Those People Aren't My Family

You may or may not have read the fun piece by Strawberry Saroyan in the New York Times Magazine today. (If you haven't, and you'd like to, here's a link: Amanda Hocking, Storyseller.) I thought it was a very nice piece, and Strawberry was super cool to hang out with and talk to.

The interview was actually very serendipitous. An editor from the NY Times emailed me about doing a story on me sometime in February (after I posted the blog on the amazing William Fichtner, because he talked about Fichtner in the emails). Eventually, Strawberry called me, and we set up a time to meet. She just happened to pick March 24th, which just happened to be the day St. Martin's Press announced the book deal for the Watersong series. I had no idea those two events would occur on the same day, but they did.

The one bad thing about it is that both events happened on Eric's birthday (March 24th), which made me feel really guilty because I pretty much hijacked his birthday, since the day ended up being quite a few phone calls and press about the book deal. And I still feel bad about that. Sorry for stealing your birthday, Eric.

If you read the NY Times, you may have noticed the picture of me that accompanied it. In case you missed it, here's the pic:

(Side note: The guy who took the picture - Ben Innes - is the first person to photograph me using an actual camera that uses real film instead of digital. Also, he told me this great joke: What do you call a wharf next to a pier? A paradox. Get? Cause they're a pair of docks? Anyway. It's a great joke, and he was a nice guy.)

Anyway. Back to the picture. I don't know how many have you noticed something odd about the picture. But check out the picture frames in the picture:

Yep. Those people aren't my family. They are the pictures that came with the frame. In fact, two of the frames have the same picture, and two of them are upside down.

There's a reason for this. I put them up the day before the pictures were taken. Strawberry interviewed me way back in March, but Ben took the picture a few weeks ago, and I haven't lived in my house that long. So I hadn't finished putting things up and decorating.

But I knew people were coming to take the picture, and the music room is like the coolest looking room in the house, so I wanted to have it semi-finished. (The music room is where the picture was taken. It has a piano in it and a giant picture of the Beatles. Hence the name).

For some reason, I assumed that the frames wouldn't really be in the picture so you wouldn't be able to tell that there's random strangers in them. But then if the frames wouldn't really be in the picture, then why did I hang them? I don't know. I didn't really think it through, I guess.

Also - here's something my mom wanted me to clarify. Well, she didn't want me to clarify, but she was upset by it. In the article, it says this:

My mom doesn't think I'm better than anyone. She loves me a lot and thinks I'm neat, but she doesn't think anyone is better than anyone else. Honest. If she ever thought I was acting like I was better than anyone else or that I even thought it, she would smack me upside the head. Literally.

So. That's that.