People warn you to never meet your idols because you will be disappointed – whether they are rude and unkind, or you have too high expectations of them – well I am here to prove that statement wrong.
From a young girl, I was obsessed with reading, I always had my nose in a book, and I would think I was sneaky when staying up late past my bedtime to read (my parents were one hundred percent aware I was awake). I would love school-book fairs, buying secondhand books and seeing all the tiny doodles or drawings on the pages which I thought added character. I remember buying “Glubbslyme” by Jaqueline Wilson at a school-book fair one year and since reading it, I was obsessed with her. Any book she released I would beg to have it and no matter how many pages, whether it was 200 or 2000, it would be read within the day. I was so inspired by her books; I wanted to be an author one day and I would write down little stories in my notebook. I even wrote to her at 8 years old. I remember being so obsessive about the neat handwriting as well as grammar and punctuation and what I was saying: I wrote it at least 5 times before I thought it was good enough to be sent to her (I had to make an impression). I never expected to receive a reply, after all she must receive hundreds, if not thousands of letters a day and on top of writing stories – she is a remarkably busy woman I doubted she would ever have the time to reply to insignificant, little eight-year-old me! When I received an envelope addressed with my name on in the post, I was gob smacked; I had never received post before and it made me feel so special. I was so careful in opening the envelope in the fear I would damage the contents. When I realized it was a postcard off Jaqueline Wilson I cried, I was so happy and felt so significant. She knew who I was, and I was going to cherish her reply and keep it safe till the day I die.
Ten years later, after getting job at a small bookshop in Stockton Highstreet I had the opportunity to meet Jaqueline Wilson in the flesh! I couldn’t believe it; I was finally meeting my idol and my inner child was in pure shock. I felt sick the whole day before and I barely slept at all. What if I made myself look stupid? What if she didn’t like me? What do I say to her? How do I greet her? There were so many questions racing through my head at one million miles per hour I thought my brain would explode.
When I finally met her in the lobby of the Arc in Stockton for her tour to promote her new book “Project Fairy,” all my anxiety washed away. I remember the way she smiled at me and said, “Its lovely to meet you, Eve!” She was just a normal person having a perfectly normal conversation with perfectly normal me, but she was still this extraordinary woman who I adored so much. We were led backstage to relax before the show and so Jaqueline could sign some books. We talked about her life and her books and where she was touring next. We also talked about her two dogs: Jackson, who is an eight-year-old terrier and Molly, who is an eight-month Cavapoo who she cannot get cross with because she is so adorable. I felt like I was an old friend, catching up with her over a coffee.
During the talk Jaqueline stated she “knew from age six” she wanted to be a writer and had an obsession with stationery. It reminded me how I would beg my mam to buy the prettiest notebooks I would see. I would never write in them, however, I always thought they were too nice to be tainted with my writing. She also stated how she always “dreamed of getting a study” but now she hardly uses it because she finds she writes better when tucked away in bed where she can slide into her own imaginary world and let the words flow onto the page while the real world drifts away.
After the talk, I had the privilege of getting her new book, “Project Fairy” personally signed as well as showing her the post card she sent me all those years ago as a reply to my letter. I am so glad I got a photo taken with her, because I would have convinced myself it was all a dream. But it was very, very real.
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