Dying to Meet You

I’m dying to meet you. Honestly. And we finally have a rare opportunity for a face-to-face intimate exchange. All you have to do is come to the Barnes and Noble in Calabasas on May 2^nd, sometime between 1:00-3:00. Truth is, and please keep this between just you and me… I’ll die if no one shows up to my author event. Okay, yes, I know my family and dear friends will come. I’m so grateful for their support and it will be incredibly comforting to have them there. But I also hope to meet YOU for the first time.

You may be someone who has read one or both of my books. I’m dying to meet you because I want to hear all about what you loved and or hated about it/them and why. I have so much to learn from you.

You may be the person who spotted a flyer for the event at a local business. I’m dying to meet you because I’d love to know what captured your attention and made you want to show up. I don’t believe anything happens by accident.

You may be a fellow book lover who’s craving a juicy new read and want the chance to hear straight from the author what her books are about, why she wrote them, and who they tend to appeal to. I want to answer questions that challenge me.

Now please forgive the silliness of my dreaming big for a moment and let me indulge my fledgling inner optimist. Maybe you’re a news reporter of some kind. Maybe you stumbled upon my story and want to interview me. It may intrigue you to know that I am coming out from behind my pen name for this special occasion. You might find it interesting that I’ve been teaching at a local university for over twenty years. It may be more interesting, though, that I was compelled to write a series of books about a professor, wife, and mother who finds herself tortured by the temptation to escape into a passionate affair with a sexy, sweet former student who has a crush on her.

Whoever you are, wherever you are coming from, I am dying to meet you! I am a teacher, a mother, a wife, a friend, a daughter… a regular person who had the dream of becoming an author. I want to know all about you too! And I desperately want you to share my first author event experience with me, even if you’re only there for five minutes. I am a good listener and strive to always be friendly and welcoming. I promise I will do all I can to make you feel comfortable if you come to my event. Oh, and there’s a Starbucks in the store, so if you’re an addict like me, there’s another incentive.

If you just don’t feel you know me well enough to commit to stopping by my author signing event, I understand completely. And I can help with that. I have been blogging here for two and a half years and have revealed almost everything anyone could possibly want to know about me, and probably way more – about my work, my family, my hopes and fears, even how often my husband and I have sex. Yikes, what was I thinking that day? I’ll let you fish around the site for that one if you’re so inclined. But here are a few posts I’d recommend starting with if you want to meet me virtually before deciding whether to accept my invitation to connect with me in person.

This post, which I wrote for the release day of the original version my first book, Is This All There Is?, explains why I wrote my book for you: http://www.patriciamann.me/for-you/ I dug deep for this one, writing and rewriting it in a fit of panic on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night while my husband and sons slept in our hotel room on a family vacation.

Some people seem to think my life is perfect because I have a wonderful family, great friends, a rewarding job, and am passionate about my writing as well. I don’t take any of that for granted and could not be more grateful. But the reality is that I have blue days and blue periods more than I’d like. I struggle with happiness. It’s hard to admit that because most people see me as very positive and content with life. I want to be seen that way, so my private coping mechanism is to devour everything I can find to read about how to be a happier person. I am truly a self-help book junkie. If you can relate to any of this, you might want to check out my post about choosing happiness: http://www.patriciamann.me/choosing-happiness/

One of my favorite things to talk and write about is the experience of being a parent. And I’m just as interested in the feelings of people who don’t have kids as the perspectives of those who are fellow parents. It’s such a charged, complex issue fraught with conflicting emotions, challenges, and self-doubt. I tried to address all of that here in a post titled, To Be or Not To Be… A Parent: http://www.patriciamann.me/parenthood/

I’ll throw in a couple more, just for fun in case one or two of you has actually made it this far! You can see me on the Oprah show (as an audience member who got to ask a question, not a guest!) here: http://www.patriciamann.me/patricia-mann-on-oprah, read my thoughts about delicious kisses here: http://www.patriciamann.me/delicious-kisses, and check out my attempt to tackle the sticky issue of infidelity here: http://www.patriciamann.me/infidelity-happens/.

So, I’ll say it one more time, I’m DYING to meet you in Calabasas at the Barnes and Noble in the Commons, a beautiful shopping area with lots of great stores and restaurants. Big hugs, great conversation, signed books, and all sorts of other fun will be available for all, I promise!

Much love and gratitude for reading this and I look forward to meeting you on May 2!