Anderson's Bookstore
Naperville, IL
Saturday, February 7th, was a gorgeous day in northern Illinois. The temps were in the 50's, the sun was shining brightly, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips was having a booksigning.
This time I was going it alone, as my normal booksigning pals - Shannon & Michelle - couldn't make it, which was a total bummer. I love hanging out with them and sharing my excitement. Anyway, it was about a 30-minute drive for me, followed by the incredibly fun (not) challenge of finding a parking spot. I love downtown Naperville; it's quaint and full of great shops, but a bitch to find parking. (I keenly remember this from the Josh Bernstein signing). Then some very nice lady saw me driving around and told me she was leaving and directed me to her car. Gotta love people like that (Sadly I am not one of them).
It was just a short walk from my car, and once I got there, I ran into someone I didn't think would be there, the infamous author stalker, Mary. Now I had someone to hang with. And if you've never met Mary, then you haven't heard her numerous stories, including the one about the kidnapped sock. It was hilarious.
Mary!
Well, if there's one thing to be said about Mary, is that she's not easily forgotten. Whereas I blend into the woodwork quite easily, Mary tends to make a lasting impression on writers and readers alike. It's a cool trait to have. In fact Cathie Linz was also at the signing - she knows Mary well - and I got a picture of the two of them, but for some reason I couldn't get it to upload. I'll have to try again and update this post when I do.
The lady of the hour: SEP
I also saw author Tracey Devlyn at the signing, which was pretty cool. She's a part of Lori Foster's Yahoo group, so I knew she'd be there, but didn't know if I'd get a chance to see her with everything going on. She's very nice, and I wish we could have had more of a chance to chat, and see what she's up to writing-wise. But she said she's going to Lori Foster's/Dianne Castell's get-together in June, so hopefully we can catch up.
anyone who's read the Stars books knows about this phrase *g*
The signing went very smoothly. Susan has an agenda that she loosely follows, so it's relaxed, fun, and comfortable. We meet some of her friends and other authors. She introduced her husband Bill and her son youngest Zach (very cute, btw). And his wife. The signing was being streamed live via webcam, which was pretty cool. She has a trivia contest to guess her books, and that was fun, considering I'm still reading them (in the middle of "Natural Born Charmer"). And some of you might already know (I didn't) that her son Zach wrote the Jack Patriot songs from "Natural Born Charmer". In fact both him and his wife have had CD's published. I love stuff like that.
SEP and her hubby Bill (aka fan photographer)
It came as no surprise that Susan is a very nice person and also very funny. She did clear the air about one burning question some readers had about whether or not she would get a Facebook page: No, nope, her message board is more than enough, thank you very much. I get that. She only writes one book every 18-24 months as it is.
SEP & me
I was not one bit nervous meeting Susan, which is unusual for me. But having become a fan late in the game, I think that helped in preventing me from acting like a total dork. I felt really comfortable talking to her. She just has that way about her where you feel very calm in her presence. I brought all the Stars books to sign, plus I bought the new one, but they asked if we'd only have 3 books out to have Susan sign, and later we could have the rest of them signed, after everyone got through the line. Mary & I went over to Lou Malnati's after we got through the line and by that time I'm sure everyone had cleared out. I didn't bother to go back to find out for sure though. That's okay - I'm sure there will be another signing someday :)
So that was my day. Pretty freakin' awesome, if you ask me.
Labels: booksignings, SEP
posted by Stacy~ at 2/08/2009 07:33:00 AM
Yeah, pretty freakin awesome, I'd say too :).
byHow neat. We hardly ever have any exciting signings around here, which is why I go to things like Lori Foster's get togethers :).
Although, Anne Bishop does have signings here. And that is just the neatest thing ever. She'll be here at the big Borders in April with a few other fantasy authors. I'm pretty darn excited about that.
I'm so glad you had a great time at the signing.
That is so awesome Stacy! When I met SEP at RWA, she was such a lovely woman.
byGreat picture of you and Susan
Sounds like you had an awesome day Stacy! I hope SEP does a signing close to Nashville soon, I would love to meet her. Love the picture of you and Susan.
byGreat pictures Stacy... We missed you at Rad yesterday. I had a blast. Got to met Karen Rose again. Can't wait to see you in June
bySounds like a ton of fun! Did she say what she was working on next? I wasn't a huge fan of her last book, and am really hoping she'll get back to writing some hunky football players...
byLooks like you had a fantastic time and it was great to see the pictures to go along with your story. I've read Natural Borm
byCharmer 4 times (lol) Going to DC you just missed a signing by Melissa Schroeder and a few other authors.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Hey Stacy-
byI enjoyed meeting you, too, finally! SEP is always a hoot. A really gracious lady. It's amazing how well her fans know her books. She can read a passage, and there's at least one (usually 6) person who can name the book. Amazing.
Looking forward to spending more time with you in June. Take care!
Wow I'm totally jealous! lol It looks like you had a fabulous time and I'm so glad you could hook up with Mary and have someone you know there.
byI would love to meet SEP!
Looks like you had a wonderful time!!
byBLERG!!! Alls I can say is that it was a very good thing that the workshop I had to attend was a good one. I am muy jealous!
byHI Stacy!
byI'm delurking (FINALLY) to say HI! Sounds you had a wonderful day - I'm rather jealous of you getting to meet Susan. I'm obviously going to have to get on a plane and stalk (kidding :) all of my favourite authors at once at something like RWA.
I only discovered SEP's books a year ago. I still have a couple of books in the Chicago Stars series to read (I'm saving them...weirdly). I read NBC first...the beaver chapter had me in hysterics!
Lovely photo there, Stacy!
byI'm sorry I missed the signing, but you gave a great description. Glad you had nice weather for it (bad weather to be in the office.) Downtown Naperville really is charming.
Amy, I can't wait to see you in June. Anne Bishop??? OMG I love her! Hmmm, where is the signing? Maybe I can fly in LOL
byKate, she was super nice. Definitely a class act.
Liza, I hope you get to meet her too. I am sooo not photogenic, but thank you LOL.
Judy! I was so bummed it was the same weekend, but since I knew I was going to OH in June, I made peace with going to see SEP.
Kati, duh, she did mention what she's writing, but I totally forgot because I haven't read the books yet with those characters. One of them is from "What I Did For Love". I don't believe it's a Stars book.
RO I just finished NBC and loved it. It's tied w/ "Match Me If You Can" for favorite SEP book. Oh man, sorry to hear I missed the D.C. signing. Never even crossed my mind to check.
Tracey, June is going to be so much fun. Maybe we could get together before then for lunch or something.
Tracy, I don't think I realized how huge SEP was until the webcam thing, and her fans are very loyal. I'm not a Seppie (not a fan of the msg board format for one thing) but I understand her appeal.
Lori, I had a great time. Are you doing OH in June?
Shannon, I missed you there. I'm glad that your workshop was worthwhile but sorry it had to be on the same day.
Zeek, it was cool :)
Hey Orannia! How cool to see you made it here. I was you just a few weeks ago with regards to SEP's books. Not sure about RWA this year, but definitely next yr in Nashville.
Beth, I'm sorry you missed it. I know Julie James' signing is next month, but I'm going to the Nickelback concert in Milwaukee so I think I have to miss it - I'm so bummed about that. One of these days, maybe we can meet.
I've BEEN to that bookstore! sounds like you had a great time. :)
byAlways try to hit the SEP signing. I think I've only missed 1 in the last few years.
byChristine made that sock story. I only provided the sock!