“Are you Miss Print?”

What ensues is going to be an embarrassingly detailed account of the events leading up to Thursday night which was, by far, the highlight of my week:

On Wednesday one of my favorite authors, Carolyn MacCullough, tweeted about an event at Books of Wonder where she would be appearing. I almost never get to go to events like this because they inevitably conflict with my work/school schedule. But the stars aligned on Thursday and I was able to attend!

I had posted on my own twitter about the event and my plans to attend because, well, it seemed like something everyone should go to. Much to my surprise and excitement, Ms. MacCullough responded to my tweet saying she hoped to see me there. I was pleased, but didn’t think much of it because I imagine authors always get crazy amounts of replies on Twitter and just try to respond to what they can to be nice (because writers are inevitably the nicest people in the world after librarians).

The event was short, but so much fun. I always love visiting Books of Wonder because it reminds me of Meg Ryan’s store in You’ve Got Mail. And because they have a cupcake shop. I always feel like the employees are watching me, but that might be my own paranoia from bringing in my own books to be signed–it feels wrong somehow.

Anyway, after Ms. MacCullough and the two other authors (Philip Reeve and Mari Mancusi) finished talking about their books, people were encouraged to get their books signed. And I did not need to be told twice.

I went up to Carolyn MacCullough feeling very awkward with my three books to be signed (Once a Witch and Drawing the Ocean are two of my favorite books and I’m looking forward to reading my library-borrowed-copy of Falling Through Darkness and my newly signed copy of Stealing Henry). I felt really awkward because that’s a lot of books for one person to want signed, so I went up to her (first person to do so, also super awkward) and said that I didn’t know if she would want to sign all of them.

Then the unthinkable happened.

Carolyn MacCullough, one of my favorite authors in the world, asked me who I was because I looked familiar. I was so floored that only bad, tongue-tied explanations came from my mouth. I tried to explain that I had retweeted about the even and she had replied but I don’t think it came out right. But eventually it came across that I was on Twitter.

And then something else unthinkable happened.

I was recognized (by one of my favorite authors!) as a book blogger. Carolyn MacCullough said to me, “Are you Miss Print?” And, as my readers already know, of course I am! I became, if possible, even more tongue-tied and needed a moment to regroup, telling her that I couldn’t believe she knew who I was.*

And so Carolyn MacCullough signed my books (saying it was nice to meet me in one of them) and we had a really nice conversation. It turns out she had been reading my blog and even asked how my mom was doing.** I told her that Drawing the Ocean is one of my favorite books (it actually has been since I read it after seeing her read part of it at an author event at Jefferson Market Library several years ago). And she said, I had given her one of the best reviews on Amazon and that it brought tears to her eyes.

Then we parted. She said it was nice to meet me in person and I said of course that I was thrilled to meet her and to have made it to the event and confirmed her suspicion that she would see more of me on Twitter. And then I went home with some of the cupcake shop’s awesome cupcakes in tow.

The funniest thing about the whole thing was that I almost didn’t go. I felt weird about going alone. Especially to an event that featured young adult authors. No one is a bigger champion of YA books being for everyone (not just teens) but it felt strange, somehow, to be going to an event ideally targeting teens when I was not a teen. But I went anyway because my mom said I was being silly and the stars had aligned to allow me to go and because I really wanted to meet Carolyn MacCullough even if it was weird and I was nervous before talking to her (at which point I was so excited there was no room for anything else).

I’m so, so glad I did. Because it was worth it. So, I guess if you’re going to get anything besides my fangirl-y happiness from this just know that if you want to go somewhere, you should go. Even if it means going alone or feeling weird or silly, it’s worth it. Because you’ll be doing what you want to do. And maybe Carolyn MacCullough (or you know, whoever you might call your favorite ________) will recognize you too. And that will be an opportunity that you claimed for yourself and made into a really amazing moment***.

*I’ve won scholarships and awards before. I’ve gotten good grades. But somehow this recognition was almost sweeter because it was for something I built from scratch on my own, simply because I wanted to.

**If even one of my favorite authors is wondering about my mom, it occurred to me that I should post something mentioning that she is, in fact, doing well.

***If anyone doubts me, Ms. MacCullough also tweeted me after the event saying it was nice to meet so I have incontrovertible proof that I wasn’t dreaming all of it.