Where do I even begin with a post as big as this? How do you even put into words how you felt when you met the biggest inspiration in your life? Well, hopefully I can relate to you how it felt to meet the woman who has changed an entire generation of kids as well as the world of children's literature, the woman who inspired me to become a writer, and the woman that I look up to and aspire to be. This is the day I met J.K. Rowling.

J.K. Rowling's first publication since the Harry Potter series ended all those years ago, The Casual Vacancy is a book for grown-ups (as Jo herself likes to put it) that focuses on a small English town, Pagford, that becomes a center of deceit and back-stabbing as Barry Faribrother leaves a vacancy on the town council after his death. The book is a far cry from Potter as it explores sex, self-mutilation, drug addiction, abuse and various other social concerns that plague us today. It's a novel that's as grounded in the real world as you can get, and frankly it's a masterpiece. What Jo accomplishes in this novel is a true feat that not many authors can claim to do.

Over the summer it was announced that Jo's sole U.S. book signing was going to take place at Lincoln Center in New York City, and as soon as I saw that I knew I had to go. Just another perk of going to college in NYC! No matter what it took I was going to secure a ticket even if it meant having to camp out for days. Luckily, we were able to buy tickets online, but even that turned into a fiasco I wish to never revistit. Suffice it to say, Lincoln Center's ticketing system had a malfunction and double booked a couple hundred seats. This lead to huge uproar because the theater couldn't hold all the people who bought tickets so Jo graciously allowed the event to move to the David H. Koch theater (home of the ballet), and allowed all roughly 1700 of us to meet her and get our books signed. How she signed that many copies in just a couple hours I cannot even begin to fathom. So thankfully I was able to purchase two tickets (one for me and one for my roommate who is a huge Rowling fan as well) before they sold out minutes after going on sale.
So October 16th arrived; the day I would meet my hero. We headed up to the theater, picked up our tickets and got situated. I cannot tell you enough how beautiful the theater was and how great our seats were. We were in the first balcony in the third row back, basically in the center of the row, and had a straight shot view of the stage. It really could not have been more perfect. Soon the head of the publishing company Little, Brown came out to introduce the author Ann Pratchett who would be interviewing Jo. And then came the big moment. The auditorium erupted with applause so fervent that it warranted a standing ovation before Jo even walked out on stage. You can imagine what it was like when the man finally said "And please welcome J.K. Rowling," and Jo herself came walking out on stage.
For the first couple minutes of the interview, Ann Patchett basically lauded Jo with the profound effect she has had on the world with her writing, and then of course praising her for the incredible book that is The Casual Vacancy. As you can imagine, during this we erupted in applause every couple of seconds, and at one point Ann even told us we might need a sedative so that we could get through the night. It was obvious that the crowd was excited to see Jo on her only signing stop outside of the U.K. Ann Patchett was actually a really amazing interviewer and it was so cool watching two writers exchange ideas and talk about the intricacies of the writing process. As a writer myself, I was in heaven and soaked up every sliver of information I could.
What a lot of people don't realize about Jo is how down to earth and funny she really is. Somehow, the conversation turned towards Fifty Shades of Grey and Jo had some fun retorts to share with us. She told us that the difference between that book and hers is that "people have sex in this book, but no one really enjoys it." Another fun tidbit came when talking about where and with what she writes her material, Jo remarked, “This is going to sound like a product placement, but I’ll say it anyway - the MacBook Air changed my life.” What really struck me about this interview was how entrancing Jo is. There were times (as evidenced above) when the theater was filled with raucous laughter, and then there were moments where it was so deathly silent that you could literally hear a pin drop. Everyone clung on to every word that left her lips, and she had us all under her spell. It was such a treat to listen to her. After about 45 minutes of chatting, Jo headed over to the podium to do a reading. She chose to read the catastrophic dinner party scene. Here's what went down:

The program from the event

My copy of the book and my ticket

Now my most prized possession