So I dragged myself out to Beaverton to see Megan Miranda and Marissa Meyer. Before I get into that I have to tell you the first person I saw looked so familiar. I couldn't quite figure out why this woman was so familiar. Then, when I saw her signing a few books I was so excited. I ended up sort of meeting three authors last night. Any guesses? Yeah, I thought not. Colleen Houck. So cool! I picked up a copy of Tiger's Quest with her signature on it. I just couldn't help myself.
For those of you who have entered my Fracture contest I got that ARC signed. So it's even better than it was before. And let me tell you Megan is so bubbly and sweet. That and really really small. I want to look that good after having children. Megan talked about her love for science and how it affected what she wrote. She told us that the very day she decided to sit down and write her book was the worst day in parenting history for her. It was her husband's attempt to ease the tension that prompted him to ask when she was going to write her book. And from then on out the journey began. It was hard to hear that she scrapped her entire book twice. What a lot of work to go through, and perhaps a bit disheartening, but it worked out in the end.
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| Not sure how it is my fortune, but cute. |
Then Marissa Meyer got up to do her thing. Before I get into that I must say that I unknowingly sat next to her husband and in the midst of her friend and family support cast. Her husband is one really tall skinny dude and on top of that really friendly and nice though the girls behind me warned me not to flirt with him. As if I would even think of it, I already had a baby strapped onto me. The only male attention I need right now is the fictional kind. I loved that her mom asked a question and I wondered if it was planned. Hey mom, if no one asks this will you pipe up and make sure it gets known? Who knows, I didn't ask. Her mom also brought this big bowl of Cinder fortune cookies. I didn't notice until I was waiting to get Cinder signed that Marissa was wearing red pumps, very much like on the Cinder book cover. Speaking of which she said that at first she was worried that the cover was a bit too spoiler, but was later convinced it was perfect. She has been writing for quite some time by doing fan fiction for Sailor Moon. Personally, I have never heard of it. But she really got into this when NaNoWriMo came around and she wrote 150,011 words in one month. Later, she scrapped it all and started over a few times. Finally, after a few revisions, what you read it what you get. She said that during that one month she was also keeping down a full time job and completing two classes for her Masters degree. Talk about motivated, too bad she didn't win. And she missed getting to be in Star Trek by one thousand words. (Don't ask her about that contest. She is just a tiny bit bitter, in a sweet way.) She was very confident and polite. I really liked getting to talk to her support cast while waiting to get a signature. Her husband was saying that at first when she was writing everyone was all "oh that is cute" but then when she got an agent and a contract they all said "She is brilliant. We just knew it would happen." He said something to the fact of he wished that he would have been a bit more supportive, instead of asking her to put her writing aside to go buy steaks. But really he said he didn't mind all the writing because he was busy himself. When I asked her support cast what it was really like when she was writing it up, one of them did the international call me sign so we could discuss the darker truth later. They were so funny.
Also, while waiting in line almost right next to Coleen I heard her discussing why she likes to read YA. I will tell you it is a very easy to relate to her reason.
All three of the authors were just so great. Even though I had to drive three hours it was fun. Maybe next time I can find a release party to attend. And after that who knows. . . BEA.
