My life is not very glamorous. I live in a very small apartment, I drive a very average car, my clothes mostly come from the Old Navy clearance rack, and we eat peanut butter sandwiches every day for lunch. Not exactly rockstar living.
But yesterday? My life felt extraordinary.
A few weeks ago, I got an email from one of the publicists at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (she also was the one who invited me to the author banquet at ALA in January) and said that R. L. LaFevers (the author of the Theodosia books and the Nathaniel Fludd series) was going to be in town and they were having a little lunch, and would I like to come?
It only took me ten seconds to shoot an email off to my principal asking if I could leave early (it was a day when all my classes were early in the day, so it wouldn’t disrupt my work schedule) and the principal, bless her, gave me permission.
And so, today, after my classes were done, I drove back home, parked near the train station and took the T into the city.
It was kind of a rainy, chilly day – enough to wear a raincoat, but not to carry an umbrella. I did some reading on the train and then walked past the gorgeous Boston Public Gardens to the restaurant (all I needed was a movie soundtrack!).
The restaurant was beautiful and it turned out to be a pretty small little group (seven of us in all – the author, the illustrator, the editor, the publicist, a marketing director, and a book seller from a Wellesley Booksmith, plus me).
When R. L. LaFevers arrived and was introduced to all of us, she said to me, “Oh, I love your Frugal blog.” Well, I am a fan for life!
We had the most delightful time, talking about books, of course – books we’ve loved, movies we are afraid to see (Beezus and Ramona!), book covers, awards, Boston, weather, children (the publicist is also expecting her first baby this year, so there was much discussion on this topic). Every last one of these women was interesting and charming and nice. And they all loved books – just my kind of people.
I could have stayed all day, but my car was parked in a four hour spot and though I don’t think they patrol those streets very closely, I wasn’t exactly willing to gamble on that point.
They loaded me down with books for my libraries and I went home full and happy. And feeling decidedly glamorous.
I didn't know this before moving here, but Boston is a HOT BED for children's lit folks. Which might not seem glamorous to most folks, but almost every day I get that feeling that I'm living in a movie, and I'm not even being invited to special Houghton-Mifflin author parties! Case in point: reading all these Horn Books for class, opening random issues and spotting an article by the lecturer we spent 6 weeks listening to last semester, a letter to the editor from my adviser, and book reviews written by my favorite professor here.
Children's Lit Glitterati? Not quite, but I feel lucky to be here!
You are a rock star.
Sounds like it couldn't have been scripted better. I am truly thrilled for you! PB sandwiches on most days make the fantastic rock star luncheon outings all the more glamorous.
You're like a librarian, pregnant version of Audrey Hepburn! I can picture the whole fantastic event!
And she reads our blog!! Life doesn't get much better than that.
I saw this in your twitter feed! SO fun! You are famous, lady!
You rise (deservedly) in the world! I'm so glad you got to go, it sounded absolutely lovely!
So cool! You ARE glamorous!
Wow, what a cool experience for you! That sounds amazing. Congratulations on being invited. What an honor.
You are glamerous! When I was sitting in my Physical Science class the other day I saw a girl a couple rows down front looking at your frugal blog. I really wanted to go up to her afterwards and say, "Oh, you like that blog? I actually know Janssen." I felt like a total name dropper, but it's because you're awesome and everyone knows about you!
cute cute blog! 🙂
much love,
emilia @
http://twitter.com/laceymaybelle
http://laceymaybelle.blogspot.com
Sounds awesome!!
You are SO cool.
Um, and a Beezus and Ramona movie?! What?! Is this happening? How did I not know about this?!
That sounds amazing! Wow – what a cool-sounding group of people. And such fun conversation topics.
Glamorous life indeed!
That is too cool. I am jealous.
How exciting!
Youre amazing.
You totally deserve the celebrity treatment.
I hope this becomes a habit.
PS: I love the frugal blog too!
I think you should invest in a pocket-sized soundtrack. That way, you can have the full experience next time. Sounds dreamy for you!
What a fantastic experience for you!!