Big Weekend Comin' Up!

Guess who's on her way to Manic Town? Yup, SWISHY!

And you know what that means!? Craziness ensues, and she will probably get to make out with some cute boy far too young for her, thanks to me, cuz I am her lucky LUUUUV charm. Yes, we all know I attract them and then offer them up to her!

But wait! That's not all! Why is Swishy coming to Manic Town? Well, OF COURSE IT'S BECAUSE THERE ARE BOOKS AND AUTHORS INVOLVED! Why yes, it's AUTHORPALOOZA LOVEFEST II, MANIC-SWISHY STYLE!

It's The Chicago's Printer's Row Book Fair, and I started early today, by meeting one of my favorite authors today and WOW, can I just say that she EXCEEDED ALL EXPECTATIONS, and I had very high expectations of Ms. Stephanie Klein!

She gets a bad rap online. She's said it before. She's either loved or hated. There's really no in between. The thing about Stephanie is she puts IT ALL OUT THERE. And that takes some major freakin' guts. In your writing. In your life. It's all out there. She shares the good, the bad, the ugly. Her dreams, her fears, things she's most proud of. Hanging all over the place, like a lacy thong some horny guy wants to sniff. Hmmm, did I just write that. I am on my second glass of vino as I await my BBFF Swishy's arrival, so I probably did just write that!

But I say to Stephanie, "More power to ya girlfriend!"

So, I arrive at Torrid, where Stephanie's signing Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp, and I was unsure how it was gonna be--I know tomorrow she's appearing at Printer's Row with another fave, Jen Lancaster, who also puts it all out there, so it's gonna be crazed there, but wasn't sure what to expect today. WAY fortunately for me, there was not much publicity for today's signing, so there wasn't a line way past Panda Express and Limited Too.

I brought the kids with. They saw me reading the Advance Reader's Copy of Moose. Diva wanted to read it. Ajers too. "Not till you're older," I said.

"Is that a picture of the author on the cover?" they asked.

"No." Then I showed them Stephanie's appearance on The Today Show.

"Why'd she have to go to fat camp?"

I told them they could ask her when they meet her in person.

So, we went to Torrid, and YAY, when I walked in, Stephanie knew it was me, and I was soooo flattered! It was really very cool of her. And she mentioned some things about my blog so she reads it, and asked about my writing, which was very kind, and I really don't talk much of my book(s), because, well, there's not much to say about them when they're in Novel Limbo on the way to First Novel Heaven as Jess Riley has coined, cuz her first manuscript is going there too, she says.

But we chatted about her kids and my kids and she's so gracious and real and kind, and anyone who has ever said a mean thing about Stephanie Klein just doesn't know her, and I'm not saying I "know" her, but she's keeping it real on her blog and in the pages of her books, and she took the time to get to know a little bit about me and my kids, and that says a ton. A ton.

And then... And then, my kids were DYING for her to sign her autograph... on their HEADS! Ajers was like, "Will you autograph my head?"

Stephanie looked at me like, What?

"Sure, that's fine with me," I said.

Ajers is like, "Well, maybe my leg instead."

Stephanie said, "In permanent marker?"

Me, "Yeah, why not?"

Stephanie then asked my kids if they knew they had the coolest mom ever. No one disagreed. THAT made my day! And hey, what's a little ink on their skin, right? I mean, they're gonna shower like next Thursday anyway.

So, Stephanie signed Ajer's and Tukey's legs, and then signed Stephanie T. Klein (T for Tara) on Diva's arm too, and everyone was so psyched. The kids were like, "We can't wait to go home and show our friends that a famous author signed us!"

So here are some pics:









And then we've got MORE fun, cuz tomorrow, Thelma and Louise Swish and I take to the streets of Chicago where we will run rampant around millions of book lovers and authors and soak in the love of words and writing and be with people who are passionate and artistic, and this is seriously like Lollapalooza for writers.

But wait! There's MORE! Then, we're KIDNAPPING a certain author who has been featured on my blog, and taking her across the BORDER to ANOTHER state to see ANOTHER author for her debut BOOK launch! We will be driving almost four hours to do this, because we are such groupie fans, and because we love this author so much, and well, you're gonna have to just check back to see what it's all about. And then, yes, we're coming back to Chicago THAT night, crashing for a few hours, and then doing Printer's Row Book Fair again in Sunday.

Sounds like a plan? Well, it is. However, Swishy is currently in transit on her way to my house in the middle of a tornado warning, I'm getting three sheets to the wind drunk off my ass on some wine that's been in my fridge for a few months, and what does Mr. Manic say about all of this?

He calls our plan a "little bit agressive."