July 11, 2014

My Fan Girl

Q: What's better than an exhilarating, inspiring, uplifting and powerful writer's conference?
A: Sharing it all with your daughter.

My oldest daughter is the one who inspired me to write young adult. First, she wanted me to write in a genre she would enjoy. Second, she wanted to help. I had my first assistant!

Proudly wearing her t-shirt!
Jackie is a voracious reader, usually knocking out 3-4 books a week. Plus, she re-reads books. Something I never seem to have time to do! 

When I told her I was going to a young adult writer's conference, she asked if she could tag along. She wanted to meet several authors--one in particular was LP Dover--and find new reads. At the beginning of the day, she calmly set expectations. 

"Mom, don't dance and please don't embarrass me" was her first declaration. More on that later.

Then... "I really don't think I'll freak out or anything. I'm just going to calmly walk around and check out some new books." 

Within minutes, literally, she came running back up to my booth. "I just met LP Dover and ..." She was jumping up and down. I've never seen my reserved, book-loving girl so animated and excited. She ran from table to table collecting books and swag. So many authors were amazing to her, and she and I are extremely grateful. 

A special shout out to LP Dover, Mary Ting/M Clarke, Casey L Bond, Jo Michaels, NL Greene, Rebecca Ethington, Jacinda Buchmann, Devyn Dawson, and Krystal Wade for making her feel so special! You have a fan for life.

She hugged me so tight after, telling me how proud she was of me as a writer and a mom. *heart melts* Oh, and about the dancing. Both of us ended up on the dance floor at the Awards after-party. She danced with me... in public!

At the end of the day, I'm a mom first. But I'll never forget the day I got to be a proud mother and writer all at the same time. My heart almost burst at seeing my daughter so happy and so proud of me.

Just another reason I'm thankful to Janet Wallace and UtopYA!

When was the last time your heart melted?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I love this, Tia! Your daughter is a writer in the making!

Jo Michaels said...

I adored meeting Jackie! I hope I get to see you guys again soon. WRITE ON!