paranormal pizzas & portal fantasies
“i like your vibe,” she says as i walk away.
that a line from your latest rom-com read, hallie?, you may ask.
but no: it’s the real-life compliment i accepted as i walked away from fellow disney-fangirlie and best-selling author ashley poston’s signing line.
(did i wear my glitter daisy duck tee shirt and howl’s moving castle headband to impress her? no. it’s how i got dressed that morning. but perhaps it’s was subconscious decision-making on my part for such an occasion as this.)
behold: the vibe in question…?
monday night, after three giant (& perfect) diet cokes; two orders of happy hour doughdoughs (pronounced like the ill-fated flightless bird; they looked like angelic stepchildren of doughnut holes and when little caesar’s crazy bread was still good & it’s why we ordered a second round); and ONE magnificent pizza topped with popcorn shrimp, sweet thai sauce, and ranch (no idea how or why that worked, but i promise it so totally did)—well, after THAT feast [and a trip to the drugstore for essential pre-event gum (don’t get us started on the rudely loud self-checkout robot voice, the confusing sale tags on $8 gum in a wait-we-live-in-a-tourist-town?-CVS)], my book trip gal-pal haley and i fought the oversold crowd at mjudson’s to see and meet The Ashley Poston.
this is not a sponsored post, but i already have two outings planned to return to craft & crust. :)
the finale stop of her book tour for her latest: A NOVEL LOVE STORY, it was a books-over-drinks event at my favourite local indie bookstore downtown greenville, sc: m. judson booksellers.
amongst other things, ashley spoke on this book’s original title, the alternate love-interest names her editor wouldn’t let her use, the magic of diana wynne jones’ HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE, the question of what happens if an author dies before they finish publishing your favourite series, growing up on nora roberts and (too much) spicy online fanfic, and even promised us that THIS book isn’t as sad as THE SEVEN-YEAR SLIP. (you should still totally read that one by the way; even if this book was a pure writing love-fest of all her favourite bookish tropes and finding the joy in storytelling again after a very personal and professionally-trying season.)
““ideas are like songbirds; they fly away into the ether to someone else if you don’t use them.” ”
not only did our event ticket include a copy of the book, but we were also all gifted a cover-coordinating color of OLIVE & JUNE nail polish. (haley graciously swapped with me; my XOXO is a perfect match and she promised she wanted my green one more anyway. huzzah!)
we were greeted with a bookish cocktail (or mocktail, in my case) and scrunched in to see our author gal ashley IRL.
i shall have to admit i have now endured the slowest signing line i’ve ever been in, which added to the claustrophobia of folding chairs tucked into every corner of the eccentric (amazing) store. and as the daughter of a late fire-fighter, haley wasn’t feeling confident in her access to emergency exits. (as i’m typically at this particular bookstore three or so times a week to shop/write/caffeinate, i knew and could have gotten us on the first lifeboat off the titanic, but anxiety IS real & i was only cool because one of us needed to reach that water cooler.)
on the left: the eager crowd waiting to be let into the bookstore.
on the right: 45 minutes into the signing line. haley and i have moved approx. 18” closer and still have yet to see ashley and her book-signing table laden with sharpies.
i’m also guessing the line was slow because ashley is just SO nice. and because the POINT of an in-person event is to MEET and GREET and chat with readers! so yay and thank you for your stamina and kindness, ashley! (even if by the time i finally met you it was way past my bedtime, i couldn’t remember my leftover questions from the too-brief Q&A time, i neglected to even introduce myself, my running smudgy-mascara was no doubt contributing to the dark circles under my eyes, and if my coral lipstick was on my teeth from plucking the floating rose petal bits out of my mocktail, you were kind enough not to mention it.)
and she still dug my vibe? what a woman!!) ;D
““have ya’ll watched an opera? it’s all screaming and crying all the time. like me.” ”
author events make me all the more grateful for books and real-human art, though.
attendees walk away (with or without compliments!) knowing that authors are more or less just like us.
(okay, sometimes they’re invited onto early-morning national TV shows and book clubs.1)
but sometimes even they have to wait six+ months past their publication date to know that their latest book release was, indeed, a “success” and has been reaching readers and best-of lists all along.
they, too, have to navigate how to interact (or not) with readers, fans, and reader spaces.
and it brings me great joy when they even have a ready doodle for their backlist titles you brought them to sign.
but really, i’m still reeling in the “i like your vibe” moment, starting to doubt i actually heard her correctly. perhaps i was in an over-stimulated haze of dream state.
but i’m continuing that dream state to believe that if ashley and i lived closer, she would join in my “diet coke & a pizza please”2 friend group.3
i was too out of sorts to ask for a pic with The Ashley Poston when we made it to the front of The Line, but i managed to snap a shot of haley getting her book signed!!
you can see a reel of ashley signing MY book (+ her backlist titles i brought from home that weren’t already signed) on my instagram HERE. :D
so again, thank you ASHLEY POSTON for having author-signing stamina greater than my “it’s 90 minutes past my bedtime, but golly, i want my book signed and personalized so i shall endure, even though everyone else here seems way too extroverted to be in a bookstore.” AND again for calling after awkward me (whether it was real or imagined) to say “i like your vibe.”4
xo,
*hallie :D
footnotes:
1 ashley’s book THE DEAD ROMANTICS, about a handsome ghost and a bizarro family who live in a funeral home, what a good morning america book club pick AND was a stupendous, wonderful, quirky, paranormal, & super*fun read (and propelled her into the deserved spotlight).
2 any mika fans out there? anybody? anyone? just me? :)
3 and by “friend,” i mean fellow bookish weirdos who never cease to surprise me with their obscure obsessions and hobbies i never could have made up. (in the past 48 hours, for example, i learned one friend was a pre-leo titanic expert; another plays her ukulele for pigs on a farm. incredible people, my peeps.)
4 again, the vibe was a teal daisy tee-shirt i was too embarrassed to wear on my WDW honeymoon day 9 years ago. the HOWL headband was semi-conscious because i knew you were also a howl fan, but TBH, i do wear it 50% of the time.
““One! More! Time!” ”
ashley herself confirmed i was here, but even i can’t find myself in the event spin-video. i was seated somewhere in that circled area?! maybe i AM a ghost?! ;D