June 16, 2010

How I met your moth...ahem...Lara Adrian

Okay so here I am now trying to think of how to start. *ponders* Perhaps the beginning would be best?
I was born 25 years...sorry just kidding. Man I need more coffee. LOL

So on Monday was the BIG day for me. I was so nervous on Sunday and I tell you sleep was  nothing that came easily to me. I lay awake in bed with BF and we told us "important" things about vuvuzelas just so I could pretend that I'm not unable to sleep cuz of meeting an author the next day. But after hours of senseless discussions I found a bit of sleep that night but I was wide awake at 7AM or perhaps a bit earlier. I tried to be cool and took everything real slow but all in all I was late when I had to leave the apartment just to be too early at the train station. Don't ask me how that works but it does with me- go figure. I met another of the lucky winners there and together we took the 2 hour long train ride to Berlin.

We planned to read and listen to music the whole time but in real we sat there and talked about books and books and surprisingly more books. It was so good to finally find someone who shares my love for these novels in real life and luckily our humor fit so no one started to cry.

After the 2 hour book talk we finally arrived in Berlin and met with the third girl in our small fangirl group. We all clicked really fast and I'm so happy I met these 2 girls on twitter. We tried to find the meeting point for the boat trip and started walking. You could see and hear the group we were looking for really fast and everyone was really nice from the start. We got a pretty bag full of goodies with an audiobook(I got Jäger der Nacht (Visions of Heat) by Nalini Singh), the new book Gezeichnete des Schicksals (Shades of Midnight), a pen and the LoveLetter Magazine.

First thing we did was a group picture with Lara Adrian and all the winners from the audible.de giveaway. So that was my fist contact with an author and she knew who i was. *fangirl scream* I said:" Hi, I'm Susi. Nice to meet you." and she asked "Susi_Sunshine from twitter?" Isn't that awesome? I think I love Lara just for that alone. LOL So the photographer (later referred to as the Stalker) made a  million more pictures and the first hors d'oeuvre were served. We made a big picture of all the 20 winners and the team who organized it and directly went to our small little boat to start our 2,5 hours trip on the Spree.

We had a, lets call it enthusiastic tour guide and we could ask Lara everything we want. So as you can imagine that went rather slow at the beginning. Everyone was a bit awed and not many dared to do it. I think most of them didn''t speak much English which made the whole thing more complicated for them. But we tried to ask as much as we could think of. Although you couldn't ask much about the story cuz not many read the new book already cuz it was released in Germany on Monday and went directly to place 3 on the Spiegel Bestseller list. *woot* Congrats for that Lara!!!

Lara's husband John was there too and he was such a sweetheart. He asked which hero we liked most and he nearly made no mistake with naming them all. *g*
Okay here a few things I learned on the boat trip:

- Lara told us that she will write a total of 10 books in the Midnight Breed series and it will end with a big change in her world. After that she plans to write some spin-off books set in this "new" world and her old characters might get a reappearance in those.

- I thought it was really interesting to find out what a plotter Lara is. She spends most of her time plotting the whole book through- she knows what will happen in each chapter and when she is finished with that she starts to write like a maniac. Sometimes more than 16 hours a day. O_o My hands would fall of.

- Lara Adrian is not her real name but Tina St. John isn't either.

- Lara is half German and the last time she was in Berlin she was 7 years old.

- She's been happily married to John for 24 years now and says it feel more like 1 year.

- John helps her plot her books from time to time and there are times when they talk about it at the breakfast table.

So we had a nice chat, drank coffee, tried to ignore the Stalker snapping pictures the whole time and listened to what Lara had to say.

Surely the time was over fast and we drove to the next part of the day- BBQ on a roof-deck of audible.de. That was so awesome. We were welcomed with a bit of sparkling wine and yummy food and got the time to chat a bit more. We also took a tour through the building and it was so interesting to see how they make the audio-books. Fascinating how much work that is and to hear how many ppl are actually involved in this process. I also saw a German actor, Helmut Kraus, who you won't know but everyone here does. He was recording an audio-book at the moment and I was thrilled to see him. He's the neighbor of Peter Lustig in a German tv show for kids and it was a childhood dream come true, kind of. LOL

So after everyone was done with eating Irina von Bentheim, the German voice of Carrie Bradshaw, started a short Q&A with Lara and Simon Jäger who's reading her books in the German Audiobooks. He's also the voice of Josh Hartnett and Heath Ledger. *swoon* I have to say he is rather funny and I had to laugh out loud more than ones. Especially when he was asked how it is to read the more erotic parts of Lara's books. And I swear you could see a small blush. I thought that Mrs. von Bentheim wasn't the best choice to translate what Lara said but luckily I understood everything in English and  I didn't need her translations.

