My Super Cool, "It Must Be Fate!" Story, From the IRA!!

So, of course I plastered my cheesy grinning pie face all over facebook, so everyone could see my pics from my first ARC signing at the IRA on Monday, so you knew I had to blog about it, right? I had such an incredible time and I really got in with a great group of folks! Holiday House = Amazing! They made me feel right at home and honestly, it was so hard to go back to reality on Tuesday! I met so many inspiring teachers and librarians as close as Chicago and as far away as Canada and beyond. I got to exchange books with some other authors I know and put many faces to some very famous names! Oh, and I got tons of free books!!!

Okay, best story ever! As some of you know, Rick Riordan, renowned author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, read Nightshade City--and fortunately gave it a very nice review (and yes, I sent him a very corny sputtering fan girl thank you letter)!! Well, before my signing on Monday, I got to wander around a bit. I started walking and ended up in the Scholastic booth, where they were handing out all kinds of "book swag", someone handed me a complimentary book, my first one of the day, and guess what it was?? Any guesses? The Lightning Thief by none other than Rick Riordan! Gah! What are the odds of that? The conference hall was the size of a football field, with hundreds of booths and publishers giving out hundreds of books! I couldn't have been more bowled over! To quote my own book, which I know is even cheesier than my pie face on facebook, "...fate is sometimes a remarkable thing." Of course I took it as a sign from above, and it made the start of my perfect day, even more...well, perfect! Okay, it wasn't all perfect; I totally wore the wrong shoes! Bad, bad, bad decision! I was nearly limping when the clock struck five o'clock! Luckily, I did get to sit for spell, after the IRA closed that day, we had a beautiful dinner sponsored by Holiday House in the wine cellar of the Chicago Firehouse! I got to hobnob with some brilliant educators, authors and the great folks at HH. I got home very late for a school night, went to sleep all dreamy and then turned into a pumpkin by 6am the next day! Unforgettable...

xoxo -- Hilary