Serena Takes a Morgan Matson Signing!

9:03 PM Serena 0 Comments


HELLO, EVERYBODY! Is anyone still here? I know it's been forever, but I've been dealing with the last leg of my high school career, and it's been quite a time. I am officially two weeks from graduation!

In the midst of AP exams and finals review and our spring show, I have had time to read, and by some miracle I managed to get myself out to see one of my very favorite authors this weekend: Morgan Matson! 

Morgan Matson has been a favorite author of mine since forever. I read Amy and Roger's Epic Detour when I was in the seventh grade, so I really feel like Morgan's books have been a huge part of my growing up. Her books and her characters make me really happy. Also Morgan herself is amazing, so I try to make it to her events whenever I can. I usually have to ask my parents to drive me an hour or more out to LA or Orange County for book events, but Morgan was just twenty-four minutes from my house this Saturday so DUH I was there. 

I brought along my fellow Morgan Matson fan, Paige. I lent her a stack of like thirteen contemporary books that I want her to read, packed a container of strawberries, and made us a playlist of music we listened to in middle school (complete with One Direction's first album and Boys Like Girls) and then we set off. 

The event was at the Beaumont Library which neither of us had been to before. There weren't too many people so it felt really cozy and comfortable. Morgan gave a presentation, but it honestly felt more like a conversation than anything else, which was so fun. I love hearing her speak because she's very genuine and so funny. 

After her presentation, she opened the floor for questions before her signing. I took note of my favorites:

Q: What did you change about the list between your first draft and the published version?

A: Morgan couldn't remember anything off the top of her head that she cut, but she added dance until dawn and apple picking (which YAY Dance Until Dawn is one of my favorite chapters). 

Q: How do you name your characters?

A: "I name my characters names that I'm sparing my future children." She wanted to give Sloane a really cool name, and she thinks that Ferris Bueller made it a cool name. She always has people tell her that her boys's names aren't "cool" names, but she loves their names. 

Q: Do you have any say in cover designs?

A: Her first two books had covers that were created from stock photos, but for both Since You've Been Gone and The Unexpected Everything, they had cover photo shoots. She didn't get to choose the models, but the models from the SYBG cover are wearing some of her clothes. She DID get to choose dog models for the TUE cover though. This sounds like a good time to me. 

She raffled off two shirts after she did questions, and then it was signing time! I had my well-loved hardback of TUE as well as a SYBG paperback that I got signed for my friend Emily. Paige bought a TUE paperback. 

As always, Morgan was so lovely. We talked about Paige and me going to college and she gave us advice (and reassured me because I need it). We also talked about In-N-Out and travel plans and her upcoming novel, Save the Date, which I am beyond excited about. 


We took selfies (Morgan was interested in Snapchat filters because she was deprived of the Instagram ones) and said our goodbyes because we were holding up the line a bit. On our way out, the really nice woman who won the shirt with the TUE squad's names' on it gave me her shirt because she said that she thought I needed it more than she did. There are good people in this world. 

Paige and I grabbed In-N-Out on the way home, so overall, I think it was a pretty successful day. Thanks to Morgan, the lovely folks at the Beaumont Library, and Paige for making my Saturday. And thanks to all you readers that are still here! Hopefully we'll be seeing a lot more of each other soon.




0 comments:

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)