Around 8 PM we started to go to the Quatsch Comedy Club where the actual reading took place. We all took a  seat in this nice little theatre and listened to Lara and Simon reading from Shades of Midnight. Lara's voice was a bit strained but I loved every second of it. Simon is soooo good I tell you. I think I need the German audiobooks just to listen to his voice. Very HOT!! We had to leave relative quick after to get the last train but I will never forget this day.

I wanted to thank audible.de, Egmont-Lyx, LoveLetter Magazin and LovelyBooks who made this day possible. You are the bestest ever.

And tomorrow I will have a small surprise I brought home from the signing so stay tuned. =)

28 comments:

Patti (@TheLoveJunkee) June 16, 2010 at 3:45 PM  

That sounds like so much fun, and Yay - she knew who you were! Thanks for sharing and the pics!

MrsMixx June 16, 2010 at 4:25 PM  

I'm so happy you had fun hon!! And YAY on her recognizing you *g*

Lol poor Simon Jäger!!! It must have been fun to make him blush!

SusiSunshine June 16, 2010 at 4:37 PM  

@Patti Yep that was kind of great. Anytime. =)

@pattepoilue Yep we were all like awwwwwwww poor Simon. LOL

Unknown June 16, 2010 at 4:40 PM  

Hi, yes we had a great time having you with us on our roof terasse. Next time your in berlin, let us know and come by for coffee.
Best Jennifer

Leontine June 16, 2010 at 4:57 PM  

You had an awesome day hon, one I think you'll remember for a looooong time and hey, you can say; I met Lara Adrian *thud* Thanks for the great recap, I enjoyed reading it!!

Blodeuedd June 16, 2010 at 8:08 PM  

Jealous over here, and *fangirl squee* she knew your name from twitter. Way cool!

What a great day, and gotta love swag!!!

Julia Barrett June 16, 2010 at 9:17 PM  

How fun! What an amazing opportunity and she seems so humble and approachable! Nice, Susi!

SusiSunshine June 17, 2010 at 10:17 AM  

@Jeniffer It was a blast. And be sure I will come over for coffee.

@Leontine Oh will remember it for a long time.

@Blodeuedd Isn't it. I was so thrilled. LOL See twitter is good for something after all.

@Julia She really is great. Easy to talk to and I think perhaps she was as nervous as we were. After all it was her first book tour.

Maija June 17, 2010 at 10:57 AM  

It was wonderful to read about your adventure! I'm a bit behind with my Adrian books, I should go and buy the latest two... It is a very nice series indeed! Glad you got to meet her :)

Christine June 17, 2010 at 2:05 PM  

HOW COULD I HAVE NOT KNOWN ABOUT THIS???
I guess I´m really jealous right now.
Souds so great. Nor that I´m a fangirl or anything! *cough*
Greetings from a fellow German blogger!

SusiSunshine June 17, 2010 at 4:04 PM  

@Maija I was one book behind too and started it in a frenzy to finish it before Monday. There are always too many books and not enough time in my life.

@Tine HEy nice to meet you. I think Lara is in Nürnberg tomorrow for another signing. The dates are here: http://www.egmont-lyx.de/shop_content.php/coID/1185

Janna June 17, 2010 at 7:37 PM  

Wow, Susi! Great recap. I loved reading it! Lara Adrian seems so nice and how lucky were you to meet her! I think it's wonderful that she recognized you. I'm happy for you. :)

SiNn June 18, 2010 at 12:22 AM  

sounds like you had a blast lucky for u u got to go awesome recap was a awesome post. I agree it was awesome she recognized you

Lea June 18, 2010 at 2:39 AM  

Oh Susi:

What an amazing experience. The fact you got to spend so much time with Lara Adrian is wonderful. The fact she plots and then writes for 16 hours a day is, yeah, my hands and arms would be falling off.

How great she new who you were from Twitter too.

A special memory for sure Susi! Glad you got lots of pictures to share with us.

Thank you

SusiSunshine June 18, 2010 at 10:18 AM  

@Janna She really is wonderful. Thanks hon.

@SiNn Thanks hon and yes I was really lucky.

