Authors Who Are Great People

June 29, 2015     erinbook     Uncategorized

Most authors are fabulous people, I doubt anyone who has spent time with a lot of YA authors could deny that. As fans we devour their books and comment on their social media, feeling like we know a little piece of them. And in a way we do, but I’ve found it’s the ones I’ve met and chatted with in person that make the biggest impact.

A few authors you meet might be a little grumpy or rude, remember they’ve probably spent a lot of time on planes or in cars so they may be tired and hungry. Try and be understanding. Then there are the ones who are kind but a little distant. They meet so many people, they’re probably overwhelmed and ready to find a quiet spot for a moment. Don’t worry, it’s not you. I’ve been lucky enough to meet a few authors who are the sweetest people I’ve ever met. No matter how tired, hungry, loopy, or grumpy they feel they do their best to really chat and get to know their fans. 
These are the ones that stand out, and the ones that I appreciate the most. They travel, they sleep in strange places, they eat weird food and they still give us their best. Kudos to all of you! 
Here are some of those talented authors that I just really like them for who they are and what they do for all of us. I’m sorry it’s so Ohio author centric but those are just the folks I meet most often.
Meet Natalie D. Richards, author of Gone Too Far, Six Months Later, My Secret to Tell, and one of my favorite people ever. No, I swear I’m not her stalker, she’s just really great. Natalie was the first author I ever met in person and I was TERRIFIED. Guys, I have huge anxiety issues, and Natalie was one of the most welcoming and friendly people ever. She was actually the one who originally invited me to come see her. 
Natalie is someone I love chatting with. She’s cool and I feel like her brain works on the same ADD level mine does. Apparently I wasn’t silly enough in this picture so she told me the next time we met I owed her a goofy one. And so we did. 
I had mentioned as she signed my copy of Gone Too Far about my own writing and my struggle to actually, you know, write. In my book she wrote:
To: Erin
you are so lovely for coming to see me. Thank you so many times over.  You. Will. Finish. The. Book. Natalie D. Richards.

I don’t know if she knows how much that means so me, or how often I look at it to give myself a bit of encouragement or a kick in the butt when I’m writing. Thanks for being awesome, Natalie!
This is Jody Casella, fabulous author of Thin Space. Jody is a cool cat. She always has a smile every times I see her, even when she’s hurting a little (the first time I met her she had some back issues, but she was totally lovely despite being uncomfortable). She was in that first group of authors I met and really help me feel relaxed.
Jody is another author who has really supported my own writing and she gave me some great advice. Write before you get sucked into all of your social media. Twitter, instagram, facebook, they’re all distracting. If you get too invested you’ll never get any writing done. It’s easier to do your writing before you get sucked into any of that. And boy, she’s not wrong. 
You rock, Jody!

Liz Coley is a hybrid author, both self and traditionally published. You may know her book Pretty Girl-13 or her self published Tor Maddox series. However you know her, I know her as a great person and so generous. She hopped at the chance to write a guest post for Ohio Author Appreciation and offered up a copy of her first Tor Maddox book for you guys to win. She has a lot to say about both kinds of publishing and if you want to talk to someone who has done a LOT of writing (published and unpublished) she’s your lady.

Mindee Arnett is a cool lady. Author of the Avalon duology and the Nightmare Academy series, she is one of the most friendly people I’ve met both on Twitter and in person. When Mindee found out we were bloggers she grabbed a handful of bookmarks and signed the whole lot so we could offer them to you guys. I still have a few if you guys want me to do a giveaway. She’s so fun to talk to! If you ever get a chance to meet her, definitely do it!

 I’ve met Mindy McGinnis in person a bunch of times and she’s always been excited to talk. Author of Not a Drop to Drink, In a Handful of Dust, and A Madness so Discreet, Mindy’s books are on the dark side. Mindy was the third author, along with Natalie and Jody, that made me feel so at ease when meeting authors for the first time. Mindy has a dry sense of humor and I really like that about her. She always jokes about how dark her books are and what that may say about her but she remains friendly and fun to talk to.

I like that there are so many cat people in the YA world and Mindy is one of them. Check out her instagram and check out her kitty tweets, you won’t be disappointed.

Erin McCahan made me laugh the first time I met her by commenting on the fact that we share our name and we called each other our new favorite Erins. Yes, that is the kind of thing you can bond over. She is the only one on this list that I don’t have a signed book for because it didn’t come in time for me to bring it with me. No matter, we will fix this July 25th!
Erin was so nice, chatting with us as if we weren’t total strangers. She’s the kind of person who can make you forget that you have social anxiety and make you want to talk for hours. I wish we had gotten to talk a bit more but it was a very busy room. 
Cinda Williams Chima is one of those people that just make you smile. She’s so humble and ready to talk about things like TV shows or new story ideas. When I met her I actually hadn’t read a single one of her books, they’d been sitting on my shelf unread. But that didn’t seem to bother her and she went right on chatting with us until we had to get out of the way.
April Henry is NOT an Ohio author, but she’s pretty awesome. She can escape a pair of handcuffs without the help of a hidden key, she’s super friendly on twitter, and she seemed amazed that someone would drive from Ohio to New York to go to an event like the one she was at. Authors like her just make me never want to leave YA. 
Emmy Laybourne has the secrets to the universe. Or maybe just to the whoopsies in the different editions of her books. Same thing, right? I met her in a room full of thousands of teenagers and she happily took time out to talk to us and spill some secrets. What secrets? I won’t tell, they wouldn’t be secrets then, would they? But it might have to do with certain maps in certain books having certain… erm… inconsistencies. 
Jennifer Niven is sweet as can be and didn’t mind when I booked it across a parking lot to catch up with her when I almost missed her. I name her one of the coolest people ever!

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.