TSS: I met David Levithan!!

Whew! OK. I had to shout that right away because I've been on a fangirl high since Friday when I reverted back to my pre-teen self and stuttered out a "I LOOOOVVEEE YOOOU DAVID LEVITHAN" squeal.

*deep breath*

From the beginning ya'll. Thursday through Sunday (today!) I attended the NCTE conference which (lucky me!) happened to be here in Orlando. (ED NOTE: NCTE - National Council of Teachers of English). Oh and check this out...since it was in Orlando, my principal paid for it. And the days off from work to go.

Now, I have never been to NCTE but I knew it would be awesome. Why, you might ask? 'Cuz one individual who I admire more than anything in the field of education, Teri Lesene, was going to be there and speaking. That right there sold me hands down.

Then, you know what I found out Thursday?? There were LOADS OF AUTHORS there too! And I got tons of free books (galleys, arcs, NYT bestsellers - oh my!) Plus, I got to go with a couple of good teachery friends which made it even more fun.

Highlights:

Lois Lowry

Halfway through the exhibits, I turn the corner and low and behold there is Lois Lowry signing books. Of course I had to wait in the (surprisingly) small line. I figured we got there at the end of her signing and she was pretty exhausted. My conversation with her went something like this:

Me: Wow. I'm so excited to be meeting you. The Giver was the very first novel I ever taught as a teacher.

LL: Yes. You don't even know how many times I have heard that.*

Er(?)(?)(!)(!) Like I said, I think that she must have been a bit tired. The woman who had stood before me had asked if she could take a picture of her and the reply was "Only when I'm looking down."*

For the record, I still love her. She's just spunkier than what I would have expected.

David Levithan & Neil Shusterman (accidently...)

Ahhhh! Once again, can I just tell you how excited I was about this one. I gushed to my gals that I had to get him to sign a book. My moments with David went something like this:

Me: (to my teachery friends) OK, I'm going to stalk the booth so I can be in the front of the line.

Them: Yeah, totally. Go for it. We'll be here...

(walking around book signing area and spotting him)...

...(heart sorta does a leap and I want to grab someone and go, OMG, but don't.)

(Overhear brief convo of guy in front of me and DL. Guy or DL knock over set of boxes. Everyone giggles a bit, I turn read, and help pick them up.)

Helper: Ooh my goodness. Don't worry about that. We'll get them...

DL: Yeah, I saw them. I think they were trying to make a run for it.

*laugher*


(And now it's MY turn.)

ME: Er, Hi! I am sooooooo (...oooooooo) excited that you are here. Seriously. I'm like, such a fangirl with your works. (thinking to myself: Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. You just said the word fangirl and you are in your 30's!!! Shhhhhh! EARLY 30's. *turning really red*)

DL: *laughter*

Helper: (to me) Do you mind if I interrupt for about two seconds?

ME: Noway. That just means I get to hang out longer. *laugh* (Er, I'm SUCH A FREAKIN' DORK!)

Helper: David, Neil wanted to meet you. He's a big fan of yours and really enjoyed your last book.

(ME: OMG. I am now in between David and Neil Shusterman having a convo about their books! *squeal*)

DL: No, no problem as long as she's okay with the interruption.

(isn't he polite?)

NS: So, I gotta ask. Which Will Grayson was yours?

DL: *laugh* Mine's in all lower case. And I have a funny story that I like to tell people...when the book was finished I gave a copy to my parents to read. After they were done, they kept raving about John's Will Grayson until I finally had to say, yeah great, but what about the other one. *laugh* My parents couldn't figure out which one was the one I wrote.

NS: *laugh* Well thanks. It was really good to meet you.

ME: For the record, I knew which WG was yours. *giggles* Oh, and can you sign the book Tiny loves you.

DL: *laugh*

And I walk back to my gals bright blushing red and giggly. They of course teased me saying that I was all bouncy and obviously having a grand ole time. In fact, they said meeting the authors and getting all of the free books must be the equivalent of Christmas morning for me.

Holly Black

I almost walked right passed her! But then I saw the Zombies vs. Unicorns book and stopped.

ME: Girls, I'm gonna have to make another stop.

Them: It's all good. Take your time.

Holly Black and I only had a couple of minutes to chat. My bags were filled with books and I was having difficulty holding onto them all. We debated over the Zombie vs. Unicorn dilemma and she was a wee bit disappointed that I was gungho for zombies. I did tell her that zombies sorta got an upper hand because you know, they're getting all of this press with the vampires and werewolves. So really she is helping the underdog (er undercorns?) out.

And finally, I did spot Gary Paulsen. He looked like such a sweet grandpa that you would expect to see fishing down on the crick. I just wanted to give him a great big hug. I resisted of course. LOL.

There were tons of other authors that I wished I could have met, but there's just not enough hours in the day. Plus, I got to enjoy some neat trainings and seminars for my discipline.

Now I'm off to attend a final seminar and end the afternoon perusing my new books. *huge smile*

______
* All convos are of course paraphrased. Although I wish I had a photographic memory, I do not.