#WorldBookDay

I woke up to Twitter today to find that it's #WorldBookDay! Now THAT is a day I can get behind!!! Books, books, and more books, I say!!! I take my duties as a #bookwhore very seriously after all. So...what does one do to celebrate  #WorldBookDay? Read? Yeah, that's a given. Stalk and profess our love for our favorite authors via Twitter? Welp, for me...that's a given too. Hmmmmmm....what is one to do? Had I had more warning--like Christmas--you know it's coming so you plan and you prepare. But like I said, I just learned of  #WorldBookDay's existence this morning and here I am...thinking as I type...Hmmmmmmmmmm....

I've got it! Did you notice my very first sentence--I woke up to Twitter today...it may be sad but it's true. I check Twitter in the morning even before I get on the StairMaster or open a Diet Coke or shower. It's a sickness, I know. But it's the truth. Do you know why I check Twitter? Books! It all started with books. Twilight specifically. Feel free to judge me but I will wave my Twilight flag loud and proud. You see, when I first read Twilight, all my real life friends thought I had lost my mind and I had no one to share my obsession with so I turned to Twitter. I wasn't an active tweeter...just a lurker. Creepy, I know. But again! Honest!

SO Twilight came and went and then came 50 Shades. When I first read 50 Shades, there was very little on Twitter...and then...Boom! It exploded!!! That's when I realized there are other crazies out there like me! Hooray! That's also when I changed from a lurker and an egg...yes, I said it. At one time I too was a dreaded egg. In the real world, the egg is the equivalent to the dress you wore to prom. At the time, you thought it was a good idea. In retrospect: what the bleep were you thinking?!?

Turning from a lurker and an egg to an active participant and an avi is like turning from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Wow. That may be the lamest analogy I have ever used...but again! I just learned of #WorldBookDay a couple hours ago so cut me some slack. What I'm trying to say is that Twitter opened up a whole new world (did you too just burst into song from Aladdin?). A whole new book world! SO many people who love the same books as you! So many authors just a tweet away!

Because of Twitter, I now have friends who I now consider my real life friends even though they live in places like Baltimore, Canada, Scotland (Yes, Ava! I know it's part of the UK technically:), UK, California, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Florida, etc. These are people I genuinely love and adore and I haven't even been able to squeeze most of them in one of my death grip snuggles yet. Note the key word: yet! I did get one of them to stalk Matt Bomer through the streets of New York with me last August and another has promised to snuggle me in a gondola ride in Las Vegas in the near future so watch out for that!

Also because of Twitter, I have a new appreciation of authors. I have a new criteria by which I buy books and I'll tell you why. I met the one and only Stephenie Meyer this time last year. It was a big deal. HUGE! She was the Queen. It didn't get better than that. I was so nervous and I verbally vomited all over her (go figure!). But here's the thing. In my rambling (and yes, this is on video) I asked her if she would ever join Twitter to which she looked at me and gave me a look that said Pffffffft! and then she said, "I cannot think of a worse idea." And then it happened. That imaginary shiny crown I had placed on her head-poof! Gone! She was so dismissive of the idea of interacting with her fans and it ruined her for me. I've also read quotes where she has been dismissive of authors who write fanfic based on her work. Hey Steph! How about being supportive of your fellow writers and peeps who love your work? How about not being a jerk? Try that!  Whoa...that took an unexpected turn. BUT in my defense, so many authors I looooooooooooove are now authors I loooooooooooove because they started out writing fanfic *paging Alice Clayton and my BB girls (C & Lo that is:)*.

So...back to my new criteria: If you are not on Twitter, I'm not buying your books. Every time I am lucky enough to receive and ARC from the lovely Enn, my first question is always: Is she on Twitter? Because I think there are so many aspiring authors out there who want to be published, NY Times Bestselling authors. For me, the #bookwhore I am, I want to support the authors who are in it for the right reasons. What better way to show your readers that you care than to play on Twitter? To acknowledge their crazy? I fangirl a little harder every time I receive a tweet from my favorites. And to those authors--those authors who are in it for the right reasons--to those authors I say: I LOVE YOU. Hard. I do.

SO today I am celebrating #WorldBookDay because books brought me to Twitter which gave me friends I will love forever and authors I genuinely adore and books, books, and more great books! So I am celebrating #WorldBookDay because while one would think reading is a solitary activity, it's not. It's much, much more!!! So I wish each and every one of you a very happy #WorldBookDay!!!

xoxo