Book Babe Fest!

Soooooooooo.....
l just got back to my sister's house from the book babe fest. I haven't been able to get a hold of my hubby since he's at Priesthood session of conference. Well....I won a signed copy of 1000 days by Shannon Hale. I went up and gave her a hug and told her that she inspired me to write a book. And of course I babbled and said something stupid: I hope someday we'll meet as equals. She asked me my name and they took our pictures. Pictures to follow!

It was seriously so much fun to see these authors all come together and sell stuff for their friend with breast cancer. Let me tell you what it was like.

When my cousin, her baby and my aunt pulled up to the high school, a line stretched around the auditorium. Fan girls! All in the sun, (thankfully this wasn't July) and we stood in line for nearly forty-five minutes until they let us in to get our bands, mine was blue for the "Gold" seating, right behind the "Platinum." (Those guys got to stay for the reception afterward with all ten authors including Shannon Hale and Stephanie Meyers.) I borrowed 20 bucks from my sister to buy raffle tickets. I know, I know, gambling is against my religion, but it was for a good cause. I stuffed the tickets in my bag, thinking, "I'll never use them" and walked into the darkened room. The auditorium was packed. Since I was a single, I filed down to the closest aisle that had an empty seat. I sat between a couple (definitely outliers of the group being in their late forties probably) who drove here from Texas and a girl who was with a friend from California. We chatted a bit before the lights went dark.

When the lights came up on stage, Shannon Hale and J. S. Lewis (I remembered his name!) came on stage. They had the Book Babe come on stage and tell us how touched she was that we would come to give her support. What a trooper! She must be a wonderful person to have so many friends rally around her. Next, Ms. Hale introduced a local guy and his friend who played the guitar. (Uh, at the end his friend threw a t-shirt out to the audience and struck a baby!) They opened for another band, and they were both pretty good. . .

But they played too long! Next, they brought out the tables and introduced each author:Chris Gall, PJ Haarsma, JS. Lewis, Dean Lorey, Brandon Mull, James Owen, Janette Rallison, and Laini Taylor and last but not least, Stephanie Meyer, who Shannon Hale said they refer to as "Her Grace". The panel was hilarious, inspiring, and sometimes honest.

Sadly, it had to come to an end, but the auction began. Copies of edits of Ms. Meyers books, autographed, signed copies of the other author books. Now, you are going to hate me because, I didn't go to see Ms. Meyers, in fact...I've never read anything she's written *gasp of shock, horror, disbelief* Well, it works like this. I've always been counter-cultural, rebelling against any popular icon of the day. I hope goodness never comes in style. Ok, I lied, I read the first 50 pages of Twilight on the flight to AZ, but I was too tired to continue.

So, I wasn't there to see SM. In fact, I didn't find out about it from her website. It was from Shannon Hale's website that I found out about the event. To me, Shannon Hale is a master wordsmith. I stand in awe. If only.....*sigh*

I came to see Shannon Hale and then the most amazing thing happened. During the raffle, I pulled out my tickets. A sense of optimism came over me, especially as they read my numbers! I jumped from my seat. I was so happy to win her book, get a hug from her, and talk to her!

I took it as a sign. I'm going to continue writing.