Author Event: Meeting Jodi Meadows

Yesterday I drove 3.5 hours to attend Jodi Meadows' Incarnate release party in her hometown of Harrisonburg, VA. It was such a nice, easy drive. . . and we saw plenty of cows. And by plenty, I mean soooooooo many cows. I should've picked up some milk for Jodi's release party ;)

We got to the Books-A-Million before noon and we actually saw Jodi as we were waiting to use the restroom. Yeah, I know. . . weird place to meet up, right? :P But the employee room was right across the hall. One thing I learned, right off the bat is that both of us are shy. I talk to her ALL the time on twitter but it was this awkward 'hello' and then we kind of looked at her and then she was like 'Are you Jessica?' lol We talked for a few minutes...she was super nice and so were her husband (I'm assuming?) and the other lady who was with her.


Not only was I super excited about getting to finally meet Jodi but I was also super excited to be able to go to a Books-A-Million, finally! The closest one to me is 45 minutes away and really, that's a bit far JUST to go to a bookstore, especially since I have two Barnes & Noble's within 15 minutes of me. But her having a book signing at a BAM was perfect. I've been a member for awhile but never to a store. So double excitement for Jessica! I actually had to tell myself no a few times with buying books. Amber also helped me say no...though, I did buy a FEW bargain books. One can never resist a good sale, right?

Knitted character dolls: Ana, Sam and a Dragon. Plus, tons of beautiful Incarnate books!

After wandering around for a bit and grabbing a bite of pizza, we headed back to BAM for Jodi's party! Her agent, Lauren was there as well as some of Jodi's friends...and a few other people scattered around. (The cookies were delicious, by the way. I took one because Jodi did say there were 200 and we needed to help her eat them lol) Her friend Joy presented her with this beautiful drawing of the Incarnate cover. It was beautiful...but silly me didn't have my camera out at the time. Fail on my part, I know BUT Jodi has posted a picture on her site! Then we officially begin the party! (It's true, an announcement was made over the loud speaker)

Jodi reading from Incarnate!

She read a bit from her book. She was so nervous (and she told me she practiced reading this bit a lot) but she did really well! Then she took questions from the audience. I asked a few (like, how long did it take for her to write the book, how long did it take for her to knit all her characters for the Incarnate Treasure Hunt she had and if she was working on another project (which, she is but can't talk about it except that it's most likely going to be a duology (two book series).) Lots of good questions were asked of many different people from many different ages. I've never seen such a diverse audience when it came to age, it was really exciting to see.

Jodi answering some fan questions about Incarnate or writing in general

Then, came the signing. I walked around for a bit so I could be toward the back, that way it wouldn't be so rushed. (I did have four books to get signed, by the way) She's super nice, we talked while she signed. I need to take a picture of my signed book, so I will do that tomorrow! It's taken me long enough to just write this so I figured I might as well post it while I remember! :)

Hey, look! It's Jodi and I! Look at the pretties in my hands!

If you haven't read Incarnate, what are you waiting for? Check out my review if you're on the fence. I'm hoping it'll push you over to where the grass in greener...aka, Heart! ;)

Jodi, it was so great to finally meet you! I absolutely adore you and I will definitely be at your next book release! :)

Also, it was nice making a new friend at the same time! I got to meet Angela from Reading Angel and we even went out to lunch/dinner afterward. I had a lot of fun and I hope to see her again at some book events in the future! :)