Friday, October 29, 2010

My Upcoming Weekend

Dude, this weekend is going to rock! I'll give you a hint. I'm meeting an author. He wrote this, a contemporary novel that introduced me to what "unique voice" means:



And this, which inspired me to write a dystopian novel:


And this, which is just awesome:


And most recently this:


That's right! Scott Westerfeld is coming to Provo--he might already be here!--and I'm going to the Provo Teen Festival to gush go totally fangirl meet him.

*insert silent scream here*

Which author would you love to meet? How have they inspired your work?

78 comments:

Julia said...

OMG!!!! You are sooooo lucky! Can't wait to hear more about this!

S.A. Larsenッ said...

So sweet!!! Enjoy yourself, girl! I would love to meet Melissa Marr. She's not just an awesome writer, I think we have a lot personally in common. She's a cool person.

Natalie Aguirre said...

How cool. Especially since I'm going to see him tonight at the Ann Arbor Library. I can't believe we'll both see the same weekend.

I am so sorry I didn't go to your chat last night. I was super tired and I just forgot. Hope it went well.

Bish Denham said...

Have fun! Kate Dicamillo is just one who comes to mind of authors I'd like to meet.

Stina said...

I'd love to meet Elizabeth Scott, Simone Elkeles, or Jennifer Echols. And I would definitely love to meet Sarah Dessen. :D

Amie Kaufman said...

You're going to have a ball, he's so entertaining! I heard him speak a while back at the Melbourne Writers Festival, and one of the things I loved about him (there were many) was that he's so enthusiastic about his fans--he discussed the ways he connects with them online, which will be right up your alley!

I'd love to meet Laurel Snyder or Jeanne Birdsall, who wrote (amongst other things), Any Which Wall and The Penderwicks respectively, two of my favourite MG books. They write gorgeous, classic style, timeless MG that I'd give my left little finger (not used for typing) to be able to emulate. I'd probably be a mess, though--I squeaked when Laurel Snyder replied to my tweet, so imagine me in person!

Anita Saxena said...

Scott Westerfield is amazing. I would love to meet kristen Cashore. Have fun!

Christine Danek said...

Have fun. Sounds so exciting. I have way too many authors I would want to meet.

Karen Baldwin said...

Oh, Stephen King, for sure. There's something so weirdly layered about him. Dean Koontz next. Odd?

IanBontems said...

That's awesome Elana.

I'm sure you'll have a great time and don't forget to let us know what happened.
As for me, it would have to be Neil Gaiman. I've been a fan since his Sandman days.

Christi Goddard said...

I'm with Em-Musing, only I'd want to meet Koontz first, then King. I've dreamed of meeting Koontz for years.

Unknown said...

I'm jealous!!! He was the one person I missed when he was in town a month or two ago!!! At least I know you can tell us all about it!

Lydia Sharp said...

That's awesome!

Christine Fonseca said...

I know you aregoing to have a blast. HAVE FUN!

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

Oh, lucky you! Have a great time.
Who'd I love to meet? Neil Gaiman, absolutely.

Anonymous said...

That awesome! I would love to meet Casandra Clare...she is so brilliant I love her....

Golden Eagle said...

That's awesome! :D

I'd really like to meet Neil Gaiman sometime, or maybe Kenneth Oppel--they're two of my favorite authors.

Anonymous said...

That's awesome! I'm sure you'll have a fabulous time!

I actually already met the authors I wanted to meet when I went to our national conference this summer. They were gracious and all-around awesome. They inspire me to be a better writer, whether it's including humor (I'm a huge fan of comedies and think there should be more to counteract the crap in real life), thinking outside the box in terms of imagery, and remembering that even in dire straits, characters can show personality.

Regina said...

Have a great time and keep us posted how that goes. He is very talented. I loved the Uglies series.

Angela said...

Wow, how lucky are you?!

Anonymous said...

Yipee, more books for my TBR pile! :D

I hope you have a fab time at the conference!!!!!!

There are so many authors I'd like to meet, but I'd most like to hang out with JK Rowling. I hear she's a great baker.

Michelle McLean said...

ooooo so jealous!!!!!

Jonathon Arntson said...

I'd most like to meet Lois Lowry. THE GIVER was the first book that made me really think and it has stuck with me for over ten years.

I'd also like to meet Julia Karr. Something about her is so cool to me.

Jonathon Arntson said...

Oh, and hi, so jealous of you and your S.Wstrfld encounter to-be.

Emily White said...

How fun! I would love, love, LOVE to meet Becca Fitzpatrick. I'm pretty much obsessed with her work at this point.

Ishta Mercurio said...

Lucky ducky!

I've already met a few cool authors, and one who was disappointing (not naming names).

