Embarrassing Author Encounters: A Personal Account by Emma

As an author enthusiast and content creator on YouTube, I've had the privilege of meeting many talented authors who have written some of my favorite books. Over time, I've accumulated a treasure trove of stories about these encounters, which often leave me blushing with embarrassment. In this video, I'll be sharing some of my most cringe-worthy moments when interacting with authors.

I want to make it clear that none of these stories are meant to shame or disrespect any author. On the contrary, I believe everyone can relate to having awkward moments, especially when they're in a situation where they're the center of attention. My intention is to share these stories and hopefully bring a smile to your face.

My first story dates back to 2015, when I attended YALLFest for the very first time. It was an exhilarating experience, and I had the opportunity to meet up with fellow booktubers at one of the afterparties. The atmosphere was lively, filled with authors and industry professionals who were all passionate about books. However, our group of friends didn't exactly mingle much, as we're more comfortable sitting in front of cameras in the comfort of our own homes.

At the after-party, despite being surrounded by numerous booktubers and authors, we kept a safe distance from Veronica Roth. I was aware that she has struggled with anxiety in social situations, including book signings, which made me hesitant to approach her while she was enjoying time with friends. My friends and I decided to observe from afar, allowing her to relax without feeling overwhelmed.

One of my friends, Michael, took a selfie with Veronica from a distance using his Snapchat. It's understandable that he would want to capture the moment, but it's clear that this story might make him cringe in retrospect. We didn't see her again for the rest of our time at YALLFest and headed back to New York the next day.

As we waited at the JetBlue terminal before boarding our flight home, Michael and I saw a few familiar faces from the convention, including authors like Sabaa Tahir and Margot from Epic Reads. However, we were mindful of our surroundings in an airport setting where people generally don't want to be stopped mid-stride.

As we sat in an uncomfortable wooden booth, waiting for our flight, Veronica Roth suddenly appeared right in front of us. Michael, who was a bigger fan of Divergent than I was, was ecstatic at spotting her. In my mind, I must have been thinking something like, "What is she doing here?" or "How did we not notice her before?" But the real moment came when Veronica walked towards us.

Michael's excitement over seeing Veronica led to a story that he might not appreciate me sharing. Let's just say it involved some awkward moments and an embarrassing incident at Penn Station, where I fell down the stairs in front of numerous people. It's safe to say that Michael won't be thrilled about reliving this moment on camera.

