I met...

Ally Carter!!!!!

I'm still jumping all over the place. Well, OK. Perhaps only mentally. I did, after all, still have to work today. But the excitement is still very much there.

Because it's not just that I met a YA author.

Because I've met (meaning actual "hello" and handshake)

Stephenie Meyer
Joan Bauer
Shannon Hale

All before I ever read their books. I'd never even heard of Bauer at the time!

I have since finished graduate school and had time to read. And I, well, kinda went overboard on the reading. Like the world was going to end and I had to read every book I possibly could. I've read at least 230 YA books in about 3.75 years. That's quite a lot when compared with the 7 years I was in college. And among those books included ones of Bauer's and Hale's that I just loved. So, yes, I'm excited that I've met them. But, well, it wasn't all that exciting when I was actually there meeting them. Because I didn't know their works and didn't know how much I would want to meet them.

But in these years, I also read Ally Carter. Author of the Gallagher Girl series. Fabulous fluff full of adventure, fun, sass, smarts, and mm-hmm boys.  Last year brought the first in a new series--just as delightful, only this time thieving instead of spying. The sequel came out this week, but our library is on back-order. Urg.

Still. I have highly enjoyed Carter's works. And when I heard a few months ago that she was coming here, the excitement began to mount. And did not stop!

And, well, the excitement was worth every bit.

But Confession Time: I was chatting with a mom and her daughter. I saw my friend and former co-worker walk in--in her adorable GG outfit--with another woman in a just as adorable outfit. The mom asked me about them, and I told her the other woman must have started at the library after I left. And, well, I was so wrong. Who else? Of course.

May I introduce you to Ally Carter!

And her giggle laugh. It's very much her personality.

I totally botched the filming on this one, but she's laughing because we all had just put on our big sunglasses. (Oh yeah. I bought a pair just for this. Well, OK. I've been needing a new pair for years. This just conveniently gave me an excuse. And I never thought I'd buy what I used to call "grasshopper glasses," but...I did. And I love them!)

She went straight to Q& A--which was awesome.

Some very kind people in the audience asked the questions whose answers I wanted to know.

Like what about Josh? (No. I don't want him and Cammie to get together. She's well beyond him. But I'm not and I want Carter to write me into it so I can have him.)

Answer: Who knows? Only if Cammie's circle somehow came around and incorporated him again. But even if it did, her world is so much darker and different that it's not likely anything would happen. But who knows?

I'm OK with that--it leaves him free for me!

Question: You have such great pacing--how do you manage it?

Answer: Why, thank you and

Well. I think that rules me out a bit. I don't know how to just cut to it. I love to drag it out. I love words. I'm too Dickensian (but thankfully not so much Hugo-ian) to know how to just get right to it.

Question: Who she would most like to be--Kat or Cammie?

Hilarious, eventual Answer: If I could I'd be Kat attending Gallagher Academy and dating Joe Solomon!

Question: How do you research being a spy and a thief?

Answer:

Stinky video won't post--it's apparently too large and I don't have the software to edit it down. She refers to her time in the CIA. Talks of her boyfriend George Clooney. And worries that she's on a Watch list from all of the things she Googles. Much funnier on the video--sorry I can't post!

(And the George Clooney relationship? So funny to read on her blog!!)

Question: Will your books be made into movies?

Answer:

Question (from 1 of the 3 guys in the room who was there "because [his] sister was in CA and [he] was there on penalty of death": This Heist Society sounds interesting. Do you think I would like it?

Answer:

And it was pretty neat to hear how she finally came up with Hale's name. 

(Visiting temple square and seeing the names on monuments--hmmmmm.....--played a part.)

Overall, a very delightful hour of Q&A. She was very fun and personable. Including in person! Here she is with my friend and former co-worker.

And here I am--talking with her!! She was saying something about Harry Potter and how alike it was to GG5--meaning Murder. (Yes. She said it. And she didn't say by who or to who, so.....!)

And she signed my book.

And let me have a picture with her!!!!

Oh my wowness.

It was so awesome.