Greetings, Minions! Before I get into my recent adventures, I wanted to put a few concerns and questions of my well-being to rest. You may have heard that, recently, tornadoes have ravaged our country (my thoughts are with everyone in the country who’s dealing with the aftermath at present). Last week, a few of these nasty lil things tore through Saint Louis. An E3 ripped off the roof of our airport and an E4 chewed through a town called Bridgeton. I live in Bridgeton. In fact, about a block from my house, the devastation begins. I’m counting my blessings that my family and home and kittehs are okay, but, as you can imagine, it’s been a real blow to the community. BUT I AM OKAY. Thank you so much for the messages, but your Auntie Heather is just fine. In fact, I wasn’t even here when it happened. I was supposed to fly back from New York the day after the tornado hit, but ended up heading to Chicago instead. So thank you, Minions, for all of your concern. It touches me deeply that you worry about your Auntie, but I’m right as rain. But please, send your thoughts, hope, crossed fingers, assistance, and funds to those who are truly in need at this time. Many have died due to these storms, and it’s not yet May (which is typically tornado month).

Now that that’s out of the way, it’s ADVENTURE TIME!!! So before the tornado craziness, I took a drive out to Osage Beach, Missouri, to the MASL Spring Conference. It was amazing! (Jay Asher does a great job describing it here) I was there, of course, to accept the Truman Readers Award! I met some amazing people (even a Minion that crashed the event) and, of course, got to hang out with the Truman Committee.

I have no idea why most of us look like zombies. No, seriously. O_O

The student who introduced me was a Minion! She was so awesome. Her name is Shea Dalton, and she’s an eighth-grader. Way braver than me to get up in front of a crowd of 1000 librarians at that age.

Shea is in the 8th grade. And taller than me.

I loved, loved accepting my award, but loved the inscription so much more. It reads, at one point, “chosen by the children of Missouri”. Thank you, Minions. This one’s (as they all are) for you.

The day after I was presented with the TRA, I hurried home, and the following day, hopped on a plane to New York, where I had meetings with my Penguins and agent, and hung out with friends. All of that was fabulous, but it still all pales in comparison to seeing the next to last show of American Idiot on Broadway, featuring Billie Joe Armstrong as St. Jimmy. Billie Joe and I go way back (all the way back to Dookie), and so of course, when he saw me, he immediately was drawn to my undeniable charm and charisma. And we totally made out.

Okay…so not really. But here’s how the conversation went in my head:

BJA: Oh…my…Vlad! It’s Auntie Heather! My kids love your books!

AH: …….Wanna make out?

BJA: …….Totally.

It was EPIC! And now, I’m hard at work on BLOODBOUND, and the second SLAYER CHRONICLES book (that title is super secret), until I head out to Jefferson City, Missouri in a few weeks for Capital Kids Read! Woooo!!! Life is teh awesome, Minions. Life is teh awesome.

How’s my Horde?