JUSTINE-LA IN… LYNNWOOD?
ok i just checked and it was most definately in lynnwood hehehe. but aaaaannnyywaaayyssss… I JUST SAW JUSTINE-LA (Larbalestier)! woot! woot! hehe i saw her for the first time two years ago when Scott-la (Westerfeld) was touring for EXTRAS. i hadn’t read any of her books yet, but they were on hold from the library and she was at the top of my need-to-read authors list. you see, i made this t-shirt, and when Scott-la saw it, he asked if he could blog it. of course i said yes (i mean im not an idiot), so after he was done signing my books, he told me to go over to his wife Justine so she could take my picture. i was extremely confused. it scares me when people tell me to do unexpected things with one sentence explanations because the whole ‘unexpected’ factor kind of puts me into a shocked mood. shockedness=non-logical-thinkingness. but he did anyway, and its not like i was gonna just walk away like he’d never even mentioned it (although i highly considered doing just that).
so i walked over to the lady of which i was PRETTY SURE was Justine, but didn’t quite know. when i heard her talking to some girls about her new book (which im pretty sure was HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY), i let out a sigh of relief. i had stalked the correct person. (cuz really, wouldn’t you be a little creeped out if some hyperventalating little girl dazzled in a sharpie-made shirt and paperclip earring just started standing really close to you and glancing at you akwardly every few seconds? i no i would.) so after the girls were done talking to her and she was done apologizing for not bringing the few chapters of her new book that she had printed exactly for the purpose of giving to fans (yes i might have been eavesdropping), she turned to me. this was when i akwardly rambled about how Scott-la had sent me over to get my picture taken. i tried to explain the whole ‘can i blog your shirt’ thing but i have no recollection of the jumble i actually spoke. somehow she managed to understand my point, and whipped out her handy dandy iphone (i think). she took a couple pictures of me, one consisting of only my shoulder that included the famous, yet to some people disgusting words: CAT VOMIT. hehehe. then she asked what my name was to type in to her phone. as she spelled it out loud to make sure it was correct, she said ‘zet’ instead of ‘zee’ which i thought was the coolest thing ever. then she mentioned how she had read some of my comments on Scott-la’s blog, which i thought was the NEW coolest thing ever. then she recommended a book to me! yes, a famous author recommended a book to ME. (of course this turned out to be the NEW new coolest thing ever.) of course, once all of this was over, i felt bad that she new me, some random little fangrrl, and i hadnt even read her books. so once MAGIC OR MADNESS came through from the library, it was done within the weekend. : )
now fast forward to present day today. i was all excited to come see her on her tour for LIAR, especially due to this giant dilemma in which i thought i was going to miss her due to an orchestra concert. but luckily she was ocming more than one day, and wensday was free to author visit! i was pretty dang happy. me and my mom made it out the door on time for probably the first time EVER. i was reading crazily on LIAR, trying to get as far into it as i could before we got there. we were making good time and had fifteen minutes to spare, when our GPS says ‘you have reached your destination.’ let me tell you, there was NO destination in sight. we drove around for twenty minutes, totally frustrated and mad, when we ended up in the exact place we started, only to find that the B&N was RITE THERE and we hadnt seen it because the sign didnt light up and yes, it was dark out. she dropped me out and i rushed in. i ran in frantic circles through the store, trying desperately to find some source of author life! i went through the coffee place, the teen section, and pretty much the rest of the store. it wasnt until the end that i wound up in the childrens section, for some reason the last place i looked, where i saw the lovely Justine-la.
i walked up and stood akwardly in the back until Justine said ‘you can sit down, we saved a chair just for you!’ (i no she was just saying that but it still made me feel special hehe.) she talked all about the dramas of writing a real-life styled book rather than a fantasy book. she talked about the whole cover drama, she talked all about this fancy writing software that she used to write LIAR (i cant remember what its called and its bugging me), and she did a hilarious impersonation of Scott-la. (i was technically told specifically not to blog about that…. but it was just so funny! i just hope i dont get caught. that would not be good hehe.) she even mentioned a Micah (the main character in LIAR) replica spotting in a restaurant. she’s just so funny and entertaining, as i have found most of the authors i like are. from her i learned that crappy first drafts are oookkkkkaayyy, and that pictures are usually ‘more flattering’ if they are taken from a higher angle hehe.
afterwards, she signed of course. it was a smallish group of people, so instead of being rushed along or not even getting to say two words to her like im sure authors such as JK Rowling do, we all got leisure time to take ten ‘just in case’ pictures like the girls in front of me did. hehe it made me laugh. while i was waiting, LIAR and HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY already in hand, i noticed LOVE IS HELL on the little case of Justinebooks. i walked over to grab a copy and grabbed one in the middle of the display so i wouldnt get a sunbleached or slightly-bent-at-the-corners copy. of course, i only used one hand, so the books in front of my choice tumbled loudly to the ground. it was so nice. hehe
i got up to her and handed her my stack of books with the post-it labeled ‘Lizzy-wa’. then she went ‘oh! i didnt recognize you!’ hehe she said something about how she felt bad (i giggled) and then said ‘you’v gotten bigger!’ whats funny is that Scott-la mentioned the same thing just one week ago (i’ve yet to post my post on that hehe.) then we chatted about such things and i was in author heaven. i told her how my stupid assigned reading for school was preventing me from finishing books like LIAR and LEVIATHAN, and she signed LIAR ‘Dear Lizzy-wa, Sorry for all the crappy school work you’re suffering through! xox Justine’. that made me laugh quite a bit. while she was signing HTDYF, she asked how i sign off everything, then remembered before i could tell her and signed it ‘Dear Lizzy-wa, Wonderful to see you again! Jazzy-wa out! xxoxx Justine’. that made me laugh a LOT a bit. then she told the her publishing rep and the lady that worked at B&N (who just so obviously happened to be a crazed Justine fan, typed questions and clipboard in hand–yes, this made me laugh) about the two years ago tour and my t-shirt and said that i had made a ‘big impression’ on her and Scott-la! that shocked feeling returned again. hehe i made an impression on them? me??? it was pretty dang awesome.
then came the photos. i first had to turn my phone right side up for my phone-challenged mom. then we smiled and got Micah in the shot with us. she took one picture and Justine suggested taking another for good measure. my mom was about to push the button when my hair fell in front of my face and i flung my head to the side to get it out of the way. so in the second ‘for good measure’ picture, i look like an idiot. hehe. i felt a lot better when i got home and more closely inspected it, realizing that not only did i look like an idiot, but Justine-la had her eyes closed. hehehehe i laughed A LOT.
i asked her if she was ever going to write a sequel to HTDYF, my favorite of her books so far (note that i have not finished LIAR), but sadly she said no. she did however explain her fantasy in which Disney makes it into a super famous tv show, then the demand for more books gets higher and she lets all of her newish writer friends write sequels to it to help them get their career started (cuz i mean what better way to start a career than to write about hammer-crushed fairies hehehe).
it was a pretty awesome night and i no a normal person would apologize for the extremely long post (which only took me half an hour to write and is currently longer than the report i’ve been working on in school for over a month), but anyone who knows me will no that i love long posts and have even mentioned before how i never apologize for them and neither should anybody else. if people dont wanna read long posts, then they dont have to, but its a heck of a lot more fun to ramble on about all the little details than to write a summary of the night like i did in that hyperlinked post up there ^ .
i love you Justine-la!
-Lizzy-wa OUT! 8)
Lizzy-wa's Fawesome Blog 