Meeting Morgan Matson!

I always get super excited when book events happen near me, because it really doesn't happen that often! Sure, most people who go anywhere near the West Coast stop in LA, but I'm really not all that close to LA and, as I'll repeat as often as I need to, LA traffic is the worst ever and it's absolutely soul-sucking. (Of course, I could justify it if I were driving myself, but guess who doesn't have a car or the ability to drive that far on a freeway.)

Anyway, that was all a very roundabout way of saying that when I found out that Morgan Matson - yes, the Morgan Matson - was doing an event for SAVE THE DATE in Orange County, I screamed. And died, and then came back to life in order to go to the event. I also told Sky @ Sky's Reading Corner about it, and she went through the same scream-die-resurrection process.

There was a slight drawback in that this event just happened yesterday and I had to buy the book at the event, meaning that for the past two weeks, one of my most anticipated releases was taunting me because I literally could not read it unless I wanted multiple copies. (Which wouldn't be bad, except my wallet would cry.) It was totally worth it, though.

Here's a recap of the event - & huge thanks to the Huntington Beach Barnes & Noble for hosting the event and to Morgan Matson for being there!

• Getting to the store was an event in and of itself. The traffic in the parking lot was ridiculous. Even if I wasn't running a little late that would have doomed me. Cut to me running to the Barnes & Noble and power-walking up the escalator. Major shout-out to Sky for saving me a seat and a doughnut (yes, this event came with doughnuts!!!) and grabbing my copy ahead of time.
• Fortunately the event hadn't started when I got there, so I got to recover from my mad dash to the store.
• But then Morgan Matson was there! With her signature Starbucks drink, which I've just learned she has the recipe for highlighted on her Instagram.
• She started off by talking a bit about the book. Some things that stuck with me:
• The idea of writing about a big family came out of THE UNEXPECTED EVERYTHING, in which one of the main character's friends, Palmer, is the youngest of five siblings. She kept throwing in random anecdotes about Palmer's older siblings, and her editor said something along the lines of "You said that we're never going to meet these people, and that the stories have no relevance to the plot. We need to cut some of these."
• She wanted to challenge herself by writing in the constructs of a timeframe that wasn't an entire summer, like most of her books are. That's why SAVE THE DATE takes place over three days: the long weekend of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. It was originally four, with Thursday added in, but that was cut because....
• The first couple of drafts of this book were around 700 pages long! The first draft, with four days, was around 680 pages, and then when she cut out Thursday to make it shorter, she somehow ended up with a 710-page draft. (Personally, I would absolutely read a 700-page Morgan Matson book, but I can understand the need to cut it down.)
•  Charlie is the oldest protagonist of any of Morgan's books. This book takes place the summer after high school, and since Charlie doesn't like change very much, she's not very excited about heading off to college. Morgan said she took from her own life. There are so many characters out there who see college as something to look forward to, but Morgan wanted to write something that more accurately reflected her own experience.

 

• Then she read a passage from the book that was about 70 pages in. She chose this one because this book has so many characters that there needs to be a guide to them in the front of the book "like it's a Russian novel or something." It's apparently difficult to find a scene that doesn't have around twelve characters. This scene, however, centers around two characters, with brief appearances by two more. I won't say much about it in case you really don't want spoilers, but it had to do with picking up wedding decorations and it was so good. It somehow made me even more excited to read the book, which I didn't think was possible.
• Then she talked about the book some more, but I honestly don't remember what she said before the reading break and what she said after, so I just put it all in the first chunk.
• Then questions! There were some really great questions, but too many to write down absolutely everything. Here are some highlights:
•  Someone asked about when Morgan knew she wanted to be a writer, and she said she didn't really discover the literary world until halfway through college. She'd just gotten fired from a hostessing job at a restaurant after two days (I think?) and instead of looking for a new job right away, she read all four Harry Potter books, since there were only four available at the time. Then, her friend helped her get a job at a bookstore. In the interview, they asked where she'd like to be placed, and she said that she just wanted to talk about Harry Potter all day every day, so they put her in the children's department. That's how she discovered YA.
• This led to some other Harry Potter questions. Morgan's favorite Harry Potter book is HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, possibly because she has such good memories of going to the midnight release and trading theories with her brother as they both read it. She also really loves GOBLET OF FIRE and ORDER OF THE PHOENIX. Her favorite Harry Potter movie is PRISONER OF AZKABAN. I am now kicking myself for not asking what her Hogwarts house is.
• Someone asked whether Morgan would ever consider writing in a genre other than contemporary. She said that she really likes to go to the places her books are set as research when writing them, which is less doable for other genres. For example, she said that she couldn't envision writing sci-fi because she feels like she'd never really be able to envision a spaceship properly. Based on the short sections of fantasy in THE UNEXPECTED EVERYTHING, she briefly considered writing fantasy, until someone pointed out that she'd managed to write the most contemporary fantasy ever, since it was mostly people sitting around talking. (Which, again, I would 100% read a Morgan Matson fantasy book with mostly people sitting and talking.)
• I asked whether anything in this book inspired future projects, like Palmer's siblings in THE UNEXPECTED EVERYTHING inspired Charlie's big family. She said no, but that she might come back to some minor details later. For example, the title of the fantasy book in THE UNEXPECTED EVERYTHING came from a section of SINCE YOU'VE BEEN GONE in which a character was reading a fantasy book! So even if there are no concrete plans right now, there might be unintentional future Easter eggs.

• Then it was signing time! And also "please eat more doughnuts" time, which I really never need more encouragement for. This time around I found a red velvet doughnut, which was to die for.
• AND WE MET MORGAN MATSON. I'm still just "!!!!!!!!" internally. I think that bled over to externally, because I was too awkward and excited to really say anything. She told me that she loves my name because of The Nutcracker (I also love the Nutcracker!) and we talked about that for a little while.

 

• And then I spent too much money on books, but it was worth it.
• Also: STICKERS!!!

 

Morgan Matson is a New York Times bestselling author of Save the Date, The Unexpected Everything, Since You've Been Gone, Amy & Roger's Epic Detour, and Second Chance Summer, which was the winner of the California State Book Award. She received her MFA in writing for children from the New School. She lives in Los Angeles. Visit her at MorganMatson.com.

Charlie Grant’s older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home, and Charlie can’t wait—for the first time in years, all four of her older siblings will be under one roof. Charlie is desperate for one last perfect weekend, before the house is sold and everything changes. The house will be filled with jokes and games and laughs again. Making decisions about things like what college to attend and reuniting with longstanding crush Jesse Foster—all that can wait. She wants to focus on making the weekend perfect.

The only problem? The weekend is shaping up to be an absolute disaster. There’s the unexpected dog with a penchant for howling, house alarm that won’t stop going off, and a papergirl with a grudge. There are the relatives who aren’t speaking, the (awful) girl her favorite brother brought home unannounced, and a missing tuxedo. Not to mention the neighbor who seems to be bent on sabotage and a storm that is bent on drenching everything. The justice of the peace is missing. The band will only play covers. The guests are all crazy. And the wedding planner’s nephew is unexpectedly, distractingly…cute.

Over the course of three ridiculously chaotic days, Charlie will learn more than she ever expected about the family she thought she knew by heart. And she’ll realize that sometimes, trying to keep everything like it was in the past means missing out on the future.