So I met these two a LONG WHILE ago (February 1st!) and it was a really fun night hosted by Bookshop Santa Cruz.
I hustled into their store and bought a copy of “Why we Broke Up” right when it came out to get a ticket, and when I bought it I asked the cashier, “Maria Kalman is the one who illustrated the illustrated elements of style book, isn’t she?”
The cashier looked at me like, “Seriously, how would you just know that?” and said, “Yeah, I think so.”
I honestly didn’t mind because I was thinking the same thing in my head!
When I got to the event (held at Santa Cruz Highs School) I realized I had left my “conference and meeting authors notebook” at home (yes I really have one!) so I ripped some pages out of a sketchbook and took out my 12 pack of markers that I always carry with me and got to work notetaking.
I scanned the notes so you can read through them here. There are some gems in here!
Look for some of my favorites:
- It’s better to hide in the bathroom when someone else reads your work
- “Due to human stupidity” is the secret ending to every sign.
- Everyone does everything they read about in books (this was in response to critics saying they shouldn’t talk about drinking and smoking in a book for teens)
- There’s only one season when things FALL from trees
We got to take a little quiz to see how romantic we were.
I was smack dab in the middle.
Did I mention that they were sharing break up stories before Maira and Daniel came on and this lady asks, “Does anyone have a good break up story?”
So of course I shared mine, in a two sentence form.
People looked at me like, “How could that happen?” but I told them it was really ok, I’m going to write about it, and I had a good time, so nothing to worry about.
While waiting in line, I crafted the thank you notes for Maira and Daniel.
I shared a break up story in each card.
In Maira’s, I told her about how I ended up with the Illustrated Elements of Style book.
I had been kind of dating? this guy when I lived in Worcester (2008?) and for Christmas he got me that book. Now, I REALLY wanted that book but I never told anyone. I was convinced that he must have really got me if he knew that was what I secretly wanted. Turns out he was just lucky with the choice of a gift and knew that I liked writing, so just guessed. For a while there I thought he was really awesome, until I found that out. I thought Maira would like that story.
For Daniel, I told him the story of my most recent break up (in a few sentences) and told him that I wanted to write about it now after reading this book. Admittedly, it was nice to read something that had a slightly bitter tone to it, but I said that I wanted to write something not as bitter, maybe because I’m not good at bitter?
While he was signing my books, he asked if I wanted a comb. They had these combs that said Why we Broke up on them.
I said, “Actually, I don’t comb my hair because it’s wavy.”
WHAT? Who says that to anyone, let alone Daniel Handler?
He didn’t skip a beat though and just said, “Well, you can give your eyebrows a workout then.”
I highly recommend seeing these two.
It was like a comedy routine, but I also learned a lot about how they worked.
Books I got signed:
Why we broke up
The illustrated Elements of Style
and
The composer is dead.
Until next time, remember that “Eating the horn of the rhino DOES NOT cure cancer,”
KE
