The greatest signing I never had
Well, I've still been in a blogging slump. Seriously. I've had nothing, guys. I could bore you with details of what I've had for lunch, the day's word count, or whatever, but no. I keep holding out for something exciting and interesting to blog about. I've been convinced that one of these days, I'll have news, or else some wondrous blog topic will drop into my lap.
And lo, one just did.
This is so awesome and was totally unexpected. It's wonderful and funny and a true sign of how amazing my readers are. Here's the scoop. Remember how my Minneapolis signing got snowed out in December? Well, several dedicated readers still made it out through the arctic wasteland to the Mall of America that day before the official cancellation happened. I'm so sad that I wasn't able to be there for them, but as you can see, they were able to have a magical experience nonetheless.
I can't even take credit for the awesome captioning here. That comes courtesy of Jennifer Strand, who retells their action-packed day far more wittily than I could. (Maybe I'll have to contract her to start doing all my blogging for me!).
"This is a story about six fan-girls who battled 23 inches of blowing snow to see Richelle Mead at the Mall of America one day in December. This battle was fought long and hard, but alas, not won. This round would go to Mother Nature as she delivered her final blow to their hopes of meeting Richelle and forced the closing of the Minneapolis Airport. No airport=no Richelle. As you can see, they were very sad."
"We wallowed in our misery while we ate some delicious flatbread at a fantastic fancy restaurant that had linen napkins. We cried a little, hugged each other a little and then decided that it was time to dust off our (cowboy) boots and make the best out of our situation. We went to the mall for a book signing, dammit!, and a book signing we would attend. Never mind that it was of our own doing. So without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to Fauxchelle Mead!"
"Our very own librarian in training was first in line to meet Fauxchelle. Her excitement is obvious, isn't it? Amy had a nice conversation with Fauxchelle regarding Vladimir the Saint's conversion to Christianity in 988 while the rest of us tried to think of something to contribute to the conversation. 'Dimitri is hot' didn't seem substantial enough."
"These two bonded over their mutual fascination with Russian history and Fauxchelle even let Amy sit on her lap. As a matter of fact, Amy can still speak a little Cyrillic from her days of junior high way back in the 1990's. Her shirt says 'Comrade' in Cyrillic. If you don't get the reference, close this webpage immediately. There's nothing more for you to see here."
"Christy spent her time with Fauxchelle talking about music and learned that Fauxchelle listened to the 'Orange Blossom Special' album by Johnny Cash to get inspired for writing scenes involving Dimitri in the VA series. Apparently any song by T-Pain pumps up Fauxchelle enough to pen an Adrian scene. Christy invited Fauxchelle to come back to the Twin Cities for a derby bout when roller derby season begins in February. We're all hoping she visits us again soon!"
"I honestly do not know how we held back Nikki from being first in line. This is the girl that repeatedly told us all to read VA. Our standard response: 'Yes, Nikki. Someday we will.' Then we did. Now we do everything Nikki says. Promptly. After two years of waiting for the big moment, Nikki was rewarded with not only a signature in EVERY Fauxchelle Mead book she owns (which is all of them), but a Haiku involving a Gentle Girl and a Drunken Sod written inside of SPIRIT BOUND. She says she sleeps with the book under her pillow along with her well read copy of LOVER UNBOUND by JR Ward. We THINK she's kidding."
"Marta and Fauxchelle look so cute together! Marta reflected on how references to Louis L'amour in the VA series triggered childhood memories of riding the trails back in San Antonio. So much, in fact, that she went to the MN Cowboy shop 'midWESTERN Ways' located on the fourth floor the malls' east side and bought her husband a duster."
"Fauxchelle took a quick break after meeting the first four fans and came back looking well rested and refreshed. And it's a good thing, too. Jen must have asked thirty questions in as many seconds. Fauxchelle handled them all with grace but wasn't sure how to respond to Jen when she exclaimed, 'OMG! I TOTALLY want to have non sex with Adrian!' Jen sometimes forgets to filter her mouth. We've just learned that that's the price you pay for hanging with her."
"Such tenderness in this closed eyes hug."
"We had so much fun making these shirts together late into the night while quoting our favorite VA lines. We can see in this picture that Jen cannot make up her mind about what team she is a member of, so she made up her own team. Go, Team Dimitrian! Christy quotes one of our favorite Rose lines on her hand painted shirt. Christy is also a member of Team Dimitri."
"Here stand the six fools who drove from various suburbs of Minneapolis in what has been coined 'Snowmageddon' by the local media to see one of their favorite authors. (Five of the fan-girls were smart enough to stay home. We missed you!) While we were upset that weather conditions made it impossible for Richelle to land in Minneapolis, we are glad she stayed put and stayed safe. She'll be back one day and when she does...we'll be first in line!"
Ah, you guys, I'm very much looking forward to that day. Thank you so much for giving me a good laugh and for being such devoted readers. The Minneapolis signing was the only event I've ever had to cancel, and it still bugs me. So, it really, really makes me happy to see what a good time everyone still had. Minneapolis is definitely on our radar for the next time book travel happens, so hang in there--I really will get to you.
In the meantime, I think we've found a good solution for the problem of me balancing hectic tour life with writing. I've said before that I can't be everywhere at once, but I guess I was wrong. Now I can just send Fauxchelle out on the road, while I stay and finish the books! The extra funny thing is that I was getting my hair colored when the Mall of America girls emailed me these pictures. My hair stylist and I were looking through them on my phone, and she said, "You know, they got the hair color pretty close."
