Stephenie Meyer comes to KC

Warning - This is really long, but I just had such a great time I didn't want to leave anything out.
So if you don't want to read the whole thing I'll give you a quick summary first: Stephenie Meyer came to KC. I was front row and got my books signed. She was so nice and it was amazing. Oh and read her new book, The Host because it's amazing!

OK here is the long version for you crazy fans out there! :-)

May 8, 2008

Stephenie Meyer my all time favorite author came to Kansas City tonight on her book tour for her new book The Host. I don’t think I could even describe how much fun I had today. I still can’t believe I met Stephenie Meyer tonight and she was as every bit as wonderful as I imagined. She was so nice and friendly and even chatted for a minute while signing our books. She was good at multitasking.

Here’s the play by play of my amazing day. Candace picked me up around 1pm, and after we dropped off her kids at the sitter we were on our way to the Plaza. Katie had made us “Kansas City Loves Stephenie Meyer” shirts with all her books listed on the back. When we got to the Unity Temple where the event was held we didn’t see anyone. After walking around for a moment we realized that the building was open so we went inside and there was Dawn, Lori, Libby, Caroline from TwilightMOMS and 2 girls who had driven up from Kentucky. They had the cutest shirts. Soon someone from Rainy Day Books came up and told us we had to move to the outside. Well she first suggested that we could walk around or eat at the Vegetarian café until 5pm when they opened the doors. Did she think we were going to loose our place in line to sight see and eat vegetables? She was being very nice, but I just don’t think she realized we were serious crazy fans. So we made a line outside and waited on the side of the road until they opened the doors.

By about 3:30 the line was just to the end of the block, but around 4pm it started to get really packed. It was fun to talk to everyone and get to know some of the TwilightMOMS and other fans better. Most of the fans showed up in the cutest tee shirts. It was fun to see what everyone had come up with to wear. Dave was able to get there a little after 4pm and found us with no problem seeing as there was a huge line by then and Candace was screaming his name from across the street. Everyone was impressed that my husband came, and they were even more impressed by his shirt. My friend Katie had made him a “I Prefer Brunettes” tee-shirt. It was really cool that is was Dave’s idea. I think he was trying to find a good Jacob one-liner, but couldn’t come up with one and thought I would like the Brunette idea.

At 5pm they opened the doors and we all rushed in. I’m so glad we got there early because we were able to get FRONT ROW SEATS!!!!! We were able to take some pictures and just hang out until it was 7pm. I was so anxious and excited. I couldn’t believe that I was really there.

At 7pm Stephenie Meyer came out and we all stood up and cheered. I hope we didn’t frighten her. I think she really enjoyed the warm reception she received. She said she was a little bit nervous, but that seeing all of us with smiling faces made her feel good. She read part of Chapter 11 from the Host and we all listened in complete silence. It was so fun to hear her read her own words. When she finished reading and received a round of applause, she answered some questions that fans had previously written on index cards. This was one of my favorite moments because she just seems so comfortable and down to earth when speaking. She said she was nervous, but she looked comfortable and confident.

The questions were about her, The Host, and the Twilight series. One question was what was her favorite thing about Kansas City and she replied how the Tulips just grow right out the ground here. I guess being from Arizona you just don’t get those beautiful things we take for granted out here. Someone also asked her if she was excited about the New Kids on the Block reunion tour and she said that although she didn’t care about it herself that her publicist already had tickets and was trying to use Stephenie name to get back stage passes. It was funny. She says she writes because she enjoys the actual process of writing. To her there is nothing better than creating a story. She likes it even better than reading.

About The Host she said that she has read and seen a lot of other Sic-I things. That Sci-fi was really more her roots and that she grew up having her dad read to her Sci-Fi and fantasy books. She even commented how she liked the movie Serenity (I thought Dave and his friends were the only ones.) She also told us that although she didn’t have a dream about The Host like she did Twilight that she did have a few nightmares and that one of them involved centipedes trying to attack children. She said this was probably due to her trying to see the aliens the way the humans would. She also said that while she was writing the books she had some friends read it and one called and said, “Am I supposed to be rooting for the humans because right now I think I like the aliens better is that OK? Stephenie said she took it as a sign that is was a good story.

There were also some questions about the movie Twilight that just finished filming. She said she realized that most book to movie adoptions are awful, but that even if they got one scene right, it would be worth it. That is shy she gave them the rights to make the movie. She also said that that she likes knowing that if it is horrible that is not her fault. However, she did say that she was able to go on set and also watch some footage, and she thinks it's going to be amazing. She commented how she was really lucky to have them listen to her ideas about he script and was pleased with what they had done.

Finally when she was done answering questions the Rainy Day book people told those who had Deluxe tickets numbers 1-100 could line up to get their books signed. Dave and I had numbers 95 and 96 so we hoped up and found a great place in line. OK Dave ran off without me and I had to catch up. We would have been at the back of the line if he had waited for me. I think I was still in shock that Stephenie was really there. He was so fast that there were only about 10 people in front of us.

We got up to the front and I was soo excited. Just before we were about to get our books signed, they stoped the line right in front of me so that Stephenie could sign the books of those in wheelchairs or crutches since they were unable to come up the stairs unassisted. So now I’m the first person waiting in line to have her sign my books. When she and her publicist come back to the table I gave the publicist the tee shirt that Katie made her. Stephenie seemed surprised and happy that we had thought to bring her something. It was the same shirt Candace and I were wearing that said “Kansas City Loves Stephenie Meyer.” We handed the publicist our books and Stephenie looked up and smiled and made some comment about the sparkly pink on my shirt. I said, “thanks” and pulled Dave other next to me and told her that he was my husband. She looked at his “I Prefer Brunettes” shirt and smiled. She loved it. She joked that she needed one for her husband, but that he would probably cross out the Brunettes part and write Blond. I told her thank you for writing books that my husband and I both really enjoyed reading together and that Dave likes to read the books to me. She thought it was really sweet of him and said that she was glad to see someone with a Y chromosome there. Dave mentioned how he really liked Jacob the best, but since he couldn’t find a good one-liner from Jacob then he decided to go with the brunette line from Edward. I replied that he was a really good husband. I can’t remember if we said anything else because I was so excited that we got to talk to her but didn’t want to hold up the line since there were still 1,000 people who needed to get their books signed. I was just so excited that I was able to talk to her and tell her how much I enjoyed the books. I don’t know if it all came out coherently, but she was so nice and easy to talk to.

Before I knew it, our books were signed and we were done. We moved on so others could get their books signed. I walked off the stage on Cloud Nine. I know we only got to talk to her for a minute, but it was much longer than I thought we would get to talk. She was good at signing books and talking at the same time. I thought that maybe she was able to chat with us for a minute since we were at the beginning of the line, but I called my friend Candace who got her book signed 2 hours after I did and it sounded like she was able to chat with her for a few seconds too, and that Stephenie was still really sweet and chatty even though she had been signing books for over 3 hours. I think one of the reasons I really wanted to see Stephenie Meyer was because not only do I love her books but I love her too. She is so open to her fans. She seems like just your regular person that I could talk to about anything from a discussion about a new novel to how to potty train your kids. She really does a good job of communicating with her fans through tours, my space and her personal website that you feel like you really know her and you feel instantly comfortable around her.

After we got our books signed Dave and I went out to dinner together. We were waiting for Candace to be done so we figured we might as well eat. It was nice to go out to dinner together and discuss our fabulous night and her new book.

I haven’t had a better night than this night in a long time. Thank you Stephenie Meyer for visiting Kansas City. I will never forget this experience and I’m glad I was able to share it with Dave and my crazy friends.