Location: Provo, Utah
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| Maybe this picture, where we all look so pale, is where she first got the idea of vampires, ha! ha! |
One of my claims to fame is that I was roommates with Stephenie Meyer. (My other claim to fame is that my Uncle Pat works for Glenn Beck on the Glenn Beck radio show. You know Pat...he's on the Glenn Beck radio show. He's one of the two funny guys who always talks with Glenn on the show. If you look him up on Wikipedia it says he's Glenn Beck's best friend and that he introduced him to the LDS church. Oh....you only know Glenn Beck, forget all that then.)Yes, THE Stephenie Meyer who wrote the Twilight Series and The Host. I roomed with Stephenie the fall semester of my sophomore year at BYU. She was engaged to "Pancho" (that was her husband's nickname and what she called him all the time, so I can't remember his real name) that semester and got married in December. You might think that she wasn't around much because she was engaged, but she was. Her fianceé wasn't attending BYU that semester so we actually saw quite a bit of her. She was really kind and we all had a lot of fun together. Of course, I wasn't as close to her as my other two roommates who had roomed with her the previous two years and when she married, I lost touch with her. Back in the early 2000's my roommate Renae had told me that Stephenie had published a book. She may have even told me the name of the book, but because it hadn't reached the fame it currently has, I didn't take note and quickly forgot. I mean, I thought that was great that she published a book and had every intention of reading it, but never thought more about it after the initial conversation. During the next few years, I had so many friends that had read the Twilight series and told me I should read it, but, well vampires and teenage love really aren't my thing so I didn't. One day, in the fall of 2008, I had a telephone conversation with my close friend Elizabeth that went something like this:
Elizabeth: We just finished reading The host for book club. It was pretty good.
Me: Oh, who's the author? Maybe I'll read it.
Elizabeth: Stephenie Meyer.
Me: Oh, I wonder if that's my old roommate from BYU. One of my other roommates told me she had published a book. I bet you that is her.
Elizabeth: What? Your roommate was Stephenie Meyer?
Me: Yeah. If it's the Stephenie I'm thinking of.
Elizabeth: Do you know that she also wrote the Twilight Series?
Me: Oh, maybe that's not her then. I'm sure I would know that if it was her.
By the end of the conversation I had decided to 1. see if it really was Stephenie that had written these books and 2. if it was Stephanie, actually read the books. Sure enough, a quick search on the internet verified that it was indeed the Stephenie I had roomed with back in 1994. I have a video she produced for me when I asked the boy I liked to preference. Do you think it's worth anything? Ha, ha...that's a joke, the video part is real though. The sad thing about all this is that by the time I found out it was her and read her books, she had millions of fans and there was no way to put myself in touch with her to say, "Good Job Steph!" So, while I'm not the huge twilight fan who will wait all night in line to see the movie that others are(I actually liked The Host better), I did enjoy the books and I am so pleased that Stephenie was published. The best thing about it all is that she stayed true to her own values and didn't let the characters have an intimate relationship until they were married. I know she has received a lot of criticism from people of my faith that she shouldn't have included that relationship in the final book...but I think she did it tastefully and really people, we are intimate when we are married, are we not? If she would ever happen upon this post, which of course, she won't, I just would want her to know how proud I am of her and her accomplishment. Way to go Stephenie! I found these two quotes by her from TIME magazine and I like them because it shows that she's still real:
How do you feel about being compared to J.K. Rowling? —David Sobalvarro WASHINGTON
Stephenie: It's mixed. On one hand, it's really flattering. I'm a huge fan. On the other hand, there is a bit of backlash because then people say, "Who does she think she is?" And then I feel bad, like I'm the one going around and saying this, which I'm not. I don't enjoy that side of it.
Aside from Mitt Romney, you seem to be the most popular Mormon right now in the U.S. Do you feel that you are a good representative of your religion? —Mary-Jean Corriss CENTRAL, ISLIP, N.Y.
Stephenie: Being Mormon is a big part of who I am, and I try very hard to live the right way, but I don't know that I'm an example. I hate to say, "Yes, look at me. I'm a good example of being Mormon." I want to be the best person I can be, so in that aspect, maybe I'm a good example
That is a neat story. I am a big fan! We are going tonight with a big group of friends to see the movie. We are not ones to go to the midnight show either. I loved the pictures.
ReplyDeleteI love "Claims to fame." That is a pretty cool one.
ReplyDeletemy claim: I was in the movie Sleepless in Seattle.