2 Hours Well Worth the Wait

Yesterday I had the chance to meet one of my favorite authors, Brandon Sanderson.  I stood in line 2 hours to do so.  Even though that doesn't sound like fun, it actually really was.

Brooke and I got to Barnes and Noble early.  About an hour before the signing was supposed to start.  We went in and found out they were handing out tickets for the line.  We went to the service desk to get ours.  We were in the E group.  My heart kind of sank a bit because, even though it's not that far down in the alphabet, I wasn't sure how many were printed so I didn't know how far back we were.

Brooke, Sam and I went to Subway for lunch.  Our favorite place by the way, and enjoyed walking around the mall for a bit.  We found some great ideas for Christmas for the kids, so that was cool.

We went back to Barnes and Noble to wait and it was shortly after we arrived we heard that the line up was happening.  We went and got in line.  We were about sixty feet from the entrance.  I saw a glimpse of Brandon while getting in line, so that boosted my excitement a bit.

We got in line and happened to be behind a friend we used to work with at McDonalds named Josh.  He was always fun to talk to, so I thought things were looking better.  Shortly after getting in line a lady came through and asked for our letters.  When we showed them, she moved us up the line about 20 feet.  We were about in the middle of the huge glass windows in the front of the store.  Pretty awesome.  Josh, Brooke and I shot the breeze about Brandon Sanderson's novels and stuff, while Sam's excitement couldn't be contained.

Funny thing was he wasn't actually sleeping.

Needless to say after getting that close we still waited for about 2 hours to get to the front of the line.  It was okay though.  It was fun catching up with Josh and cracking jokes.  My only regret is that Sam REALLY wanted to see Santa.  So much so that it's all we heard for about an hour and a half.  Finally I suggested to Brooke to take him over to Santa and let him talk to the big red elf.

Although I could see Sam talk to Santa and hug him I couldn't be over there, which sucked.  The mall people also wouldn't let Brooke take pictures because they wanted to peddle their $30 ones.  30 bucks!  I'm surprised they didn't just ask for Brooke's right arm as well.

He came back and was so happy, so the rest of the time in line was a breeze.  He did break away from us and the next thing we knew he was on the other side of the glass looking at the figures.  He was really good about coming straight back to us when he was done, but it was a little nerve wracking.

When I finally got to meet Brandon it was very cool.  I'm sure I rambled too much, I didn't squeal like a girl so that was a plus.  He took the time to listen and even converse with me.  I didn't feel like I was pushed to hurry and get out of line, which was cool.

I had the same experience when we met Brandon Mull.

He even let me take a picture with him.


Which was all I wanted out of the experience.  We saw him do voicemail messages for people and call other people and talk to them, so my expectations must have been low.

I had him sign the only physical copy of his books that I have, the first Mistborn book, The Final Empire.  I let him know that I did have Steelheart, the book he was promoting, and he said he hoped I enjoyed it.  I thought that was pretty cool.  I was kinda geeking out, so he could have told me I sucked and I would have appreciated it.

I've been wondering what the "I am hope." means.


He told me Merry Christmas and "Thanks for coming!" and that was that.  There was an artist there, Issac Stewart, that does some of the art for his books that signed a map.  I actually didn't even realized he did it, so I didn't even tell him thank you.  I felt kinda douchey because I love looking at maps in books, so I guess there was an other regret.

Here's his signature though.



All in all a great experience.  I had a lot of fun waiting and meeting him was one of the best experiences.  He was nice and genuine and I appreciated that.  I would wait in line again to talk to him.

Brooke and Sam on the other hand, not so much.

Comments

  1. I had a very similar experience when I met Dave Mustaine. The wait kinda sucked but actually getting to talk to one of my musical heroes was pretty amazing. I don't think my feet touched the ground for like a week afterward.

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  2. I met Sanderson last year (I think it was last year) when he came in. Dude was nice as could be. Talked to everyone like they were friends and neighbors and you don't seem to get that from a lot of people once they start to hit it big. Awesome to hear you had such a great time.

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  3. What?!! I had a great time hanging out with my bestie! So maybe next time we will leave Sam with a sitter!

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  4. Oh my gosh, I love Brandon Sanderson! And Brandon Mull. What a cool opportunity!!!

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