My Day as a Rock Star

Today I was a "guest author" at a Young Author's Day in Grand Haven.  It was so much fun!  I don't really have anything witty or funny to say in this post, but I need to post it anyway so that when I'm having a bad day and thinking I'm a total loser, I can come back to this post and remember that I'm not.

I knew the day was going to be fun as soon as I walked into the school where it was held.  I was literally four steps through the door when a girl came up to me and said, "Aren't you the author of The Elsie Files?"  Yes...  Her mom wanted to know how she knew me, and the girl said, "Her picture's on the back of her book, so I recognized her!"  Whoa - I'm recognizable by a random kid?  Add 5 cool points to whatever my score was before today.  Another girl came up and nervously asked if she could take my picture, like I was a Disneyland character or something.  I mean...okay, yes you can take my picture.  Your parents are going to wonder who the heck I am, though.

Unbeknownst to me, many of the teachers at this school had done novel studies of my book before I came to speak to the kids.  Therefore the kids didn't know that my book is a random obscure children's novel that hasn't even sold 1,000 copies.  To them, I may as well have been J.K. Rowling.  They thought I was so cool.  When the principal announced me, they cheered like crazy.  It was among the weirdest experiences of my life (but still really awesome!).  Like, wait, you're cheering for me?  Is Justin Bieber standing behind me or something?  No?  Oh, then that must really be for me.  Strange.

I had been so nervous about my presentation, but the kids were so amped that I probably could have just stood up there and answered questions the whole time and they wouldn't have cared.  They were so into it.  There's a picture of Elvis in my presentation, and as soon as it was put up one of the kids said, "Hey!  That's your dog Elvis!"  I cannot adequately convey the simultaneous creepiness and awesomeness of the fact that the kids already knew my dog's name.  And my husband's name.  And my rats' names.  One kid thought my husband was secretly Justin Verlander (the pitcher for the Detroit Tigers), but I unfortunately had to bust his conspiracy theory.

The teachers were so appreciative of my being there, too.  When I arrived in the morning they had a breakfast set out for me (WHAT?)  and a reusable tote gift bag full of goodies to welcome me to their school and to say thanks for coming.  Mind you, I was already getting paid to be there, so none of this was necessary!  They were so kind!  One teacher had her class do book reports on my book in the weeks leading up to this, and they bound them in a beautiful binder to give me as a gift to say thanks for coming.  You basically NEED to see what these third graders thought of Elsie (and how they illustrated my book).  It's fabulous.  That binder is definitely going in the "keep forever" pile.

Probably my favorite part of the day, though, was after the presentation, after meeting the kids, and after my book signing.  Just as I was about to start packing up, this shy kid came up to my table.  He was holding a copy of my book, and I could tell he was nervous.  I said hi and smiled at him to try to make him feel better, and this is what he said to me:

"Hi...ummm...  I just want to meet you, and...ummm....  I just wanted to know that, um, your book is my favorite book that I ever read in my whole life."

Melt. My. Heart.

If I die tomorrow, I still feel like my life was a success because I wrote a kid's favorite book.  That's a pretty cool thing.  So what if he was, like, eight and he'll probably choose a new favorite book next week?  I don't care.  I could tell that he really meant what he said to me. I helped a kid like reading a little better because of something I wrote.  That feeling is seriously priceless.

Basically, it was a really good day.  When I feel like I'm a total loser and wasting my life, I need to remember how I felt today and know that I actually made a difference somewhere, even if was just to make a couple hundred kids in my Grand Haven fan club feel excited about reading.  :-)