So, who knows? The next time you go to a signing of mine...will it be me? Or will it be Fauxchelle?
And lo, one just did.
This is so awesome and was totally unexpected. It's wonderful and funny and a true sign of how amazing my readers are. Here's the scoop. Remember how my Minneapolis signing got snowed out in December? Well, several dedicated readers still made it out through the arctic wasteland to the Mall of America that day before the official cancellation happened. I'm so sad that I wasn't able to be there for them, but as you can see, they were able to have a magical experience nonetheless.
I can't even take credit for the awesome captioning here. That comes courtesy of Jennifer Strand, who retells their action-packed day far more wittily than I could. (Maybe I'll have to contract her to start doing all my blogging for me!).
"This is a story about six fan-girls who battled 23 inches of blowing snow to see Richelle Mead at the Mall of America one day in December. This battle was fought long and hard, but alas, not won. This round would go to Mother Nature as she delivered her final blow to their hopes of meeting Richelle and forced the closing of the Minneapolis Airport. No airport=no Richelle. As you can see, they were very sad."
"We wallowed in our misery while we ate some delicious flatbread at a fantastic fancy restaurant that had linen napkins. We cried a little, hugged each other a little and then decided that it was time to dust off our (cowboy) boots and make the best out of our situation. We went to the mall for a book signing, dammit!, and a book signing we would attend. Never mind that it was of our own doing. So without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to Fauxchelle Mead!"
"Our very own librarian in training was first in line to meet Fauxchelle. Her excitement is obvious, isn't it? Amy had a nice conversation with Fauxchelle regarding Vladimir the Saint's conversion to Christianity in 988 while the rest of us tried to think of something to contribute to the conversation. 'Dimitri is hot' didn't seem substantial enough."
"These two bonded over their mutual fascination with Russian history and Fauxchelle even let Amy sit on her lap. As a matter of fact, Amy can still speak a little Cyrillic from her days of junior high way back in the 1990's. Her shirt says 'Comrade' in Cyrillic. If you don't get the reference, close this webpage immediately. There's nothing more for you to see here."
"Christy spent her time with Fauxchelle talking about music and learned that Fauxchelle listened to the 'Orange Blossom Special' album by Johnny Cash to get inspired for writing scenes involving Dimitri in the VA series. Apparently any song by T-Pain pumps up Fauxchelle enough to pen an Adrian scene. Christy invited Fauxchelle to come back to the Twin Cities for a derby bout when roller derby season begins in February. We're all hoping she visits us again soon!"
"I honestly do not know how we held back Nikki from being first in line. This is the girl that repeatedly told us all to read VA. Our standard response: 'Yes, Nikki. Someday we will.' Then we did. Now we do everything Nikki says. Promptly. After two years of waiting for the big moment, Nikki was rewarded with not only a signature in EVERY Fauxchelle Mead book she owns (which is all of them), but a Haiku involving a Gentle Girl and a Drunken Sod written inside of SPIRIT BOUND. She says she sleeps with the book under her pillow along with her well read copy of LOVER UNBOUND by JR Ward. We THINK she's kidding."
"Marta and Fauxchelle look so cute together! Marta reflected on how references to Louis L'amour in the VA series triggered childhood memories of riding the trails back in San Antonio. So much, in fact, that she went to the MN Cowboy shop 'midWESTERN Ways' located on the fourth floor the malls' east side and bought her husband a duster."
"Fauxchelle took a quick break after meeting the first four fans and came back looking well rested and refreshed. And it's a good thing, too. Jen must have asked thirty questions in as many seconds. Fauxchelle handled them all with grace but wasn't sure how to respond to Jen when she exclaimed, 'OMG! I TOTALLY want to have non sex with Adrian!' Jen sometimes forgets to filter her mouth. We've just learned that that's the price you pay for hanging with her."
"Such tenderness in this closed eyes hug."
"We had so much fun making these shirts together late into the night while quoting our favorite VA lines. We can see in this picture that Jen cannot make up her mind about what team she is a member of, so she made up her own team. Go, Team Dimitrian! Christy quotes one of our favorite Rose lines on her hand painted shirt. Christy is also a member of Team Dimitri."
"Here stand the six fools who drove from various suburbs of Minneapolis in what has been coined 'Snowmageddon' by the local media to see one of their favorite authors. (Five of the fan-girls were smart enough to stay home. We missed you!) While we were upset that weather conditions made it impossible for Richelle to land in Minneapolis, we are glad she stayed put and stayed safe. She'll be back one day and when she does...we'll be first in line!"
Ah, you guys, I'm very much looking forward to that day. Thank you so much for giving me a good laugh and for being such devoted readers. The Minneapolis signing was the only event I've ever had to cancel, and it still bugs me. So, it really, really makes me happy to see what a good time everyone still had. Minneapolis is definitely on our radar for the next time book travel happens, so hang in there--I really will get to you.
In the meantime, I think we've found a good solution for the problem of me balancing hectic tour life with writing. I've said before that I can't be everywhere at once, but I guess I was wrong. Now I can just send Fauxchelle out on the road, while I stay and finish the books! The extra funny thing is that I was getting my hair colored when the Mall of America girls emailed me these pictures. My hair stylist and I were looking through them on my phone, and she said, "You know, they got the hair color pretty close."
So, who knows? The next time you go to a signing of mine...will it be me? Or will it be Fauxchelle?