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 . . . .