in which i met laurie halse anderson today and was inspired for life.

I met Laurie Halse Anderson today.

She's the award-winning author of many critically acclaimed YA novels such as Speak and Wintergirls (both of these are fantastic and everyone should buy them right now. Just saying). I actually saw her while she was on book tour for her latest novel, The Impossible Knife of Memory (which I will start reading immediately upon finishing this post). Her fearlessness to speak up on tough issues while encouraging others to do the same has inspired my writing of Yellowtree in more ways than I can count. She writes from the heart, and she fleshes out real characters with real stories that are raw and bold and never hopeless. In the midst of all of the darkness that she writes about, she never leaves readers without hope, and that's beautiful. She challenges me to see people for who they really are underneath the surface and behind the mask, because her writing is always taking the masks off of people and off of stereotypes, and it disarms me enough to start taking off my own masks.

And she was such a joy to meet in person. I ended up being last in the book signing line, after she had signed her name hundreds of times and posed for pictures and was probably ready to curl up and take a nap. And yet she still looked as excited as ever to see me, she hugged me and listened to my visions for my book and spoke encouraging words of life into my journey as an author, before calling me her friend and hugging me again. She even gave me permission to email her if I needed help or encouragement while writing.

Now that's what I call a great author. For love and authenticity and people aren't just concepts she writes about in her books, but they're the reality in which she lives, where everyone is important and everyone has a voice to be heard. She sees people, she really sees them, and that inspires me not only as an author, but as a human being.

Now, seriously. Go out and buy her books. You won't be disappointed (the links I put up above are for a local, independent bookstore, as I think it's great to support them).

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Click here to check out the first chapter of my work-in-progress novel, Yellowtree!