Sean Astin and Me! (Sort Of)
My daughters recently went to a Comic Con where Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin was attending. I was jealous, given I’m also a huge LoTR fan. And, I’ve loved Sean Astin since I was a kid, complete with teen magazine pictures of him in my room.
When my youngest came home, she surprised me with a gift: Sean Astin’s autograph in my OWN book!! Last year, at a Supernatural Convention I used a copy of my newly published novel, Evangeline’s Heaven, to get the stars’ signatures. My daughter had rifled through my drawers to find my copy (I’ve forgiven her for her snooping :)) to bring with her.
Never, in my wildest dreams when I was 12, flipping through those teen magazines, admiring a young Sean Astin, did I think that decades later, he’d be meeting my daughters and signing his name in a published copy of my very own novel.
So besides confirming that I have the most awesome daughters, there’s also a message for writers: you simply never know where your writing path will lead. One actor’s signature in one copy of my book isn’t going to make me an instant bestseller, but it’s a fun reminder that we never know where our books will end up. Since I could never have predicted such a cascading series of events decades in the making, I realized the same applies to my writing. Instead of worrying about my path, I might as well hang on and enjoy the ride. 🙂