when tswift steals your hashtag, you take it personally.

sure, i’m at the beach right now. but monday was its very own bookish holiday in the realm of me: halthegal!


sure, i did my normal monday morning ritual of a) getting my husband off to his own artsy day and then b) recording my weekly reading book review for instagram and posting that… then after a few errands and apologizing to the trader joe’s cashier that i wasn’t as cute as the granola bar-munching toddler that’d been in the cart ahead of me, the true fun began.

first off, it was pizza party day at my local independent bookstore: m. judson!

earlier this summer at their all-ages book fair, we were given a READ IT! button.

as we came in to the store during the summer, for each book we read and told a bookseller about, we got a gold star. and FIVE GOLD STARS? you earn a personal pan-baked pizza made by the bookstore’s own chef teryi! (if this sounds like the personal pan pizza of your pizza hut youth, you see what’s happening here.)

so before the second BIG adventure of the day, i got to eat my cheesy goodness pizza while reading and working through some preliminary story notes and research on the next middle grade book i’m writing.

then i hopped in the car, iced ginger latte in hand, and boogied on up state highway 25 to asheville to my other favorite indie bookstore: malaprop’s in asheville, nc!

it was rachel griffin’s closest tour stop for her latest ya romantasy: BRING ME YOUR MIDNIGHT.

i arrived in asheville just as my ginger latte ran out, and behold, our next bookish destination of the monday of all mondays to celebrate:

having released the week before, i had pre*ordered a copy way back in april from rachel’s own indie: elliott bay book company in seattle, wa! it arrived in time for me to read it over the weekend, so already-signed copy in hand, i pilgrimaged to finally meet rachel in person!

as i was a few hours early for the event, of course i had to book-shop the rest of the store before sitting politely and grinning like an idiot while another of my bookish ya-author crushes, the indomitable kristin dwyer, interviewed her.

i browsed. i found books. played with the stack i brought to the counter. handed it to young gent at counter to start a stack for me. keep browsing. added a few gifts to The Stack. and then went shopping elsewhere.

^so many signed books! and look how pretty the middle grade walls are! i love you, malaprop’s!

and by “shopping elsewhere,” i of course mean drooling over shoes i don’t need but could totally rock at TOPS FOR SHOES.

i need them all, right?

from there i hung out at high five coffee for a few hours. nursing a blueberry cold brew and waiting for the confirmation email from malaprop’s that the evening wouldn’t be canceled due to inclement weather.

i outlined the first half of my WIP (which has of course already been updates with brain bursts of edits since!) and what should appear, but the ALL CLEAR from the bookshop! the event was on!

the conversation between these two author friends was amazing. rachel talked about the magic of trees. her favorite of her romantic leads. answered my shaky-voice fangirl question about creating such different magic systems for each book, and even bemoaned the fact that her plan to use #meetmeatmidnight was totally stolen by our beloved tswift when she announced her MIDNIGHTS album.. sigh. all the more swifties to convert to your fandom, please, rachel!

yeah, i should have taken notes to tell you all the wonderful things she spoke on. but it was just such a delight to be in her presence, i spent the time grinning like an idiot until it was my time to meet her.

and then i grinned obnoxiously bigger. like the doof that i am.

(also, fact: i was so inspired after i of course -erroneously- assumed i’d remember everything i wanted to blog about later. sigh. i’m sorry, friends. the beach waves washed it out of me and it all just lives in my soul now so i can’t rehash the entire conversation for you. mea culpa.)

that rachel and kristin recognized me when i approached the signing table is the kind of full-circle moment that makes any fangirl spill her guts about her own writing journey and ask more questions of the professionals and forget everyone else in the room/bookstore altogether.

and me? professional fangirl who still needs to practice smiley-face self-control in author meet n’ greets?

i’ve been a fan of rachel’s since her debut: THE NATURE OF WITCHES. and her second book: WILD IS THE WITCH. in fact, i made fan art (that rachel remembered, among her thousands of fans and fan art creators!)

^ ink art of clara and her cat nox from TNoW ; macguffin the owl in pike’s pajamas, the art i made into a sticker for my patreons inspired by WitW (painted with ink and radiant concentrated watercolours.)

my go-to move when i already have a book signed & personalized… and then get to meet the author IRL: i have them add my middle name.  (i was too giddy talking to them both that i forgot to take a pic of her signing it. but look how pretty!!

bonus fun fact: rachel and i share a middle name! we were destined to be friends, yeah?!

anyhow, i made the drive down the mountain home re-inspired and re-encouraged to keep going. (i’ll blog about that author life brain*spin over in the crayon box later this month!)

so after this magical beach getaway with my pseudo-sis pal mags (see also: our new matching breach bracelets below!), it’ll be time for a re-read of BRING ME YOUR MIDNIGHT. i can’t quit my fan art streak now, can i?

^arrived in a thunderstorm for the ages. have spent the last 3 days reading books with our ocean-view door open, only venturing out for foods and coffee. glorious, indeed.

thank you, rachel. you’re somehow even more enchanting in real life.

thank you, kristin, for being the extrovert author friend the rest of us recluse-introvert authors need.

thank you, adrienne, for letting me interrupt your incognito famous-person corner to say hi, and thanks for noticing i got my haircut. :)

thank you malaprop’s for hosting all my favorite people.

thank you chef teryi and m. judson for being the most delicious bookstore who rewards their readers with the good stuff: summer reading bribes in the form of hot carbs and cheese.

it was a monday for the books.

even if taylor swift claims dibs on a hashtag, rachel wrote the book first.

link to two of my favourite bookstores if you’re ever in the area(s):

if you’re not near an indie, you can purchase rachel’s books from bookshop.org and conveniently shop for books online with supporting local indie bookstores (who bring authors and readers and their communities together) across the country.

her newest: bring me your midnight

her backlist: the nature of witches, wild is the witch

and if you want to see my process for creating my macguffin piece, you can start a free trial of my patreon support page by joining the crayon box today!

hallie bertlingComment