Furiously Happy: The Bloggess Book Signing

The day I post my review of Fragile Beginnings and I’m heading up north of THE CITY for a book reading and signing of “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” by The Bloggess herself, Jenny Lawson.

Nerd alert!

That’s right. I got to meet The Bloggess. In person. And listen to her speak. Her New York and LA stops resulted in sold out books and standing room only crowds – so we took no chances and got there early. And also I was navigator in the car, so we had to leave early since it was assumed I would get us lost. (GPS: “Re-calculating. You. Moron.)

I’d already downloaded my pre-ordered iBook electronic copy of “Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir” but I bought a “real” book too when we got there. I wanted an autograph.

We secured seats in the third row. I took a picture with my new book. “My God, they’re crazy! People are taking pictures of their seat reservations. There is so going to be a throw-down,” I overheard a clearly overwhelmed husband say. As it turned out, so many people came to hear Jenny speak that the bookstore had to live stream the event onto TVs throughout the quad.

History in the making!

Weird and whackadoo doesn’t even begin to describe the crowd. It’s like aliens searched out the commiserating conglomerate of misfits – all a brain, athlete, basket case, princess and maybe even the rogue criminal – and said, “Take me to your leader.” And they DID.

Of course, I then realized everyone could see my Ravenclaw House Crest iPhone cover poking out of my pocket.

My people! Anxious, depressed and balls-to –the-wall off our gourds.

The group behind me had driven eight hours to hear Jenny speak. See – completely nuts. Although, to be fair, I think that label was acutely accurate for every person in the room. I feel bad for any poor soul who accidentally wandered in to the madness…

But everyone there seemed truly and genuinely happy. Embrace the crazy, I guess. (Or at least our meds were working.)

I found myself wondering if anyone sharing the room has read my blog. <Hi! Waves>

Jenny started her blog all those years ago to share her musings for the scant three people she thought would read it. And now look what’s happened – she’s on a world book tour. She postulated that maybe her blog became so popular because we’re really all just misfits who have finally found each other. And then realized there are enough of us to take over the world!

So what was her sage advice to aspiring writers? (You know, like, <cough> me <cough>.)

Find your voice. Find other blogs with a similar theme or style and leave really great comments. Because then you can poach readers for your own.

But the best piece of advice I walked away with – advice that’s really quite good for any aspect of life – Pretend you’re good at it.

Fake it till you make it, folks!

Hang on tight kids, we’re going places people! I want to be her. Ok, I don’t want to *be* her. She’s nuts. And medicated. But really, so am I. I want to be me – and ultimately find similar success. She’s not terribly dissimilar from Dave Barry, my hero. I’m noticing a pattern here. (Note – I am not calling Dave Barry a lunatic. Although, having read all of his columns and books…well, there’s something to be said about his mind frame…)

It was amazing to be part of this event. To see the embodiment of the energy typically encompassed on her blog that makes so many laugh out loud.

And then I got to meet her! And I shared that my blog, THIS blog, the one with the tiny twins, is mentioned on her site. “Oh, I love that! It’s like we’re related!” Jenny said.

Oh. My. God.

The Bloggess loves the muppets!

There is nothing better than closing out the week ensconced in a bookstore, doubled over, aching with laughter. This was indeed – Nerd Nirvana.

Me and Jenny!