Markus Zusak, Carrie Ryan, and Zombies

I planned on getting a lot of writing done in March and I did--just not as much as I'd hoped. But I went to some really awesome events including the Utah Book Bloggers social, Markus Zusak's signing, and Carrie Ryan's signing. I don't personally have any pictures of these events because if I bring my camera, I don't take pictures and if I want to take pictures, I don't have my camera. I should really work on that. Anyway, my friend Chersti Nieveen has pictures of both the Carrie Ryan signing and the Markus Zusak signing. And, yes, the zombie apocalypse has definitely been a subject on my mind.

The thing that I loved the most about meeting these two amazing people is how genuinely kind and humble they were. Markus Zusak was obviously embarrassed and uncomfortable by the thunderous applause he received just by walking into the room. And even after signing books for hours, he was still thinking of the people who had come to see him. He wouldn't even eat until he'd signed everyone's book.

I forgot to take notes at Carrie Ryan's signing, but here are some of the things I wrote down that Markus Zusak said:

"You have to have bad things happen because they give you the best stories."

"I don't have a great imagination, I just have a lot of problems."

He also said that he's not a writer because he's some sort of brilliant person with lots of imagination. He's a writer because he tries to do the simple things well.

One of the simple things he tries to do is include details. He told us a story about him and his brother growing up to demonstrate the details, things like the color of the cooler and the fact that they sat on paint cans while they ate lunch. Those details made us believe him and believe that the story was true. The details you give in a story help you to own the story and convince others that it's true.

He rewrote the first 80 pages of The Book Thief between 150-200 times. He also thought that this would be the least popular of his books by far. Much of this book is based on experiences his parents had growing up and this book means the most to him.

If you are willing to try and fail, then you will get there.

You're a writer when you would be willing to write the next book knowing that it would never be published.

One thing that doesn't come across in my notes is just how funny he was. My very favorite thing he said was telling us about a beginning to The Book Thief that did not work. It was far too creepy-stalkerish. It began with Death saying: "This is the story of a young girl. Do you like young girls? I do. Then again, I like everyone."

Anyway, how was your March? Did anything fun and interesting happy for you?