The Awesomeness of Michelle Zink

(So as a disclaimer, Michelle would like everyone to know that this photo was taken on the 7th day of her tour and that she's super exhausted.)

So, last night I drove close to 2 hours to meet the fantastic Michelle Zink, author of Prophecy of the Sisters and Guardian of the Gate. If you haven't read her books you really should, because they're excellent, and I'm not just saying that.

So, to the event. I made my way to the Barnes and Noble and managed to not look creepy while wandering around for 10 minutes before finding the area for the chat/signing. Michelle was absolutely the sweetest, recognizing me from this lovely interweb. There wasn't a gigantic crowd, so we ended up arranging the chairs in a circle and just chatted. There was a rather varied group, consisting of some parents, middle and high schoolers (who had seen her at school visits earlier), and then myself and a lovely young teacher named Eva (who's in the picture up top as well). The topics varied, but centered around books and writing. It was so much fun and very intimate, plus I totally sat beside her :)

After the Q&A was finished she sat down and signed books for everyone who wanted to buy them, which was everyone. The store was also really awesome and raffled two books away. I didn't win one, but thought it was so lovely of them to do. Eva and I ended up staying later and just talked with Michelle while she signed stock. It was an absolute blast. Michelle was so willing to talk to everyone who came, no matter what age, but I loved the end as she was getting ready to go. I can't even put into words how sweet and wonderful she is! This was the first real book signing I'd ever been to and was an amazing experience. If Michelle ever comes to your area my advice is GO (and buy her books :P)! I wish this sort of thing happened every Friday night.

Meeting Catherine Gilbert Murdock!

I've had a great deal of fun recently! It's taken me a while to get this up, but on Tuesday I got to meet the amazing Catherine Gilbert Murdock, author of Princess Ben and the Dairy Queen trilogy. Catherine and her sister Elizabeth, author of the popular Eat, Pray, Love and several other books, were special guest lecturers at my college. I was very sad to find out that I wouldn't be able to attend their lecture due to a conflict with my terrible PE class that I loathe. However, this ended up being a good thing because in consolation I got to go to the invite only breakfast the next morning. The breakfast was so much fun! Being me, I got there 10 minutes early and was the only one in the building for a while. When everyone started arriving I sat down with a girl that I didn't know, and then another girl sat with us as well. The sisters came in, and much to my surprise and pleasure Catherine sat down beside me. I would like to think that I stayed calm and composed, but inside I was having a total fangirl moment. She chatted with all of us about random things (red hair and secret compartments, for example) as we ate. Then I revealed that I was a blogger, and she talked about how much she loves us, and that she reads our reviews. That made me so happy, and then she said that she'd read my reviews of her books! Excited doesn't begin to cover it. After chatting she and Elizabeth went to answer questions and were tons of fun. I also now have a very lovely SIGNED copy of Dairy Queen. Then I continued to talk to her (she liked my jacket :) ) and am currently compiling a list of YA fantasy books for her to read! I still can't believe she asked me for reading suggestions! Yet again, I forgot to take pictures, so you'll have to trust me about how much fun it was. I had a great time. Catherine is amazingly cool and I can't wait to read the rest of her books!!!