I adore Elizabeth Scott.  Her writing reminds me of Sarah Dessen’s, but not quite.  She writes in a way that makes it seem easy and flawless.  Her Pub Story reminds us that the road to publication is not an easy one at all.  It’s full of quirky twists and turns, setbacks, triumphs, and more. So… I’m OK where I am. Because deep down I know that I will make it. It’s just not time yet.

I’ve been back into the “generating ideas for writing” mode.  Characters are forming in my head, and I’m falling in love with them, which is a #1 indication that a story is going to burst out of me before long.

While I am in this “writing limbo,” I am trying to stay in the writing world as much as possible.  Just being surrounded by the writers is giving me enough of a push to remind me that I won’t be quitting.  I cannot quit, I absolutely cannot.  I’ve hit a bump, but it’s not insurmountable. There is a lot of inspiration in the writing world, and Elizabeth Scott is one of mine.

I added Elizabeth as a friend on Facebook a few months ago, and I spent a delightful several days exchanging Arrested Development quotes with her.  An author who appreciates Arrested Development.  Could she be any more awesome?

And now, there is a Facebook Fan Page for her, so I definitely joined that.  Now I can be totally up-to-date on what she’s up to.  I am very much looking forward to her next book, due out June 2nd.

OR, if I win this awesome contest, I can have it EARLIER, and signed even.

SQUEEEEE!

The fan girl in me surfaces once again!

See, I got to meet Meg Cabot in February of this year, and I was so freaking nervous I was shaking.

You guys don’t understand.  Most people freak out when they meet someone like Zac Effron or RPattz, but I freak out when I meet Meg Cabot.  You know why?  Because she is a goddess in my eyes.  She churns out so many books.  She does the fun vlogs.  She blogs regularly.  She tours.  And she looks absolutely FABULOUS all the time.  I have never seen someone wear so many cute dresses.

But OK.  Enough gushing.  I have to remember to post here more often.  And I NEED to write more often.  I’ve been busy with work, doll collecting, planning another trip to Disney World, and um… yeah, playing Word Twist on Facebook, so I haven’t been making much time for actually getting writing done (besides that mental writing one does when developing characters, etc.)

Time for bed now.  Til next time.

Today, I got to meet Laurie Halse Anderson (aka ), bestselling author of the novel Speak, among many other great ones, including her new one Twisted.

I’m a dork, so I was the first one there. People were setting up, and let me tell you how weird it was to be in a high school again. Upper Arlington High School doesn’t have bells, they have this weird bell-like sounding device. Like a simulation bell, if you will. So strange and unsettling. I wouldn’t want to hear that while running late for class, that’s for sure. Quick poll—if any of you are still in high school, do you use bells or weird electronic bell simulators? I’ve never seen or heard such a thing before.

ANYWAY, I was standing there and chatting with a few people, and then I recognized Laurie. She had on a smart leather jacket and a cool red shirt. I smiled at her and she pointed and asked “don’t I recognize you from Live Journal?” I said “Yes, I’m bananagirl—” and she ran over and gave me the biggest hug ever. It was so cool! We chatted for a bit, and then a brand new author showed up. Her name’s Lisa Klein and she wrote the book with the gorgeous cover called Ophelia. I’d seen the book in the stores and thought it looked interesting, but now that I’ve met Lisa, I’m definitely going to pick it up at some point. Lisa is so quiet and shy, but once she said something about having a published YA novel, Laurie and I were both “Really? Tell us more!!!” I got to meet two authors in one night. What a treat!

So we tried to do pictures, then I realized I’d left my CF card at home. ACK?!?!? I had twenty minutes, so I ran home and got it, and also my copy of ‘s book, to show to the owners of the bookstore who were sponsering Laurie’s signing. (Adam, the owner is pretty sure they’ve already ordered your book, but she did take down the information just in case they haven’t). When I came into the auditorium, Laurie, who was in the middle of a sentence, stopped and said “oh, hey Ronni!” That was kind of cool.

I love the irony she talked about. She hated The Scarlet Letter when she was in high school, and in some schools, Speak is being taught in conjunction with it. Crazy, right?

She’s such a good speaker. She’s inspirational. She’s friendly and grounded and super smart. She’s also quite gorgeous. I really enjoyed talking with her, and listening to her, and getting to hang out with her for a bit. She signed my book with a very inspirational message, and I’m still floating. I’m going to make note of this, make it my mantra, make it my LIFE: Pre-publication is a temporary condition.

Thank you, Laurie, for an awesome Sunday evening! ♥

(X-posted at )