These stories are a testament to the fact that even with our best intentions, we can still have embarrassing encounters with authors or other individuals who may not share our enthusiasm for their work. However, I hope you find these tales amusing and enjoyable, as I certainly do.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHey Whatsup Hello, my name is Emma and today I'm going to be sharing with you guys some of my awkward author stories.If you are new to my channel, I've met a lot of authors.I've had so many amazing, life-changing experiences of meeting these people that have written my favorite books of all time.But, of course along the way, there has to have been some embarrassing moments.So, I just want to make it clear that a lot of these might seem way more mortifying to me than to you,but I think everyone can understand that sometimes things are just way more intense when you're the one experiencing them.Now, I want to be clearly this video is not me shading any authors.I don't think I've ever had an experience where an author was rude to me or anything of that sort.This is mostly me embarrassing myself in front of authors, which I thought some of you would enjoy. So I hope you enjoy it!My first story is my favorite embarrassing author story, and I think it might be one of the first.Back in 2015, I had attended YALLFest for the very first time,and me and a couple of my friends ended up meeting up with a few other booktubers at one of the afterparties for YALLFest.So, it was basically just like, authors galore.At the party not much happened because as I'm sure you can imagine, a bunch of booktubers whohave become friends out of sitting in front of their cameras in the comfort of their own home, we don't like to mingle a lot.So, at the after party, although it was so much fun, and I had a great time chatting with friends,and I did mingle a little bit with a few authors, there was one author that me and my friends did not approach, and that is Veronica Roth.Previously somebody had mentioned to me that Veronica Roth has a really bad anxiety in person,even book signings are really hard for her, so I wasn't going to overstep my boundarieswhile she was enjoying time with her friends and meeting with people in the industry.So we kind of just looked from afar. Michael took a creepy Snapchat of her as we were standing a foot away from her, but it's fine.That was the first day of YALLFest, so we had the full second day, didn't see her again.Then on our last day in Charleston, 9 o'clock in the morning, Michael and I are heading right back to New York.Michael is gonna hate me for telling this story, but he told the story of how I fell down the stairs in Penn Station, so we're even now.So Michael and I were waiting at the JetBlue terminal waiting to board our fight, and we did see a few familiar faces from the convention,there were a few authors like Sabaa Tahir was there,we saw Margot from Epic Reads who Michael was working for at the time.So we didn't really go up and say hi to everyone because, you're in an airport nobody wants to be stopped at anairport - but -We're sitting in this wooden, uncomfortable booth just waiting to go home and all of a sudden,Veronica Roth is standing right in front of us.I think Michael is the one who originally noticed her walking towards us,and Michael was a bigger fan of Divergent than I was, so he was freaking out.In my head I'm like, \"This is our time\" - Like, we missed the opportunity to say hi to her the other night.This is fate giving us a second chance.All I was planning on saying to her is, \"Hi, just wanted to let you know, I really enjoyed your books.\"I wasn't gonna ask her for a photo or anything. I wasn't gonna overstep my boundaries.I just wanted let her know that I appreciate her work and...Michael had to be Michael.So Veronica Roth is walking towards us. She stops literally right next to us.I'm talking, we're in like a little booth like right here. She is literally right here. I could have reached out my arm and touched her.So Michael being so overwhelmed with Veronica Roth standing literally right there, he drops his phone on the table.It makes a huge noise. He says \"Oh my God!\"And, Veronica Roth obviously heard it and packed up her stuff very quickly and went on the other side of the terminal.Honestly, I wasn't that disappointed in the fact that I didn't get to say hi to Veronica Roth,it was more just the fact that Michael ruined the opportunity.So this isn't a super personal story, like I wouldn't walk up to Veronica Roth now and she would recognize meas the crazy people that almost drove her out of the airport terminal at YALLFest of 2015,but it definitely is one of my favorite awkward author storiesbecause I don't know what would've happened if Michael hadn't dropped his phone and said \"Oh my God,\"but the fact that Michael dropped his phone and said \"Oh my God\" is a story I'll be telling for a very long time.Now, would it be an author storytime video if I didn't mention Cassandra Clare?Most of you all know that Cassandra Clare is my favorite author of all time.In total I've met her five times, I've interviewed her twice, we've talked quite a bit privately, and she's the loveliest woman in the entire world.Literally, she is the sweetest person on the planet. She's always happy to see -*ice cream truck sounds* I'm trying to rant about Cassandra Clare, can you not?Despite her holding a place on my list of awkward author encounters, every experience I've had with her has been so amazing.She's literally the sweetest person I have ever met.This had happened, I believe, in October of 2015, where I had attended her event for The Copper Gauntlet with Holly Black.The whole day went great, I was one of the first three people in line,I was one of the first people to get my book signed, I got so many book signed, it was amazing.So for a Cassie Clare event, this was really small, even for 2015.There was maybe 45 people in that room and that's a stretch.So after being one of the very first people to get my book signed,having her write up my tattoo, getting to talk to her again - it was really amazing -I had taken my time packing up all my booksI had met a few people at the event that I was still talking to that were closer to the end of the line.And as the event is winding down, I'm just thinking to myself,I'm like, I wonder if I could stay until the last person leaves and see if I could just like, sneak a quick photo.I'd overheard another girl that said she was waiting to see if she could take a photo,and I was like, \"I might as well take my chances.\" The worst she's gonna say no andI'm gonna leave and I still would have had a great day.So I had waited. I had asked very politely, \"Could I just get a quick photo with you?\"because I wasn't able to get one while she was signing books. So she took one with me, which was great.So after we took the photo, me and Cassie just started talking for 15 minutes.We talked about her books, we talked about my mom who had started reading her books.We had talked about Lady Midnight which was coming out, the novellas, and everything.It was a really, really wonderful conversation and meant so much to me.As the conversation is ending, I'm like, \"I don't want to keep you too long.