The Twilight Zone, Hollywood Undead, and The Price is Right?!?!?!

Ask anyone – I was a wreck before my first signing.

I’m an introvert. Being around groups of people – especially people I don’t know – is exhausting and nerve-racking and will leave me more of a hot mess than I normally am.

Which says a lot.

On April 25th I leapt from my comfort zone and was a part of the amazing Book Obsessed Author Signing Event in Jacksonville, FL. I was fortunate enough to not only share a table with a fabulous author who has been a huge help navigating this whole indie publishing adventure, but to also have my best friend of more than half my life with me for support.

I loved meeting readers, signing (and selling!) my book, and hanging out with cool cats who didn’t look at me weird when I started yammering about characters that wouldn’t shut up or plot bunnies. And better yet, who knew what the hell I was talking about!

My people.

I freaking loved it.

But what turned a seriously awesome event into an EPIC weekend, was basically a random string of absurd accidents that – when combined – made this weekend completely unforgettable.

I’ll summarize:

• getting lost in the Florida backwoods because a certain navigation system is a POS.  Seriously, it was like we were in the Twilight Zone or something. But we didn’t really care. It gave me an my best friend/assistant/book bitch more time to talk. It’s been 8 years since we were even in the same state at the same time.

• stumbling upon a free concert while we walked downtown in search of food. Not just any concert. A band that I know and love: Hollywood Undead (among others playing that night.)

• finding out that the concert was a pre-concert to a huge festival with two of the bands that I played almost non-stop while writing Burned – Halestorm and Pretty Reckless – and Marilyn Manson, Korn, Suicidal Tendencies, and many many more. (Check out the Burned playlist on Spotify.)

• watching Suicidal Tendencies check into our hotel and totally taking stalker selfies like we were teenagers.

• realizing that both Marilyn Manson and Korn were staying on the floor above ours at the hotel and freaking out. (yes we did run up there and walk the halls once – you know -just in case)

• watching the Neon Run and getting our groove on at their celebratory concert.

• sneaking onto the set of The Price is Right Live and photobombing the sign.

But most of all, it was EPIC because I got to share all this with someone who means a lot to me. Someone who calls me on my bullshit, cheers me on when I’m rockin’ it, and is always there when I need a shoulder to cry on – even if it is a virtual shoulder since we live over a thousand miles apart.

I’m not sure if anything can ever top this weekend…but we’ll sure give it a shot.

Don’t let today pass you by. Carpe diem, baby. It’s YOUR day. Seize it.