On Keeping up with Your Favorite Authors

Hello again, everyone!!!!! I am going to do my best to try and contain my excitement and write a calm, thoughtful post...But the truth is I'm REALLY EXCITED!!!! This post is going to be kind of short because it's late, and I need some time to dream about the amazing things that I have just discovered. Okay, let me start from the beginning:

So, after yesterday's post, in which I mulled over a lot of different things, one of them being The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale, I decided to check out Shannon Hale's website for the first time in a very long time. This evening I added her blog to my blog roll and started reading it, absentmindedly hoping to catch up on some news. Did I ever! Just within the past 15 minutes I learned that:

1. Shannon Hale is coming to my home town! I can't believe it! After years of carefully watching her blog for news of tour dates and destinations (and a very long hiatus in which I didn't visit her blog at all), I find out that she is FINALLY coming here, and that I will get to see her in person, and possibly even meet her! How cool is that?

2. A special edition of the 4th book in the Bayern series (Forest Born) has been re-printed with  original cover art by the original artist!! After complaining about the new covers in my last post, I thought this, along with #1 had just about made my night. And then I found out that...

3. Her book, Austenland, is being made into a movie!! I can't believe it! This is amazing!

Besides the fact that I am in a state of elation at the moment, I'm also amazed that I stumbled upon all these things at the same time. I mean, what are the chances? I just happened to click her events page and discover that she is coming to my home town (!!). I would not have seen the new cover or learned of the movie had I not scrolled through at least a page of old blog posts. What I'm trying to say is that if you like an author and their work, keep up with them! Authors appreciate your support, and you love meeting them and getting signed copies of their books. What if I had waited a month to look at Ms. Hale's blog, and missed her tour date! I would have been devastated! Now, I know not everyone is as big a fan of Shannon Hale as I am, but I'm sure there are other authors out there with an active online presence that would love it if you followed them- because you never know who might be coming to town.