Wordstock - Change the World (At Least It Changed Mine)

<-- This happened this weekend. I've always wanted to attend, but was never organized enough to make it happen. My niece was the one to corral me and her mom into it this year. I've been really busy recently, so I glanced over the workshop schedules and bought my ticket and showed up.

Let it be known that I hadn't read anything about what was actually going to happen while I was there.

We walk in and sat down for our first panel, and thee cutest person bops past on her way to the moderating podium. I grinned thinking, This is going to be fun! Then she introduces herself as Stephanie Perkins and I'm in immediate and completely unexpected fangirl mode. I think, No WONDER Anna and the French Kiss made me so happy. Look at the author! I was able to meet her later and gush about her books and she signed a copy of Lola and the Boy Next Door for me and it was simultaneously fun and embarrassing to be so excited about meeting someone. But she really deserves it.

There were other fun panels with smart authors talking about cool things. A lot of smart authors as a matter of fact, and I'd love to name all the authors who impressed me with their wit and sarcasm and insight this weekend, but people don't read long posts so you'll have to trust me.

BUT then THIS happened and it CHANGED MY WORLD!

I did not know Maggie Stiefvater was going to be there this weekend. That's probably a good thing because I would have obsessed over the fact that I'm having a bad hair month and I would have made copious notes of clever things to say. Instead I fell into the situation in a kind of stupor. This panel was SO much fun to listen to. I've developed a reader crush on Dan Krokos - now I just have to become one of his readers. And after the panel, I stood in line and talked to a lovely blue haired librarian from Washington who was equally excited about meeting Maggie and then...and then...after a million years I finally did this:

I met Maggie. In person. By the way, she is a microscopic person, which surprised me because of her bounty of personality and the fact that she plays the bagpipes. She was gracious to say she remembered me - because that would be awkward. "Uh, no, not ringing a bell!" might have brought the conversation to a halt.

It wasn't until long after I left that I thought to pull my book out and see what she wrote.

By the time the message sank into my foggy brain, Maggie had gone from being 'one of my favorite' authors to my favorite. (See! We have history. She's referring to this old interview from days gone by.)

The entire weekend was fun and I loved having the opportunity to rub elbows with people in the business - such a rarity for me. But seriously meeting Maggie in person changed my world. It isn't because she's a New York Times bestselling author. It isn't because she's had book signings in places like Budapest. It's because, after all of that she has experienced in her career, she still has such a passion for writing and the business that comes along with it. Meeting her inspired me to never think that I've written my best book and to stay in love with my readers. My niece made a FANTASTIC recap of Wordstock, which shares their awesome mission and some fun panel footage:

Have you ever had a Changed-Your-World author encounter? Have you met any of your favorite authors? I'd love to hear about it.