Thursday, January 24, 2013

Burbank High School: Part 2

As I've said many times before, I love speaking at high schools. It's my favorite part of being an author! But until yesterday, I hadn't spoken anywhere in two months, so I was more nervous than usual about speaking at Burbank High. Never mind the fact that, two nights earlier, I caught one of the many bugs going around and spent the entire night with my head slung over a toilet. While I felt perfectly fine on my three-hour drive to the school, I couldn't shake a feeling that I was about to become a YouTube sensation for a video titled Author Hurling.

But that didn't happen!  (Which is kind of too bad, because nothing good comes up when you type that into YouTube.)

When I first arrived, I noticed this banner hanging in the library. Yep, I was in the right place!


Then I noticed a framed photo on the wall. It was taken one year ago when Carolyn Mackler and I spoke at Burbank High on the last day of our book tour for The Future of Us.


Carolyn and I had such a great time on our visit, I began to get even more nervous. What if no one showed up because they'd seen me speak just one year ago? What if they didn't think I was as funny without Carolyn? What if...? What if...? What if...? I had some special guests coming to hear me speak, and while it's not the size of the audience that matters...it kind of does!!!

Thankfully, the turn out was wonderful.


 
Here's a shout out to the special guests who came to hear me speak for the first time. My cousin Sondra is circled in green. (She's only ten days younger than me, but apparently that still means she gets to open her Christmas presents before me every single year. But whatever!) There were also two guests representing the producers behind the Thirteen Reasons Why movie. I can't find Kristel from Strike Entertainment in the above above, but Mandy from July Moon Productions (and Selena Gomez's momma) is circled in red.

And there's a giant purple circle surrounding everyone because...well...you're all my special guests, Burbank High!

Aaaaah...!

Friday, January 18, 2013