Maggie, Maggie, Maggie

Last Saturday was a great day. Joanna and I met up in Austin to go to the Texas Book Festival. We went to "A Conversation With Maggie Stiefvater and Maureen Johnson," authors. Their writing is classified as young adult, but this old gal has enjoyed reading Maggie's books.

Joanna and I enjoyed the conversation and then went to their book signing. Joanna took a photo of Maggie and me.

I was excited to finally meet Maggie. I first met Maggie on-line, probably on wetcanvas.com. She was painting with pastels, mostly horses. I began following her blog. This was several years ago.

We bought books of course.   I bought "The Raven Boys" for a Christmas present (can't say for who) and she drew a little raven in it as a tribute of me knowing her when she was a painter. Cool!  I also bought Maureen's book, "The Name of the Star, Shades of London", which has the ghost of Jack the Ripper show up. Sounds good to me. It is for my Christmas stocking, if I can wait.  Maggie's books are fantasy which is not my favorite genre.  However, her writing is excellent and keeps you turning the pages. Gene and I listened to "Shiver" a while back on one of our trips and he enjoyed it, too.  (I won that audio book on her blog, she often has give away items!)

Maggie inspired and encouraged many artists on her journey in painting. Her dedication and ability to organize and focus is amazing. Her art blog is filled with "how tos" and instruction. She wrote about how she manages her time. She has two children and back then they were toddlers and her husband was a policeman. Not easy to fit in a full time art career. Maggie wrote excellent posts, kicking our butts for being procrastinators.

I urge you to visit Maggie's old art blog,  and discover this super artist.  Plan to spend some time and search the archives for time management, butt kicking, and inspiration.  She researched so much and explained the process she used with samples.  You will learn a lot.

Greywaren Art, Maggie Stiefvater Author and Artist

If instead, you are an aspirining writer, she now has a couple of blogs to help you out in that field. Her books have been on the best seller list for a few years. That doesn't stop her from sharing her creative expertise and encouraging all of us. Links to her blog for writing and more there.

Maggie Stiefvater

I didn't mention that she is a car nut and very funny. She plays the bag pipes and harp, composes music and more. She is only about 30. You can easily find your smile for the day visiting with Maggie. Oh, and learn a lot!!

Thanks, Maggie, for continuing to inspire! And thanks, Joanna, for sharing the day.