As far as people I'd like to meet and haven't met yet, I think JK Rowling would be near the top of my list, along with Suzanne Collins, Libba Bray, and Laurie Halse Anderson. They've each mastered an area of writing craft: Laurie's books are always emotionally raw and haunting and she captures the voice of an adolescent beautifully, Libba has an incredible ability to write a book where literally every single detail comes back later in the story, and Suzanne managed with THE HUNGER GAMES to make a political statement while still focusing on the story, a la LORD OF THE FLIES.

There are others, but those are the people who come to mind today. :-)

Have a great weekend!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

That's cool! I'd like to meet Preston and Child. Met Terry Brooks many years ago - he's just a normal guy, too.

Sarah Ahiers said...

oooh exciting! Ive already me Neil Gaiman so i'd say Stephen King or Anne McCaffrey (though she's ridiculously old)

Christina Lee said...

SOOOO jealous! We need pictures!

Theresa Milstein said...

Awesome! Have a fun time. Can't wait to hear all about it.

I'd have to choose JK Rowling because her work was epic + she inspired me to begin writing seriously.

Charity Bradford said...

Wow! I'm so jealous. I "heart" Scott and have read almost everything he's written.

He's on my list of authors I'd like to meet. As well as Orson Scott Card, Cassandra Clare, and several other dead authors.

Tell him I said hi, and I think the Midnighter's series was one of his best.

Unknown said...

I so want to go. I looked on the site and couldn't tell if you need tickets just to go to the keynote, or to the whole thing. Maybe I'll just show up and see what happens. I can be a pretty good liar under pressure. :-)

Alyssa Kirk said...

Have fun! Gregory's reading BEHEMOTH and loving it. I'd love to meet Meg Cabot - her paranormal YA books inspired me!

~Alyssa
Teens Read and Write

Unknown said...

Hope you have a great time! I would love to meet Lisa Shearin. Her blog is what encouraged me to really work at writing a novel for publishing.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I'd love to meet Anne McCaffrey, as her books definitely inspired me to become an author. Sinc eshe's very old and lives in Ireland, I doubt I'll ever get the chance.
I have met Ellen Hopkins, Chris Crutcher, and Catherine Coulter though.

Tere Kirkland said...

Very cool! I just ordered Behemoth because I decided it was way too cool to just download to my nook. I bought it for the end papers alone.

Give him a great big fan-girly scream for me!

Lenny Lee said...

hi miss elana! i could hear youre soooo excited to meet mr scott. i hope you have a really fun time. you could tell us on a post. i was gonna come at that chat last night but one of my brothers had to be on the computer for his school work. i hope you could do it again some time. have a real fun weekend!
...happy halloween hugs from lenny

Colene Murphy said...

You lucky duck!!!!!!! Jealous.

Olivia Carter said...

Oh, oh, oh! I'm going too & I'm SOOO excited! Can. Not. Wait.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Ha ha ha ha ha! Do I REALLY have to answer that?! *drools just thinking about him* Yes, you know who, don't you Elana? And YOU met him! More than once! And you're still my bff - THAT'S how much I love you! LOL.

Stephanie McGee said...

I would have loved to have met David Eddings. He and Tamora Pierce really inspired my love of all things fantasy. One author that I have met, though, is Jasper Fforde and something he said to me in response to a question sticks with me and helps me keep going when I feel like a total hack. Have a good weekend.

Angela Ackerman said...

Oh wow. Lucky, lucky girl! Have fun!

Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

Katrina L. Lantz said...

So cool! Can't believe this, but I didn't know who Scott Westerfield was until Uglies and Pretties, which I still haven't read, so I'm off to add him to my never-ending Amazon shopping list. (I'm not allowed to buy any more books this month, but soon, my pretties. Very soon.)

HAVE SO MUCH FUN MEETING A FAVORITE AUTHOR!!

Shari said...

Lucky! There are too many authors to count. But . . . Elana Johnson would have to be one of the first on my list.

lotusgirl said...

I just finished reading Behemoth. It was so fun. Uglies was another of my faves. It would be so cool to meet him.

Nichole Giles said...

And believe it or not, I actually FORGOT to go get tickets! Life distractions and all that. *frowns*

Have way lots of fun and tell him hi for me.

Shannon Messenger said...

Ooo, I met Scott at Comic Con and he was beyond awesome. I really hope he comes to Cali for Behemoth because I want a signed copy.

Have a plast girl. You deserve it! :)

Shannon Messenger said...

Uhhh--clearly I meant BLAST. Ahh--how did that happen--the letters aren't even near each other on the keyboard????? #Shannonfail

ali cross said...

*o* That's me doing the silent scream right along with you!

Write Chick said...

