Chick Lit – Stalker Style Part 2 May 25, 2008

I’m so excited to tell you all about my visit with THE JEN LANCASTER. It was actually more like a book signing- less like a sit down visit with food and beverage. My husband came home early from work to watch the kiddos so that I could get to the Such a Pretty Fat book signing. I had never been to this particular bookstore before so pretending to be the Girl Scout [that I never was] I prepared myself with snack, bottled water and the all important MAPQUEST directions. I was on the phone with my sister while driving there. I was sure that I had passed it, knowing that I hadn’t even entered the correct city yet. It always stresses me out to go somewhere new when I am in a time crunch. I almost passed it up but in true JEN style I cut off 3 lanes of traffic and squealed into the parking lot just in time. Once inside I assessed the situation to see how long I had to browse the bookstore before settling into a cozy [hard, cold, metal] chair. I purchased my book for her to sign and I sat down next to a group of rowdies. They had brought wine in colored water bottles [very clever, indeed]. How do I know it was wine? Well, they were passing it around like it was holy water and I have a nose like a DOG! I was surrounded by shiny, happy people [a la R.E.M.]. I opened my book to get a sampling of what was to come and got about 3 pages in and the event started. Jessica [one of the bookstore employees] walked out on stage to introduce JEN and then it was time for her reading. I’m not sure what part of the book she was reading from, but it was so funny – laugh out loud funny. It added so much to the words to hear them actually come from her mouth. I loved every minute. She also did question and answer time. She is obviously a gifted and talented writer, and is just as quick-witted and humorous in person. The book store was set up in such a way that the reading/question and answer time was on one side and we had to walk to the other side for the actual book signing. As we were walking towards the signing area, she was walking right next to me – not more than a foot away from me. Let me just say that I too am normally fairly quick-witted and humorous and all I could come up with to say was “wow, I’m standing really close to you!” How embarrassing!!! Luckily, she just laughed it off. I must have been having a low blood sugar moment. After walking clear across the store, I realized I had forgotten my camera, so I ran out to my car. I had to have my picture taken with her!!! When I came back, I was in the very back of the line. I was not in a hurry, so I thought I may as well enjoy myself. I never meet a stranger so I was happy to get to know my fellow Jen-fans. I got to know two gals named Darci and Amy. They both each have one daughter and we were instantly able to bond over our love of all things Jen and had a lot in common since we were all moms. Darci indulged me while I asked her 101 questions about her work, life etc… Also, we both have a love of Louis Vuitton. Amy gave us the scoop on having a new child and all that entailed [little sleep, crying and lots of breastfeeding]. We were absolutely giddy by the time we reached the head of the line. We each had our picture taken with Jen and she signed our books. I gave her my gift [monogrammed duffel and towels] so she could be chic and stylish at the gym. It was a great experience! We never got to meet one-on-one for a cup of coffee but I will cherish my photo with her—FOREVER!

Chick Lit – Stalker Style May 2, 2008

I am totally into “chick lit” and my sister recommended a book to me. I had the wild idea to send an email to the author and see if she wanted to meet for coffee while she was in town for a book signing. Below is my email to her…I’ll keep you posted.

Dear Jen,

My sister called me out of the blue and was so excited to tell me about the book she was reading. The fact that she called me wasn’t odd, in and of itself, but the fact that she was excited about a book that didn’t say “condensed version” or wasn’t colored glaringly yellow and black [AKA Cliff’s Notes], was indeed odd. She admittedly never read a book that she wasn’t forced to, by some tortuous History teacher who just knew she would be better off if she read about how people lived in 1842 or by an English professor who was convinced that her journalism degree would mean nothing if she didn’t actually finish reading at least one book. So, she calls me and goes on and on about some girl who would have me rolling on the floor, laughing out loud and quite possibly wetting my pants. [After giving birth to 3 children wetting your pants becomes more common than one might think]. Of course I am intrigued by the good time she is having and I must have some of this chick lit crack for myself. Several days later I have in my possession a book entitled “Bitter is the New Black”. The title itself brought a smile to my face and I knew that this was a book I would read and enjoy. Well, needless to say I am half way through the 2^nd book [BLBA] and am loving every minute of it. I found myself at the tire store today, looking to get some tread returned to my wheels [balding on a man’s head is one thing---but not so cute when you find yourself putting out a 911 to God in the middle of a hail storm in the month of APRIL because you are unable to drive up a hill to get your daughter to swim practice]. So I’m at the tire store and once I’m settled into my seat [with the smell of stale popcorn and rubber tires to set the mood] I escape into my BLBA world and an hour and a half flies by more quickly than I could have imagined. I’m certain the cowboy in the corner was wondering why I seemed to murmur to myself as I mouthed the words in the book. And on more than one occasion I laughed so loud I shocked some of the customers out of their tire trance.

So I am telling you all this to say that not only am I excited that you got my sister to read a book, but I am looking forward to you coming to Seattle. I know your book signing schedule is crazy-busy, hopping from city to city, day after day…but I am free for coffee [my treat] if you would like to grab a cup, in the coffee capital of the nation.

If you are a multi-tasking fool [like me] we could make it a PR event too and get channel 5 news to cover the story —“Best-selling Author finds time to sip some Coffee with a fan”