Confessions of a Hopeless Fangirl

My name is Jackson Pearce, and I am a fangirl.

Not just the kind of fangirl who says “Ooo, I love those books!” I’m a midnight-release-party-going, fanpage-visiting, squeal-because-a-new-book-just-released fangirl.

I know of at least one author who has gotten in trouble for this. She blogged along the lines of “omg FAMOUS AUTHOR X knows my name!” and someone from her publishing house gave her the internet version of a sweet smile, then said “You’re a real author now. That means no more gushing. It looks unprofessional.”

And maybe it does. Maybe I’m not supposed to jump up and down over the people who, essentially, are my colleagues. It probably isn’t professional to make shirts out of book covers and proudly wear them to the bookstore (although I think my Mrs. Potter shirt I wore to the final Harry Potter release was pretty fantastic anyway).

But I can’t help it, professional or not. I get excited about books, and I get excited about the authors behind those books. I’m excited to see people line up at midnight to read. Excited to know that me and thousands of other people around the world, people whom I’ve never met, have common ground in our love for a book. How awesome is that I could travel across the country, drop into a strange town, and probably easily find someone who also stayed up all night to read MOCKINGJAY in full? (Which, by the way, WAS IT NOT AWESOME? Say it was awesome. You know it was.)

If anything, I’ve only become a more pronounced fangirl since being published, because I understand the months of writing, revising, the soul crushing need to delete favorite scenes, the seemingly endless revisions letters. I’m eager to support the author hardcore, because I get what she went through. How relieved she is to see the book on shelves, finally. How can I not get fangirly over someone accomplishing what I am always trying to accomplish with each new novel (a great book)?

So yes, I am a fangirl. I will squeal right along beside you over books I adore, and professional or not, I’m pretty proud of it. I like being giddy over stories, being delighted over the product of an industry I’ve worked so hard to be a part of. But mostly, I just really, really, really like awesome books.

Fangirls, unite!

-Jackson Pearce