but I can certainly understand the difficult position she was in. She was, however, very apologetic about the situation and I must say so very sweet! And we were still all smiles in the end.
(Fisher Amalie & Me)
