Bobby Akart
Okay y'all, here's something exciting. This week in my apocalyptic literature class (yes that's a thing), we got to read this book called Pandemic: Beginnings by Bobby Akart. At first I didn't know what to expect because we've already read a lot of apocalypse books and I was worrying this one would drag on.
BUT IT DIDN'T!
This book is really great, first of all. The plot is good, the characters are good, and the storyline is catchy. The thing that really sold it for me was having the author himself come to our class to talk to us.
So my friends who read this will probably be sick of hearing me say this, because I've posted it all over social media that I got to spend time with this author. But that's okay. Let me annoy y'all some more.
It was fantastic to actually see the man who dished out this book and hear him talk about it. He's a really down-to-earth man and he's very mature and open about his writing and beliefs. He is really good at taking people's advice and he and his editor have this great thing going on. He writes one book about every 6-8 weeks. That's 8 books a year. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! That's fantastic!!
Not only is he a great writer, he has phenomenal ideas! He talked about some of his other books as well as some ideas he has for books in the future. Hearing all this first-hand was something rare and new for me. It isn't often I get to hear an author speak about their books and engage students in a manner like he did. He was so open with us as he talked about his writing process, how he went about it, what he did and didn't do, and so on and so forth.
We were able to ask him questions about his book and about writing in general and he answered them gladly. He was such a fun spirited man and easy to approach that asking questions didn't seem so scary. I got some questions answered that is going to help me for my next short story just because he was knowledgeable in the area I was researching. How cool is that?
Anyways, we talked to him for an hour and a half, took pictures with him, and then he signed our copies of his book. I was so happy. I don't have many books signed by authors either, so it is a big deal for me.
As an author and writer myself, to be able to experience something like this encourages me to press forward. Because sometimes college can drag you down and you don't feel like what you're doing is paying off, but then things like this come and remind you what you're doing it for.
It’s especially great to hear encouraging things from other authors or people from your field. They’ve been through the struggle and they know how hard it can be. For them to be so supportive of others who strive to be in the same field is something I am grateful for. It shows they care and it gives you more confidence to keep going.
Bobby Akart was a great inspiration for me to meet for several reasons. He’s given me insight and inspiration for my own stories, and he’s given me even more incentive than I had before to keep striving to be the author I want to be in the future. He makes me want to write even more than I already do because of his positive attitude and his personality.
If you ever have the chance to meet someone from your field, I encourage you to do so. The inside advice and information will help you out so much more than you know. It has for me.