Fangirl

The stars aligned just right this week for me to do something that I don’t do very often – rush to the bookstore and buy a book. But not just any book.

I’m much more likely to rush to my Libby app and order a book from the library than spend a premium sum on a brand new hardcover. In fact, I’ve taken great pains not to allow books to pile up inside my house, and prefer carting them around with me in my kindle. But not this past Tuesday. For the first time in five years, author Lisa Kleypas released a book, and I, along with the rest of the world, is thrilled.

I don’t remember how exactly I discovered her books years ago, but reading them soon became like an out-of-body experience – they made me feel things. She has this uncanny talent of expressing universal longings, vulnerabilities, passions – everything that makes us human. She writes intimate relationships like no other author I’ve read, and has a witty and smart sense of humor. The cherry on top is that her books are so eloquently researched that you learn things about the historical time period you are reading about. Each and every book is just a delicious experience. (Okay, I think I’m gushing. But you get it.)

Through the years when my children were small, I started to do something that I ultimately did over and over again – every day that one of her books released, I would race to grab a copy and then read it as fast as I could turn the pages. Those books helped get me through those frantic, wild years and did something else – helped push my desire to write into a compelling urge to put words down on a page, I felt the power of writing, and I wanted to make people feel things too, even though I had no idea how. As I said, I felt things, I was taken away, and I identified so strongly with the human beings she wrote about that they felt real to me, with all their struggles, flaws, and always, their basic goodness.

Fast forward a few years – I learned things about writing. I struggled to get published. As part of my efforts, I travelled a long way to a Romance Writers of America conference where I could learn more and make connections, and she was one of the authors there signing books. A superstar author, one of a handful in a massive room of hundreds of signing authors and even more people off the street flocking to buy books.

Of course, I got in line to have a book signed. The line was long and snaked far and wide. When I finally got to the front, something really odd happened  – I lost all my words. I literally could not speak. There I was, a grown woman, old enough not to act like a starstruck teenager, but I was literally struck speechless.

I have no idea what I finally blathered. What I should have said? Thank you for sharing your talent. Thank you for sharing the magic of your stories with us. We are blessed to have you. And, more personally, Your books have meant a lot to me.

Lisa took a photo with me that day, as she did graciously for many other people in that long line. But this was before I was published, over 15 years ago, when I wasn’t as computer savvy as I am now, and that photo is locked – maybe gone forever – due to a computer that suffered the blue screen of death. But I have the book she signed, and I will keep it forever.

There are dangers to putting someone on a pedestal. When she took a break, there was a lot of speculation as to why, how long, etc. When you love an author, you feel that you know them, and that is not true – you know their work, and that is not the same. And you feel concern – is she okay, is her family okay? But the truth is, people are entitled to their privacy. The relationship might feel like a personal one, but it is not.

There is general ecstatic rejoicing among her fans that she is back. Since I turned a book in to my editor on Monday, what better way to celebrate than to rush directly to the bookstore and buy a copy of her newest book. During a rare fully sunny and warm week here in Northeast Ohio, I took it outside and immediately started reading. What a joy.

I’m so glad Lisa wrote another book for us to love. And since I lost my photo, I aspire to one day see her sign books once again. And maybe next time, I can manage to thank her better.