Nerd Alert - This blog post makes me look like a total book nerd and I don’t care.

One of the cool things about working on a site like this is the people I get to meet. In the real world, my passion for books, well, it’s not always understood, you know? My grandma used to tell me that if I kept reading so much, I was sure to go blind. I have answered to the nickname “bookworm”. Nowadays, I get weird looks from the other moms at Tae Kwon Do because I always seem to my nose buried in a “kid” book – and enjoying it.

However, since I have been introduced to the bliss that is social networking through StorySnoops, I have found many like-minded souls. There are book bloggers, dads who champion literacy, and librarian tweeters (actually, they are called “tweeps”). It’s a book-world bonanza out there!

It’s my safe place where I can never be a nerd, or at least, I am comforted by the fact that I have found people far nerdier than I am – in the best way possible. On Twitter, I can exclaim my love for the latest Laurie Halse Anderson book and immediately get validation: “I hear that!” and “You know it, sister”. Many times, I have heard from the authors themselves. When I tweeted about the ornaments my book club exchanged based on Matthew Quick’s novel Sorta Like A Rock Star, he tweeted me asking to see pictures. I was excited to share the pictures and he was happy to see how we represented parts of his story with ornaments. It was a full geek-fest, enjoyed by all.

I have had moments of being an awestruck schoolgirl when we have heard from authors we know, and in some cases, have been fans for years. Meg Cabot is one of those ladies who is more generous, down to earth, and just more hilarious than you could imagine. Her tell-it-like-it-is-blog always makes me laugh. I can speak for all four Snoops and say we adore this new gal pal, and can’t wait to get to finally meet her, have drinks, and talk shoes (and books, of course!).

But the highlight of this whole literary adventure for me has been, hands down, receiving an email from the REAL. LIVE. JUDY. BLUME. in my email box. I’m embarrassed to tell you that it took me ten minutes just to open her email. I was THAT excited. I may have even shed a happy tear, but I’m not confirming that. I will admit to running around the house screaming and trying to make my family understand the magnitude of the moment. She had agreed to let us interview her for our Banned Books Week series. I tried to restrain myself and reel it in a bit, but I am grateful to have had the opportunity to tell her what an influence her books have had on my life. I’ll spare you the details but I didn’t spare Judy. I guess I didn’t scare her away because she STILL let us interview her. Easily – one of the high points of my life. (I TOLD you this post would make me look like a nerd!)

Souls can come together and share their passions. It’s a lot like the morals to the stories I read for the site. Being true to yourself, and finding people who share your passions – it’s a healthy, great, and satisfying thing.

-Shannon, StorySnoop

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 at 9:06 AM and is filed under Shannon - StorySnoop. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.