On Wednesday, I had the chance to go to a signing with Melissa de la Cruz, the author of the Blue Bloods series at my local library. Even though I haven’t read her books yet, I was excited to go because I love hearing authors speak about their books, writing process, writing adventures, and lives. It makes them feel like real people and not just a name on a book.

Cruz was a lot of fun to listen to. She was so upbeat and bubbly and she shared some fun tidbits about her books and her life as an author. She said that she wanted to be an author ever since she was 11 years old. Before that, she had thought about it, but she always thought authors were either really old or dead. When she found out that the author of the Babysitters Club was only 22, she realized her dream could come true.

When she submitted her first book to an editor, the editor wanted to take her out to lunch. He told her he wouldn’t buy her book, but he thought she had potential. He suggested that she do some freelance writing as a journalist to help improve her writing skills. Most people think she’s a journalist turned author. When in reality, journalism was just a stepping stone to get where she really wanted to be.

A lot of the background with the vampires in her stories came from her religious beliefs. As you progress through the books, you find out that her vampires are fallen angels. She wanted an origin story because she always felt that other vampires stories didn’t explain why they existed or where they came from. She took the lore of Lucifer’s fall from Heaven to help explain the existence of her vampires. She feels that because many religions–Christianity, Judaism, and Islam–have this as part of their religious lore, it was something she could use without feeling like she was being sacrilegious.

When it was my turn to get my books signed, I handed Cruz one of my blog cards. (I was a little nervous about it since it was my first time doing it.) She was excited to get one and recognized my Twitter avie as part of the card. (I had tweeted earlier that day saying I was going to the signing using her Twitter username. We exchanged a few tweets.) When she recognized my avie, she exclaimed, “You’re my Twitter friend!” I felt so cool and that moment. She even wrote in my book, “Hi Jenni, My Twitter friend. XOXO.”

Even though her books have been on my TBR list for a while, I’m so excited to read them now that I’ve met her. And, I can’t wait to see how the fallen angel lore integrates into the story.

On Tuesday, I had the chance to meet Kiersten White, the author of Paranormalcy and Supernaturally, at my library. (I really love my library because of all the awesome author events they host.)

Kiersten is hilarious. First, she’s only 4’11″, but she takes it in stride and uses it to her advantage. She says that she never outgrew her teenage years … literally. She also says that she writes to her peer height group. Second, she just has a really good sense of humor and timing. She delivers her jokes flawlessly and at the best time possible.

She said that she loves to be involved in everything. She knows the plot of every horror movie ever made, but she hasn’t seen most of them. She also knows the plot of most TV shows even though she doesn’t watch them.

She talked about her writing methods. She said that she’s very selfish and writes for herself. If she’s bored with her story, she won’t write it. She adds so much humor in her stories to entertain herself as she’s writing them. She also said that she thinks humor can be found in the darkest times of life, and she really wanted to write books that show that instead of always having two dire choices that the protagonist must choose from. In fact, she described most paranormal books as having death on the one hand and death on the other with a little bit of making out in the middle. She thinks that’s silly and if a book is paranormal, then it should just be a part of life. Kind of a refreshing outlook, don’t you think?

She really loves regional mythology, legends, and paranormal creatures. During her research, she has found that most cultures have their own take on mythology and it’s usually to cope with unexplained death occurrences. She wants to explore more mythological outlooks in future books.

She also gave some advice to aspiring authors. She said that she writes very quickly. Paranormalcy was written in three weeks. Most of her other books were written in short periods as well, one was even written in a week. Even though she writes quickly, each of her books go through at least 10 to 12 edits, and she couldn’t stress enough the importance of critique partners. She said her writing didn’t become interesting or good until she joined a writing group.

I really enjoyed listening to her speak and answer questions about her writing and books. I found out she graduated with an emphasis in editing, which is the same thing I’m going to school for. When I had both my books signed we talked about it a little bit. She was so nice, down-to-earth, and really confident and enthusiastic about what she does. And, she made her fans feel like the most important people in the world. At least, that’s how I felt when I talked to her.