I am so jealous. He is the author that totally introduced me to the YA genre. Besides Harry Potter, I hadn't really read YA before the Uglies/Pretties series. Can't wait to see what you find out about him! I would love to meet him or J.K. Rowling or Meg Cabot or Gary Paulson or Suzanne Collins or...okay there are a lot of authors I'd like to meet. :-D
HAVE FUN!

Lydia Kang said...

So Jealous! Wow, tell us all about it when you come back!

Lindsay said...

Wow, I'm all shades of jealous now. Looking forward to you spilling the details. :)

Have a great time.

Nicole Zoltack said...

Wow! Lucky girl! I'm so jealous.

Krispy said...

Oh, that's so awesome! I really enjoyed Leviathan, and I totally forgot Behemoth is out. So I'll be getting my hands on that this weekend. :)

Jackee said...

Have fun!!!!! And thanks so much for your Operation Awesome chat--I read the transcripts late last night. :o)

Have a wonderful (which you will) weekend!

Joanna St. James said...

good luck and I cant wait to hear about it

Melissa said...

AWE! LUCKY!

Have fun, you need to have extra for all of us that don't get to meet him

Unknown said...

Oh cool! Have fun and make sure you don't have anything in your teeth;)

Lisa_Gibson said...

Ummm, you. :) Okay, Jandy Nelson and ummm Sarah Ockler. That would be so cool. Have fun.
Lisa ~ YA Literature Lover

Paul Greci said...

What can I say.
I. Want. To. Go.
"Checking to see if there are any free Concord flights buzzing into Provo from Fairbanks."

Can't wait to hear about it!!! :-)

Jeff King said...

J.K Rolwling is the one for me... she is the reason i am how i am, and who i'll become.

stephen king is a close second.

RaShelle Workman said...

Elana - Have fun! I haven't read these books, so I don't know what all of the fuss is about. I guess I should??? LOL

LTM said...

supercool! I have so many novelists I'd like to meet... finally connecting thanks to Theresa! Have a Happy Halloween!!! :o)

Olivia J. Herrell, writing as O.J. Barré said...

Lucky you. Awesome! I'd love to meet Stephen King, Nora Roberts, JK Rowling and a few more.

And I'd love, LOVE to meet my fellow blogger writers.

Have a great weekend, that rebel, Olivia

Jeanne Ryan (Serenissima) said...

Totally squeal-making!!

Mary@GigglesandGuns said...

Have a great time and don't go too "fangirl" on us. LOL

Karen Lange said...

Have fun! You photo-documenting this fangirl thing? :)

There are a lot of authors I'd like to meet. Would love to meet James Scott Bell, this new author Elana Johnson (heard of her?), and Liz Curtis Higgs, to name a few. Meeting Liz could happen as she lives in Louisville, which is only 30 minutes from me. I could run into her at the mall! Hey, I could be a fangirl too! Do you mind? :)

Have a great weekend,
Karen

Unknown said...

Love Scott Westerfeld!! I just finished Behemoth last night. Have fun!

Melissa Dean said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Melissa Dean said...

I just recently met six of my favorite authors: Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, Rachel Caine, Alyson Noel, Melissa Marr, and Kelly Armstrong. I'm still looking back at the pictures I took and squealing with glee!!!!

erica m. chapman said...

Awesome!! Have fun ;o) There are so many I'd love to meet! Hard to pick one...

Can't wait to hear all about it ;o)

Anonymous said...

Have a great time, Elana! Take pictures! Rock on!

Anonymous said...

It's tough to choose just one but I'd have to go with Sherman Alexie. And Diana Gabaldon. And Ann Brashares--see? Difficult to choose just one...

June G said...

I've never read a Westerfeld book, but I should probably dip into that pool. Enjoy.

Kelsey (Dominique) Ridge said...

I've read all of those except Behemoth, and that's going on my list. Scott Westerfeld is awesome! Definitely one of my author-heroes. Congrats. :)

Angela said...

Elena;
scott westerfeld and justinne larbalestier are the best when it comes to meeting fans and other kidlit authors...they are so much fun to talk to...have fun...and who knows, they may just become your fan soon.

I don't want to mention the writer I most want to meet because I'm trying to arrange an in person interview with him (not kidlit) in the next couple months...just wish me luck!!!!

Cranberryfries said...

So I'm curious. When you met him, did you totally kiss him on the cheek? Hmmm?? It was so great to run into you at the festival. It's fun to get to meet after feeling like I 'knew' you from online. Seriously let me know if you and Nicole need help setting up any events. *wink*wink*

Donea Lee said...

That's awesome!! I hope the "meet" went really great. Such a great opportunity to get to meet an author that inspires you. :) (This is so unoriginal, but true...) I'd love to meet JK Rowling. Who wouldn't, right? It'd just be a great honor to meet someone who's work has actually been called "epic". Too cool!

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