February First was the day where I finally went to the event called ‘Let’s Hear it for the Girls!’ - an occasion where Foyles invited anyone who was interested to meet the authors of ‘pink books’, or in other words, books which are written exclusively written for girls. Ever since I had heard of the event the month before, I looked through the calendar until the day came. I had always wanted to meet an author because every time I read a book, I would always wonder where they got their ideas. ‘Let’s Hear it for the Girls!’ was the event where I could finally fulfill the wish.

The best part of the event was that I actually read some of the books of the authors who were coming to Foyles. The authors included Cathy Hopkins, who wrote the Mates, Dates Series, a sequence of books that I liked a lot and Johnny Zucker, whose book Venus Spring was a book that I read from a library a few years ago and highly enjoyed. I also felt it was the perfect timing because I was in the middle of my Personal Project (I was writing a novella) and had been rather stuck halfway through. The event meant that I could ask for advice from experienced authors who knew exactly what they were doing.

When the day of February First came, the mixture of excitement and nervousness reached its utmost point. I was excited because I was finally fulfilling one of life’s goals and slightly anxious because these are highly talented people who I was meeting. What would they think of my questions on writing? It is a silly thought I now realize but surely, the thought has hit everyone at one point! When the last lesson ended, I immediately went to the library where the people in the Book Club (which I am a part of) and the Creative Writer’s Club were meeting. When everyone who was going was present, we all went to Starbucks for a short discussion before we actually went to the event.

It was a small group and we all talked about the Cathy Hopkins books, what are favorite books are and what questions we would ask. This was helpful because admittedly I was a little unprepared.

After the discussion, we went to Foyles where the event was taking place. The entire group was looking forward to going to the event after a month of waiting and as we went up, there was a sense of apprehension of what was going to happen next. When we reached the floor, we saw that we were among the first person to come up. There were rows of seats and on each seat was a bag. We went straight to the first row and each took a bag. I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw in each bag was the new Cathy Hopkins book Cinnamon Girl, (a month before the official publication!), a book catalogue and a poster. As soon as everything was sorted out and everyone who was coming had arrived and sat down, the authors came into the room!

After a few notices were read, all the authors read their extracts from their new books. Some were humorous, some were serious and all were outstanding! After the extracts were read, the publisher who arranged the organization all together, Brenda Gardner, asked three questions of each author. They included inspirations, favorite books and when they started to write and why. The interesting part was that all the authors had the same sources for their inspirations! Some inspirations were from eavesdropping, others were from their own families and some were from friends.

Afterwards, it was the audience’s turn to ask. I was the first one to ask the questions. I asked if they had any advice for writing a fictional book (in this case, my personal project). They said to keep all rough drafts to refer back to, enjoy writing (otherwise there is no point), ask others to read the drafts and most important of all- never give up! After my question, there were several others. I think the most interesting question was the one about which book each author wished he or she had written because the answers were all very different from each other.

After all the questions were asked, everyone was allowed to buy books, meet the authors and receive signatures. I bought two books and I was able to get signatures from Cathy Hopkins and Johnny Zucker! Both of them were very nice people. I also met with Brenda Garder who said she would look at my personal project! When the event was over, everyone agreed that they had a great time there. I had an outstanding time and I will carry the memories of the event.