\"Cassie said that she was going back to Holly's apartment, everything was fine.I think, in this moment, I was just so on Cloud Nine. I can't express to you what this experience was like.I had met my favorite author for the second time. She had signed more of my books.She wrote in a tattoo that I was really excited to get, and I had gotten a photo with her, and we had had a private conversationLike, I was literally like not even in my body at this time.So at this point, I'm not really thinking rationally, I'm not thinking clearly.My mind is just so clouded with the fact that I'm talking to Cassandra Clare.So naturally, when you're talking to someone you really like, and you're saying goodbye, you hug them.So me not realizing that we're not actually friends, and this is only the second time I've met her, I go in to hug her.I'm very lucky that she hugged me back, she didn't seem like she minded it at all.Like, I'm sure this is not the first instance of a fan hugging her.But the thing that gets me is I didn't realize until a year and a half later that I hugged her and it might have been inappropriate.It wasn't appropriate for me to hug her without asking her if that was okay.So, a year and a half later, I'm walking - not thinking about anything specific - all of a sudden this epiphany goes off in my headthat I hugged Cassandra Clare without asking her if it was okay first.Naturally that spirals into, \"Oh my God. Did I just ruin any opportunity I have to meet her again in the future?If I see her again is, she going to think that I'm crazy?Did she just pretend that she was okay with it? Was she actually really uncomfortable?Did she tell Holly how weird I was afterwards?\"I was going crazy - I still am going crazy.I think about this all the time - how it was really inappropriate for me to hug Cassandra Clare without asking if it was okay first.I'm sure she would've said it was fine, but I just can't believe I was so caught up in the day,that I like might have made a bad impression on her after all of that, andI know it seems so minimal to so many of you, especially knowing my history with Cassie now,but at the moment I realized this, I was horrified.So Cassie, if you ever somehow come across this video,I deeply apologize for hugging you in October of 2015 and not asking you if it was okay.I know we've been cool since, but just like - I apologize, okay?So my third awkward author encounter happens with another very popular YA author, and that is Sarah J Maas.Now, this was August, of, I believe 2016, so it's only a year ago.It was right before the release of Empire of Storms and I was at Books of Wonderand I had the opportunity to interview Sarah, which I was really excited for.I had just gotten really into the ACOTAR series, I was extremely excited for the opportunity.So Sarah was at Books of Wonder to sign personalized preorders, because they sometimes do that with authors.It's really freaking cool. So me and one of the employees there at the time named Gabby,we'd come up with this idea that I was going to a time-lapse of her signing these 500 freaking preorders.For the larger part of the day, I just set up my camera, let it run, we filmed her signing all these books.I got to know her a little bit better, and it was a really relaxed, wonderful experience.First thing that went wrong during the day, I did not account for how much battery these hours of signing preorders would take up on my camera.So before she's even done with the preorders, my camera starts to die and I'm like,\"Oh my God, I don't have a spare battery, I don't have a camera charger!\"The time-lapse wasn't confirmed until the day of, so I was not prepared for it.I'm so lucky like the gods were looking down on me because Books of Wonder is right next to a camera store,so I was able to purchase a new battery and charger for my camera,and I was able to have some charge for our actual interview, which is the reason I was there.So after the 500 preorders, Sarah signs the other 500 books in Books of Wonder stock that you can buy signed.And so there had been some time, like it was charging, like I was feeling better about it.I was definitely embarrassed because it looked so unprofessional on my part.At the time, I was still a baby when it came to behind the scenes author interview sorts of deals.So, like I didn't know that like I should have had a second battery in a camera charger - I thought it would have been fine.Whatever, we moved past that. All the signings are done, I'm going to film a quick interview with Sarah before she goes out.She had dinner plans, I think she was going to a show as well. So we were just going to film and get out.So like most DSLRs, my camera would stop filming after 15 or so minutes. I think 16:38 was the actual number.So we had just mentioned to her husband and one of the staff members, just keep an eye on the time.If you see that it's not recording, if you see the time isn't moving and you see there isn't a red flashing dot to record,let me know. That means that we need to backtrack a few minutes so that we can start over.So, we get maybe 10 minutes into the interview. We're having some really great discussions so far.And her husband just gives us a little up, like he wants her attention. This is where bad thing Number Two happens.So, we're ten minutes into this interview, and my camera hasn't recorded any of it.Emma: I don't think it recorded. I'm dying, this has never happened to me before, I am so sorry.So mortifying. I can't express to you how terrible it feels to do something like that when you have been given such an amazing opportunity,and this author has taken time out of their day to come sit with you, and you completely mess it up.Ugh, I don't want to talk about this, it's so embarrassing!We had to start all over again, I realized mid-filming that I had so many questions,and even when I took out two of the ones I was planning on asking her, we still had the longest interview I've ever conducted with an author.I feel so bad about this experience because we ended up running so over that Sarah and her husband ended up missing the dinner reservation,so they just had to pick somewhere local to go and I felt so bad, I wanted to cry.She gained nothing from filming this interview with me; it was all for my benefit.And it was out of the kindness of her heart that she sat down with me, dealt with the kids screaming that you can hear in our interview.Oh my God. It sucks so much because Sarah J Maas is such a down-to-earth person.Like literally, top five nicest people I've ever met, not even author.She is the sweetest freaking woman, and I totally messed up her night, and it was all my fault. Like, I take full responsibility.I saw her a month later. She didn't hate me; I'm sure she was very frustrated at that night,and Sarah - I'm really sorry girl. I can't tell you, it's been a year. I still feel really horrible.That was probably the most embarrassing author experience I've ever had.I've never felt so small and insignificant and unprofessional, and I definitely have learned from that experienceto triple-check everything: memory card, camera, camera charger, cameras recording.I'm more focused now, so it was a learning experience, but it was a really, really embarrassing one.But nonetheless, that is really it for my awkward author encounters video.You can't get them all, can you? You really can't.Let me know in the comments below if you guys have had any awkward author experiences. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there.But that is really it for this video. Thank you guys so much for watching and I will see you soon for a new video. Bye!\n"