The First & Second Signed Books
I went to my first BEA - Book Expo America - last week. I flew out of New York on Thursday morning, checked into my hotel in Los Angeles, and spent most of the day pretending to myself that I was cool, calm and collected, even though the next day I would be signing copies of my book - actually, copies of the ARC - for the first time ever! In the middle of the night I woke up and realized I would be signing books in just a few hours. I worried no one would come to my table; but at the same time, I’d never signed a book before and I didn’t want the first book that I signed to be inscribed to a stranger. I got out of bed and took one of the ARCs I’d packed out of my suitcase. I autographed it to my father, since I’d be seeing him Friday night, and then I could say I signed my first book to him.
The next morning I was up early - jet lag, I suppose - and I decided to head over to the Convention Center to try to get a ticket to the Judy Blume signing. I absolutely love Judy Blume. I’ve had a kind of hero-worship of her for about twenty-five years. I know this does not make me unique, although I think I may be the only person in the world to have named a pet mouse “Farley Drexel, Jr.” (Farley Drexel was Fudge Hatcher’s real name, in case you didn’t know.) According to the BEA guidebook, the ticket booth for the ticketed author autographing sessions opened at 6:45 a.m. I didn’t get there that early - but I was early enough to get my ticket and I figured that boded well for a good BEA.
I went to the Children’s Breakfast with a bunch of people from Simon & Schuster, which was wonderful, and afterwards I headed over to the autographing area, my Judy Blume ticket in my bag. I kept checking and re-checking, as though it were possible for it to have disappeared. There was already a line when I got there, but once the signing started, it moved fairly quickly. A woman was walking up the line and writing everyone’s names on post-its, so Judy Blume could just take the post-it note and see the name. I realized I was remarkably not nervous, which was so unlike me. I’ve gotten nervous at my close friends’ book signings - as though all of sudden they will forget me, or I will say the wrong thing. I’m just so star-struck by writers, no matter how well I know them in real life. But my palms weren’t sweating in the least as I got closer to Judy Blume.
When it was my turn I walked up to the table and handed her my post-it note. She opened a book to start signing. “Hi Judy,” I said. “I’m not sure if you’ll remember me, but I’m Courtney Sheinmel - we’ve emailed a little bit. I have a middle grade novel coming out in October.”
She looked up and smiled - she has the most perfectly white teeth. “Of course I remember you,” she said. She turned to the publicist from Random House who was standing next to her. “We’ve corresponded with each other,” she explained, and she told her a little bit about my book. Judy Blume remembered my book! Then she asked me if I had a copy of my ARC with me.
Of course I had one with me. I’d actually brought a copy with me for her. I know that makes me sound completely crazy. The thing is, I tend to make things up in my head - imagine conversations I want to have in real life, so I had envisioned meeting Judy Blume and her asking to see my book. I knew Simon & Schuster would have a pile of ARCs for me to sign, but my signing wasn’t until 3:30. If I saw Judy Blume earlier, and she just happened to ask for my ARC . . . well, I wanted to be prepared . . . you know, just in case. Then I worried that I was jinxing myself by being so prepared. But there I was, standing in front of Judy Blume, and she was actually asking to SEE MY ARC! Just like I had imagined! I pulled it out of my bag and she admired the cover. “Can I keep this?” she asked.
“Of course,” I told her.
“Well then, you have to sign it for me,” she said. She handed me a pen. I was about to sign my second book ever to JUDY BLUME! How could that possibly be my real life? How could something I had made up in my head be happening like that, right there with a line of people behind me, waiting for their turn to meet Judy Blume? And that’s when I realized how nervous I was. I could barely hold the pen. My hands were shaking. I gripped it and signed the second book I’d ever signed to Judy Blume.
The third book I signed was to my fellow Class of 2k8 member Nancy Viau, author of the fabulously titled Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head. After that, I stopped keeping track.