My awesome, exciting, novel related adventures featuring Lisa Mangum and Brandon Mull!

Hey everybody! I'm not quite sure where to begin. These past two days have been some of the best of my life. I suppose I'll start with yesterday when I met Lisa Mangum . . .

This, my dear friends, is Lisa Mangum. As soon as I got home from work I was yelling to my family, "Let's go!" Then the whole time we were driving to Barnes and Noble I had to ask my dad, "What's the speed limit here? Go faster!" I was so excited to meet her.

So we got to Barnes and Noble at around 7:30 and there she was, sitting at the table. It looked like she had sold a lot of books already. There were only about five left and by the time I was done there, there was only 2 left. I'll let you do the math. :)

Lisa is so nice! I feel really bad for being kind of jerky about her in my blog up to this point. She totally deserves all the success she's gotten and I shouldn't have ever doubted that. Her book is awesome and you should all check it out!

So, it turns out that she actually recognized me from facebook and my blog. That's right. She read my blog (which is another reason why I feel so horrible about being a jerk to her. Sorry Lisa.). When I told her my name she asked me, "Did you just recently have the swine flu?". I was kind of taken aback but told her that yes, I had. Then she told me that she read my blog post. I guess her husband found it and forwarded it to her. But she was really sweet and didn't mention my rudeness. Instead she was great and we talked a bit about me and my budding writing career. When I told her I'd submitted something to Shadow Mountain she asked what the name of it was. She said that they'd recieved a couple submissions dealing with people who can control the elements, but thought she recognized it. Then she told me she would keep her eyes open for my next submission. So, like I said, she is so great and sweet and awesome. Go buy her book! Right now! :)

Then today, we met Brandon Mull. I went with my friend Ashley. She's my reading and singing and movie buddy. And then my mom and dad came along too, but we don't care about them as much (just kidding family! I love you!).

There was a pretty long line for Brandon, you know, since he's a rockstar and everything. My mom was nice and held our place in line while Ash and I went scouring the store, trying to find the fourth Fablehaven book. Apparently they'd sold out. Did I mention that we got there for him only like half an hour after he opened up shop? Yeah. That's how great he is.

While we waited in line Ash and I discussed what questions we were going to ask him. We had one main question: "How could he die like that? How was that possible? And is he really gone?" For those of you with no clue what I'm talking about, read Fablehaven and find out! For those of you who do have a clue what I'm talking about, yes. He really is dead and is not coming back. And Brandon said it was the only way he could think to do it. But then Brandon helped heal my heart a little bit by telling us that there is someone waiting for Kendra in book five. I guess I'll have to trust him.

Here's my mom with Brandon. She bought his newest book "Pingo" for her first grade class. It's such a cute book about a boy who's imaginary friend becomes his imaginary enemy. If you have little kids, you should definitely get this for them! I think it would be a great Christmas gift.

Speaking of Christmas, here's an idea. Get people books for Christmas! Like any other industry during these hard economic times, the publishing industry is having some problems. So buy books. Please? For me? :)

Okay, that's enoug guilt tripping for one blog. But let me just say that meeting these amazing writers and people has been one of the greatest things. They are both sweet and humble. Everytime I meet writers and get to speak with them I realize how much I want to be a part of this world. I want to work with these people and have fun with them. Writer's are the best.

So, have a great Thanksgiving and buy lots of books! :)

A simple piece of paper made my dream come true . . . . .

YAHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

I'm so excited, friends! SO excited! Three of my favorite authors are coming to the Barnes and Nobles in Layton this Friday/Saturday. For those of you who don't know, that means they will be twenty minutes from me! Oh, how this makes my heart happy. :D

So, who are these favorite authors of mine you ask? Good question. First and foremost there is Mr. J. Scott Savage, author of the Farworld series (he's written several other books, but I've only read Farworld). I got to meet him at the Writing for Charity event held up in Ogden over the summer. Guys, he's seriously awesome possum. I lurve him. He's the person who introduced me to Shadow Mountain publishing.

You see, now that I write books and have to look around for people who may actually want to publish one of them, there are two things I always check a book for now. First, I look at the publisher. When I picked up Scott's book I noticed he was published by Shadow Mountain. After getting home I did some research and fell in love with them. Based in Utah, sell nationally, home of authors such as Brandon Mull and James Dashner. It was like a match made in heaven . . . well, will be if I ever actually get a contract with them. *Sigh* Anyway, the second thing I do is look at the acknowledgements. I look to see if the author thanks an agent. Then I can maybe query said agent if they represent my genre and seem like a good match.

