Authors Are Rockstars at the Virginia Festival of the Book

I am in Charlottesville for the 2014 Virginia Festival of the Book, the largest educational book event on the east coast. My expectations are high, but fair—to be the Ryan Gosling of books for a few days. I'm bringing a pen everywhere for autographs, and wearing my tightest sweater to impress the librarians.

As a fanatic of the NCAA March Madness tournament which begins today, it takes an event like this to remove me from the television even for a couple hours. Even if I do not get hit on by a baby boomer librarian, I am super excited to be a participant in this wonderful festival. If you are in the Charlottesville area then come check it out! In return, I promise to buy the first round of wings and beer tomorrow for basketball games. Being in Charlottesville where I went to school for five years and watched hundreds of March Madness games is bringing back awesome memories, and Hamburgers and I will pretend like we are 22 again, just with salad instead of fries and clear liquids instead of pales of Bud Lights or Bud Diesels.

I'll be participating on the Memoirs: Not Your Typical American Stories panel this afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Central JMRL Library, 201 E Market Street. Tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. I'll be at Blue Whale Books, 115 E Main St, for a celebration of young writers. And on Saturday I will be at the Omni Charlottesville signing books ("Twice" and, um, Secrets).

My desire to share my story and books only goes so far—I canceled my RSVP to attend a special author's reception Saturday night because my Virginia Cavaliers are a #1 seed in the tournament and one of the six most likely teams to win the National Championship so I am headed to Raleigh, NC, Saturday afternoon to watch us play in the round of 32 on Sunday, praying that we first win tomorrow and don't become the first #1 seed to ever lose the first game!

Have a great March Madness weekend, my friends, and I'll let you know how that rockstar thing works out.