Right, so, confession time. I fangirl out on a lot of authors. I know y’all have probably seen these posts lately, where we admit getting all nervous and excited to meet our OMG-authors (you know the ones…those authors that keep you up at night even though you know you’re gonna be a zombie the next day, and they leave you hugging your e-reader to your chest when the book is done because you loved the book THAT MUCH. Yes. Those authors). Here are a few of mine:
1. JR Ward So, this one is probably my most embarrassing meet (I’m coming out of the gate strong, y’all). I started JR Ward’s BDB series when I was just becoming an author, and she inspired me pretty hard. I just love the way she drills down so deep into her characters and puts all of their guts (figuratively, y’all) on the page. So when I finally had the chance to meet her seven years later, I was pretty starstruck. We were at Lori Foster‘s reader event, and when I finally walked up to her, I was shaking, which I told her (because me —> dork). She said, “Oh, my God, you are! Why are you shaking?” To which I replied, “Because you’re JR WARD!”
She was very gracious in my geekery, and we ended up having a chat with Lori and Avery Flynn for about 15 minutes. It was pretty amazing.
2. Kristen Proby. Back in 2018, I was asked to attend the 1,001 Dark Nights Reader Cruise as a featured author. The lineup was INSANE, y’all. I was pinching myself, like, “How am I here?!” But my unicorn author, one who I’d never met before, was Kristen Proby. So, we had to get up super early on the day of the cruise and go through customs, etc., and we all piled onto this bus. I was bumping down the aisle when a woman said to me, “Oh, my gosh, I love your bag!” And it was Kristen! I am pretty sure I babbled out a thank you, and then proceeded to spend the next hour or so thinking “Kristen Proby likes MY BAG!” (it’s a cute bag, truly. I love me some Betsey Johnson!)
3. Also a 1,001 Dark Night Cruise author, Larissa Ione. The night before the cruise, I was in the lobby with one of the cruise’s coordinators and all-around awesome person, Jillian Stein. I mentioned to her that I have been a HUGE fan of Larissa’s for, um, ever. Said she, “Oh, she’s right there. Do you want to go say hi to her?” Poor Larissa had literally JUST arrived at the hotel, and I was like, “The last thing this poor woman probably wants is me, being all, hiiiiiiiii I love your books.” But Jillian waved her over, and we ended up having a really nice talk and I was lucky enough to get to know her on the cruise. She really an amazing person.
4. Nora Roberts. This is a given, right? When you get to meet one of romance’s biggest icons, you’re going to fangirl the heck out. I met Nora Roberts for the first time at a book signing at her store, Turn the Page, in Maryland. She was super gracious and spent time with everyone in that long, long line. My my true fangirl moment with Nora Roberts came a few years later, when I was asked to sign at her store (WITH HER…so, you see why I was freaking out). I was so nervous, like, fleet of butterflies in my chest, nervous. But when I got there, she was just hanging out on the back porch, smoking a cigarette and drinking a little glass of champagne, all, “Hi, come on in and help yourself to some bubbly.” And I pinched myself about six hundred times to be sure it was real.
Okay, darlings! Tell me your fangirl/fanboy/fanperson moments! Tell me I’m not alone in my geekdom!
Susan Elizabeth Phillips. We almost ran into each other. I babbled on with a voice I didn’t recognize because it was so high pitched and said Hiiiiiii!! I’m Lorelei. BRIDGET’S friend! The one in PARIS? (She knows Bridget, so I wanted to make some connection that I’m not a looney) Thank goodness I said that because I was pretty sure she was going to make a run for it, lol! She was so sweet and we talked some more, and I managed to composed myself a little. I still get nervous when I’ve seen her again, I don’t think the feeling will fade.
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I adore her, too! She also signed at that magical TTP signing I was invited to, and it was a serious (SERIOUS) OMG moment in my career! She’s such a nice person, and I really love her stories, too. 🙂