A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I attended a Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures event of Black, White & Read All Over for Sharon Creech. She wrote Walk Two Moons (Newbery Award), Love That Dog, etc. Lots and lots of children/YA books. Her new one is The Great Unexpected.
I recognized her name because of Walk Two Moons and had managed to finish reading it before the event. Huzzah huzzah. The book had been sitting on my To Read shelf for months. Grad school had prevented me from getting to it yet, and I'd never read it as a child. It's an award winner, so it deserves to be read. And because it won an award, I figured it would be beneficial to listen to the author speak.
I did not figure on meeting her before the event, though!
Mike and I had gotten sandwiches and a drink from the Carnegie Library's cafe. But when we got to its lecture hall, we saw a sign that read: No Food or Drink Beyond This Point in the Auditorium. Well, crap. So while people filed past us, we stood in front of the ticket booth, scarfing the food. A friend of mine worked behind the counter. She recognized me and had handed me the tickets as soon as we had walked up, so that wasn't a problem. And there didn't seem to be many people (sadly) compared to other events I'd gone to (though it was marketed as a children's event), so we weren't too worried about not getting seats together.
As we stood there, a woman lingered near the wall next to us. I just figured that she was waiting for someone else to arrive. But after a few minutes, she turned to us and said:
"Are you here for the event?"
"Yes!" we said. "We're just trying to finish our food because of that sign."
"Oh." And then she said, "Well, I'm Sharon Creech."
WHAT?!
We graciously greeted her and I told her what I had planned to say during the signing. And the words came out much more smoothly than they would have later. There is something about a calmer environment that brings about calmer words. When you're standing in a signing line, you have to spit out your message while being aware that the people behind you want you to hurry up and finish so they can get a turn, and the event's host is ushering people along if they dally too long.
But in that entryway, there was no one but the three of us and my friend behind the counter. I told Sharon that I'd just finished her book a week prior to the event, and that I was impressed by its parallel plot structure.
Then she said, "Are you teachers?" And Mike and I laughed.
To think... she's so used to dealing with children that any adult she meets must either be a teacher or a parent. Why else would 20-30-something-year-old people attend her event? I told her that I was a writer and had just completed my MFA, and that seemed to perfectly smooth over the situation.
By that point, someone started talking on stage. We bid Sharon goodbye, tossed out the last bites of the sandwich, drained the rest of the drink, and took our seats. I ended up purchasing three other signed books while there and got her to personalize Walk Two Moons. While waiting in line, I read and finished Love That Dog, which is an awesome book.
I feel bad, though. In all the hubbub of seeing her again, I just kinda walked up beside her to get the picture taken... without asking... So many people were doing the same that it just slipped my mind. I think I made up for it by making her laugh afterward when I told her how quickly I read Love That Dog. By that point, I had already started Hate That Cat, too. So Sharon, on the off-chance that you're reading this, I'm sorry for presuming like that.
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