So yeah. J. Scott Savage has been a huge influence on me. I don't think he actually knows how big of an influence. Maybe I'll get to tell him this Friday/Saturday. :)

Then there is Brandon Mull, author of the Fablehaven series. I just recently jumped on the B Mull band wagon. I mean, I've always seen the Fablehaven series at book stores and what not but I never actually picked up his book until recently. I kept thinking, "Oh I'll get to it eventually." So over the summer I started reading his books and they are AMAZING! I can totally see why he's a New York Times bestselling author. I also had the pleasure of meeting him at the Writing for Charity event. The line for him was so long. He is a rockstar among authors. Plus he has a really cute chin dimple. :)

And last but not least . . . . Lisa Mangum. Alright, I know what you're saying-- "Weren't you just whining about her and her book in the last post?" Yes, I was. Sort of. I started the Hourglass Door and am almost halfway through it. When I let myself get lost in the story I actually really like it. It's those times when the jealous monster creeps into my head and says "She's published. You're not", that I start whining. But I'm VERY excited to meet her for two reasons: 1) I need her to sign my copy of Hourglass Door :). And 2) This is a great face time opportunity! She's the freaking EDITOR at Shadow Mountain! She's the lady I'm going to address my next query to, and my next, and my next until they finally take me (seriously, I'm going to write as many books as I can and send them all to SM. They'll have to accept one right?). This is what people always tell you in the publishing world. Get out, meet agents and editors, see what they're looking for, make sure they remember your name. That's what I'm going to do this Friday/Saturday. It's going to be awesome!

So, that's my exciting news. When my mom came in and dropped a piece of paper in my lap, I had no idea how happy it was going to make me. This is going to be a good week. :D

Did I also mention how on Thursday I'm going to see New Moon with my friends . . . a day before it officially comes out in theaters? Now I just have to survive two midterms and a 10 minute presentation . . . .

Swine Flu, Lisa Mangum, more Swine Flu, and Hit'n'Runs (Oh, and more Swine Flu).

Hi friends. Well, this week of my life has been more or less pointless. I have been stuck inside the house with the dreaded swine flu. It all started Monday night when I got home from work and just started feeling weird. I was unusually tired and just wanted to curl up in bed (which is exactly what I did). But before I crawled into bed I took my temperature. Nothing too bad. It was like 100.2 or something like that. But the next morning I felt even worse and my fever was up in the 101 area. I was coughing like a chain smoker and my nose was so plugged up that I couldn't even taste food (sad day, I know). So I stayed in bed and slept another few hours until my fever made me get up. I went and sat on the couch, knitted a bit, but mostly just sat there until my parents got home at 5 and Mom made me take some aspirin. The next day I was feeling even worse and woke up at 6. That's right, 6!!!!!!!!!! I didn't even know that time of day existed. By then my temp was 102, inching towards 103. So I texted my buddy Lori and told her I was sick. She's such a dear and took care of all my work worries for the rest of the week. I owe her. She's my lifesaver. So I spent that day lying on the couch, alternating between watching TV and sleeping. Needless to say it wasn't the funnest day I've ever spent. By the time my parents got home I was bored to tears. Sitting on the couch and being sick is fun for about one day. Then it gets not so fun. When I told my mom this she asked what she could do, so I told her. "Go buy me a book to read . . . . Oh, and some chocolate." So she did. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my mommy?

The book she got me (and that I requested) was "The Hourglass Door" by Lisa Mangum. Recognize that name? She works for Shadow Mountain, my dream publisher. She's the editor I addressed my query to. I'd heard good things about her book, so I wanted to check it out. So far I like it all right. Lori really liked it, so that gives me some hope. :)

So, where was I? Oh yes. Swine Flu. Thursday I woke up and my fever had finally seemed to break a little. It was now steadily in the 99-100 area and I felt okay. But I was still coughing a lot and had to carry a box of tissues around with me. My wonderful mom took a half day off work to come be with me before ditching me later that night for Collin Raye. (Just kidding Mom! I would have ditched me for him too. His voice is so dreamy!). So, I spent that night watching Law and Order SVU online in her bed. Throughout this whole thing I think I've probably watched about ten hours of Law and Order SVU. Yeah. That's a lot of Special Victims Unit.

When I woke up this morning I am glad to say I was feeling better, though I still haven't reached the nice 98.6 temperature yet. My nose is still plugged up and my throat is sore from breathing through my mouth all the time, but I AM feeling better. I just like complaining and making other people feel sorry for me. ;)

But tonight I actually got out of the house! Yay! I went with my family out to Salt Lake to take Allison to her friend Amy's wedding reception. Don't worry. I stayed in the car and didn't lick anybody. If anybody else gets sick it's not my fault. We ate dinner at . . . Hardie's? Harry's? I can't remember. It's some place in Salt Lake where you order from your car and they bring the food to you. All I know is they serve the "Big H" burger. But while we were ordering our food, somebody backed into my car. They backed into my car! MY CAR!!!!! And then they just drove away. I was really mad, both because I was starting to think my leaving the house hadn't been a good idea based on how I was feeling, and because, well, they just backed into MY CAR!!!! Luckily it didn't damage my car, but Allison says she thought she saw a dent in the other cars bumper as they drove away to the yelling of my mom. That made me feel a little bit better.

And now, I'm sitting here at home typing up this blog post of my not so eventful, yet totally eventful week. Oh, and just for the record, we don't know if I actually have swine flu. But all the symptoms are here and I've never felt this way before. Be smart. Get a shot if you can or risk losing a week of your life to the couch and TV.

Anyway, have a good weekend. I am going to write and then go to bed. :)