Month: March 2007

Laurie Halse Anderson!! :) (Pictures)

/ authors, pictures, yay

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

Laurie Halse Anderson and me.

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 adamselzer‘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.

Laurie Speaking

Laurie Speaking

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! ♥

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Mad Hot Ballroom

/ movies

Oh my God.

Rent, buy, beg, borrow, steal Mad Hot Ballroom ASAP!! I mean, this instant.

It is so good and inspirational. I have never seen kids so poised and suave, and yet, still kids. It’s amazing. Amazing. Fun to watch, touching in some parts, hilarious in others. Will definitely have you cheering. Every city should have a program like this. Every single one.

*grins*

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Interview Me!

/ ronni, survey

Well, swankivy did already. Here are the logistics:

1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.”
2. I respond by asking you five questions of a very intimate and creepily personal nature. Or not so creepy/personal. LOL.
3. You WILL update your LJ with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Now, the questions:

1. Think of a memory from your teen years (13 to 19) and imagine that you are given the chance to re-do it. Tell me what really happened, then what you would re-do and how it would come out.
The weekend I met MMC comes to mind. It was an amazing weekend. Here I was, practically worshipping these kids and definitely living through them, and I got to meet them. I made a fool out of myself a few times. For example, I practically tackled Ricky Luna and told him I was in love with him. I made fun of Nita Booth within her earshot. I’d definitely go back and NOT do those things! In addition, I let Charla talk me out of not waiting for them after everything was over. I used to wish, years after, that I’d waited around for one last good-bye. Although Nita was probably really sick of seeing me by then. Ha. Oh, and I would have gotten my mother to sign the stupid release (even though I was already 18) so I could have been on TV. The rest of the weekend, I would not change, except maybe to watch my big mouth more often. For the record, Ricky and I talked a few years later and even though I’d been such a idiot that weekend, he told me not to worry about it. 🙂 He’s such a sweet guy and he works so hard. I wish him great success.

2. Air, Earth, Fire, and Water: Would you rather have your own private plane, your own elaborate garden/courtyard, your own big dance club with DJ, or your own boat?
I’d want my own private plane. Then whenever I got the time and urge to travel, I could just take off without dealing with the hassle and cost of flying commercially. There’d be no “liquids/gels” restrictions, and I wouldn’t have to go through 3487895 pounds of security just to wait because of delays. I’d also use the plane to bring my friends to me whenever they wanted to get away.

3. You get to pick one food that has been magically transformed to have no calories whenever you eat it for the rest of your life. So . . . what is it?
Spaghetti, of course!

4. You’ve been offered a publishing contract, but the big catch is that before you’re allowed to publish stuff you’ve written, you have to write a book in a genre you know too little about to be comfortable. Would you look elsewhere, or would you just try to write the book?
I’d try to write the book. I enjoy researching, and why not broaden my horizons?

5. Check your sent mail folder (personal only). Who have you sent the most e-mail to in the last month?
Definitely wlotus, followed closely by adamselzer.

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Books, Authors, Reading, Writing, Etc.

/ authors, books, writing

I love reading. If you want proof, look here:

Books I’ve Read in 2007. This document gets updated every time I finish a new book (provided I REMEMBER to add it when I’m done reading) so check back often.

Today, I found out that Laurie Halse Anderson is going to be practically down the street from me on March 25th. Guess where I will be camping out that day? With my camera, for sure. I’ll ask her to send me some “best-selling author” mojo. 🙂

Right now, I am reading brentsbrain‘s Split Screen, which just came out. I read the first screen, I will probably start on screen two at lunch. I just finished My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult and OH MY GOD. I ALMOST lost it, but managed to keep it together. But wow. I recommend that book to EVERYONE.

And just so you know, I’ve regained my joy of writing. 🙂 I’ve finally let CRUSH go, I’ve let ONLY YOURS go, definitely let BECOMING ME go, but that doesn’t mean I won’t use them for parts. There are brilliant moments in both of those books, so I plan to use them to pad current and future projects. I wish I was at home and writing now.

I guess that’s all for now. Time to eat. See ya!

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