@Lea I can't imagine how someone can sit down so long and type. Ouchie! LOL It really was special. Thanks for coming over. ((hugs))

imeldaconoy June 18, 2010 at 1:09 PM  

yay - great review of the day. man it was such a blast - still can't believe, that we met her.

and lol - first thing i told my mum about you in the evening when i came home "we have the same kind of humour - so luckily no probs there". *gg*

hopefully we get lots of coffee together from now on.

hugs,
gesine

SusiSunshine June 18, 2010 at 4:15 PM  

@Gesine LMAO Really? That was the first thing I told BF that night. And can't wait for the coffee and the next trip to Berlin. ;)

Andrea I June 19, 2010 at 12:25 AM  

Thanks for sharing your wonderful day. I'm happy that you won the day with Lara.

katsrus June 19, 2010 at 4:32 AM  

Sounds like great fun. We never have any authors come around here. Sure wish they would. Would be fun to meet some.
Sue B

SusiSunshine June 19, 2010 at 11:32 AM  

@Andrea Anytime and me too. ;)

@katsrus Where are you? IIt wa sthe first time I heard of an author I like to come to Germany. I think for most American authors it'S just too expensive to come here or the German publish just doesn't invite them. But ones we got lucky. ;)

Christa Paige June 19, 2010 at 5:14 PM  

So what stuck out for me in this recap? The Tina St. John, part, 'cause suddenly I was wondering if Lara Adrian wrote under another name and if so, why hadn't I know that, and why don't I have any of those books?

The rest, wow, you are so lucky! As an up and coming, just pulling myself through the publishing door by the tip of my nails, in the paranormal genre, author, Lara Adrian is at the top of my Authorial Idol list. But, since I didn't get to meet her, I will bask in your, uh, afterglow. I promise not to shoot an envious glower your way.
Sounds like you had a blast.
Christa

SusiSunshine June 19, 2010 at 8:02 PM  

@Christa I have to admit I was a bit taken aback by that, too. Gesine, the girl who went with me, told me on the train and I was why didn't I now this? And let me tell you I felt like I was the only one that didn't know. One also has a Tina St. John book for her to sign. I wish you all the best of luck with your books. You can make it, you just have to believe in it.

Ina June 19, 2010 at 8:28 PM  

Hi Susi!
thanks so much far sharing your wonderful day with us!!! [ich bin ja sowas von neidisch] and your photo with Lara looks great!!! but I'm curious, do you know here real name? will you share it? please?
greetings, Ina

SusiSunshine June 19, 2010 at 8:43 PM  

@Ina I'm not sure if I should but her first name is Tina and her last name is German. That's all you will get. Sorry. II don't want to get in trouble. LOL And the photo is meh but you know how it is with pics of yourself. LOL And I could so slap myself for not making that pic with the real camera. It's made with my cellphone and that totally sucks. But too late now.

Ina June 19, 2010 at 9:33 PM  

Hi Susi!
nein, du musst ja keine Geheimnisse verraten, ich hatte das nur so verstanden das weder Lara noch Tina ihr richtiger Name wären und da war ich einfach neugierig ;)
*seufz* ja ich kenn das mit den Bildern von einem selbst, trotzdem find ich die Qualität ganz gut (mit meinem bekomm ich nicht mal das hin -.-) und überhaupt ist der Inhalt wichtig und nicht die Auflösung (oder was auch immer *g*)
wünsch dir noch nen schönen Abend :)
Ina

SusiSunshine June 19, 2010 at 9:44 PM  

@Ina Nee nur das St. John ist falsch. Ich denke mal, dass das ne Liebesbotschaft an ihren Mann ist. Aber das ist nur so ne Vermutung meinerseits. Ich hoff ja immer noch vielleicht an ein Paar Fotos von dem Fotografen zu kommen. Der hat uns den ganzen Tag lang geknippst. Mal sehen.
Dir auch nen schönen Abend. Ich mach jetzt ne Flasche auf. =) lg

skyla11377 June 20, 2010 at 3:26 AM  

What An Incredible Opportunity You Had. The Things You Got To Experience With Lara Were One Of A Kind. Thanks For Sharing The Experience With Us.

Tanya1224 June 24, 2010 at 11:06 PM  

So excited for you! That sounded like an awesome time...love Lara. She is so sweet at her replies on twitter...its amazing that she has time to answer everyone. I'm glad you got to meet her *sighs* I would love to meet her too. Thanks for sharing and the wonderful pics =)

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