Cassandra Clare Signing

So, last week, I went to the Cassandra Clare event in Brentwood, Tennessee, just a bit outside of Nashville. Cassandra Clare is one of my very favorite authors (Top Two), of two of my favorite series, ever. I'll admit, I'm partial to The Mortal Instruments series. But anyway, I love Cassandra Clare so much that I drove 5 1/2 hours, one way, to see her.

Going to the signing was also a great chance to meet one of my good Twitter/blogging buddies, Heather (@SPNHeather) of SupaGurlBooks. It felt like a blind date. The moment our eyes met across the crowded children's section of Barnes & Noble, it was as if we'd been friends forever. Heather is a complete sweetheart, and possibly the most hyper person I've ever met! Seriously, the makers of all the energy drinks need to get her in a lab and study her body chemistry.

Anyway...the time came. We were all anxiously, and painfully (it was crowded, there were no chairs and I am tall) waiting. I was talking to Heather, looking down, and happened to look up, directly into the eyes of Cassandra Clare herself! She was joined by Vania (@VLC_Photo) who shoots the book trailers AND Carson Nicely, aka Will Herondale from the book trailers. (Cue the Squees!) Every time I looked at him, I thought "Dirty Sexy Balconey Scene"! I had heard he was going to be there, but apparently a lot of the attendees had not, b/c there was a significant amount of panicking going on!

I have to say, the boy did look good. He stood beside Ms. Clare, smiling the entire time. He never looked put out, or as if the references to his anatomy bothered him in any way, and there were a lot fo references! He seemed super-sweet.

Cassandra was a gracious, funny and easy speaker. The entire session was a Q&A, with lots of great, thoughtful questions asked. I never asked a question, didn't really even try, but Heather sure did. The girl was bouncing up and down like a kid!

When the time for the signing came, apparently Heather and I missed the memo. We were sitting there listening, when all of a sudden everyone else had lined up and we were just sitting by ourselves, on the floor, in a virtual ghost town. When we got feeling back in our legs, we were the very last people in line. Knowing we had plenty of time, we went over and spoke to Vania and Carson, who gave us signed posters and we got pictures with Carson, who seemed so genuinely nice. The boy has an infectious smile, I smiled watching him smile. And what a good sport, women were asking to touch his abs, for him to take his shirt off.  It was pretty funny.

After that, Heather and I went over to Starbucks, got drinks, and the line still hadn't moved. Coffee in hand, we prepared ourselves for the long haul. Within a few minutes, we were chatting with another attendee, Morgan,  and after a few minutes, we discovered that we all shared a lot of the same Twitter buds. Such a small world! With the three of us chatting, the almost two hour wait to get our books signed flew by.

When it was my turn to get my book signed, I of course, froze. I couldn't think of one clever thing to say to Cassie, so I just stood there, mute. I did, however, get it together long enough to ask for a picture. She was awesome, and totally worth the over 11 hour round-trip.

Wow, this post was about 45 paragraphs longer than I intended. But I do want to include pics. And just so you know, Carson squeezed me extra tight on the shoulder.  I think he knows a good thing when he sees it! ;-)

Heather, a cutout-April, and Me

Carson (aka Will Herondale)

Me and Carson

Cassandra signing my books

Me and Cassandra

Me, Heather and Morgan

Cassandra and Carson