Where Bookish Dreams Come True

One of the greatest things happened to me on Saturday (well, several actually). I went to the Library of Congress' National Book Festival in DC. If you've never been I highly recommend going because it's SO AWESOME! Okay, so that's cool and all but here's the kicker...

I got to meet my bookish childhood idol, R.L. Stine!

You heard right, my friends. THE R.L. Stine. Bob Stine, as he's known by friends and family. Yeah, we're tight like that (at least we are in my head)! This is the man responsible for fostering my love of all things horror! I even told him as such. Did you know he's written well over 150 books, including the ever popular Goosebumps and Fear Street series?! His books were a total staple for scaring us kids of the early 90's. In fact, this year is the Goosebumps 20 year anniversary (god, I'm old!). The man is a machine and a brilliant one at that! My best gal pal and I waited for over 2 hours in line to get his autograph and guess what my first thought was? AGGGGGGGGH!

Okay, after that one...

 

Totally worth it!

Who's that? Oh, just me and Bob hanging out. You know, the usual. That's how I roll.

These are two of the books I had him autograph--Planet of the Lawn Gnomes and an original Welcome To Dead House a la 1992. OH SNAP! It just got real up in here, folks.

Okay so that was the coup de grace of my day but it's definitely worth mentioning that there were other super crazy things that happened while we were there. For starters, I got to meet two of my faaaaaavourite bookish ladies, Jamie of The Perpetual Page-Turner (find out about her day here) and Alexa of Alexa Loves Books. These girls are so chill and down to earth. I totally had a blast hanging out with them and can't wait to do it again! Another bookish dream come true! We hung out in the YA tent and listened to some really inspiring talks by David Levithan, Maggie Stiefvater, Melissa Marr and R.L. Stine. I want to devour everything they've ever written!

It's also notable to mention that during the R.L. Stine Q&A session I was the second person to ask him a question! I wanted to know what authors of the horror genre inspired him and his work. His answer: Ray Bradbury and horror comics like Tales from the Crypt! Man, we have so much in common. He should just come live with me now and make it easier on the both of us because we're horror soul-mates. And he looks a lot like George A. Romero, another of my horror idols!

Too creepy? Let's hope he doesn't read this anytime soon lest I get served with a restraining order or something...

Top Row: David Levithan, Maggie Stiefvater, James Dashner

Bottom Row: John Green, Melissa Marr, R.L. Stine

So many great authors were there (see above) on Saturday as well as Charlaine Harris (of Sookie Stackhouse fame) and Christopher Paolini (Eragon series) on Sunday. Seriously guys. It was the real deal. And now I have several incredible stories to tell and things to cross off my bucket list. Too cool. So yeah. Next year, just go. I promise you won't regret it.

Note: My buddy Bob has a new adult horror book coming out on October 9th called Red Rain. Guess who's just pre-ordered a copy? THIS GIRL!