YA Happy Hour

I just realized that I never posted this! This happened nearly a year and a half ago, but I'm going to go ahead and share it now. Here is the post originally written in November 2017.

                                                           

I recently attended a YA book signing/happy hour event hosted by the Tattered Cover. I went because Maggie Stiefvater was in town for her All the Crooked Saints Tour and I decided that I wanted to meet her.

I have a fair amount of reverence for Maggie Stiefvater and always felt a little intimidated by her because she's so talented. For a while, I was OK not ever meeting her. Plus I order most of her books through Fountain bookstore, so they arrive already signed, doodled in, and usually with her bookplate. As such, I didn't have many options for her autograph. But I do own her tarot card deck (which I love because they are beautiful and based on the Raven Cycle). I decided I would ask her to sign her favorite one.

When I got to meet Maggie Stiefvater, she wasn't scary at all. She was so nice and conversational. I told her that I tended to order her books already signed from the Fountain Bookstore, which she liked because she said that her fans help keep the shop afloat.

I asked if she had a favorite of her tarot cards she'd be willing to sign and she told me that her favorite was the Moon. Essentially, her explanation was that she likes the Moon because you can tell that you are approaching something in the dark, but you don't know if it's dangerous or not until you get close, but either way makes for an adventure. We talked a bit about her books and she said that the lady who inspired Persephone was also there, so I had to go meet her of course.

I also met Jeff Zetner, who I was also a bit intimidated to approach, but he was also very nice. I received his book, The Serpent King, in an Owlcrate and did not expect to like it as much as I did, so I asked him to sign my copy instead of his new book (which I did buy there). He did and he also signed his letter that he included with the Owlcrate book because I keep the author letters in the books. And he told me to watch out for the Serpent King reference in his new book.

Otherwise, I met plenty of other authors whose books I haven't read (yet). They were all nice and it was a very fun night!

Sorry for the Radio Silence...

Hello!

No, I haven't forgotten that I have a blog that needs work to keep running. My life got kind of silly and crazy for a while there. Most of it isn't super important, but I had several things that I needed to work on. Plus my old computer died and I didn't have the means to replace it for a while. It is really difficult to update this blog from my phone, so I had to wait a bit.

But I apparently was experiencing pretty bad anxiety. I didn't realize how much it was crippling me until I started seeing a doctor and got on some medication that works. It's an amazing relief to me that I feel able to handle life now.

Plus, I spent most of the time since my last update caring for Sprite, my heart rat. She was special needs and required lots of extra care, vet appointments, medications, and so forth closer to the end of her life. She lived a good long time, but I was heartbroken when it came time to put her down. She was very special to me and took up an awful lot of my time and energy (and an awful lot of space in my heart).

I also began a new relationship nearly two years ago and that has changed a bunch of things for me, definitely for the positive. In short, he treats me better than I ever thought I deserved to be treated and he makes me feel like a priority and never like a chore. It's been amazing and I have needed time to adjust to it and explore what a healthier relationship is supposed to be like.

And I have a lovely new computer! So it's time to get back on track.

New Years Resolutions:

• Read at least 75 books
• Figure out what I'm doing with my life (mainly if I want to go to medical school or not and start that process if so)
• Get my blog running again

I would like this blog to get back to where it used to be. I am going to do some book reviews at the end of each month like I used to. Hopefully I will have it in me to do some more crafts and projects that I can share (but I haven't been doing much of that these days).

So that is my spiel. I will post this followed shortly by a post I wrote a year and a half ago and never shared (sorry)!

Happy New Year everyone! May this year be better for everyone!