That's right; I'm awesome....

In April I decided to make 101 goals and achieve them in 1001 days. One of those goals was to write to 10 living authors that have written books that I've enjoyed reading. I have written to five so far: Cynthia Voigt, Stephenie Meyer, Dee Henderson, Nancy Pearl and Julie Edwards. Here is my story regarding one of them:

Julie Edwards wrote Mandy in 1971. It is a charming book about an orphan who find an abandoned cottage in the woods. I first discovered it at the library when I was in junior high. Since then I have probably read it four or five times. It was reprinted in 2001 and I was able to buy a copy of it. After a little research I discovered that Julie Edwards is actually Julie Andrews Edwards, who stared in such musicals as The Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and Thoroughly Modern Millie. She has won Emmys, Tonys, Golden Globes, and an Academy Award. I looked on the internet and found an address for her fan club. I dutifully wrote her a letter explaining how much I enjoyed her book and how I wished that she had written more young adult fiction. I also mentioned how much I enjoyed the movies that she had been in. I wrote the letter in May and haven't thought much of it until I received this on Friday:

That's right; I'm officially awesome. Just in case you can't read it, here's what it says:

"Dear Jessica,

How very nice of you to take the time to write such a lovely letter to Dame Julie Andrews Edwards to tell her you like her movies, music and that you enjoyed her book, Mandy.

Julie very much enjoys writing books for young readers She is please you liked her style of writing. When she gets nice letters such as yours, she just wants to get to work and write another book so she can keep all of her readers happy.

Thank you for taking the time to write. We are sending a signed photo of Julie. We hope you will enjoy it.

Sincerely,
Kathy Juliani
Fan Mail Coordinator"

While I realize that this letter seems to be written to a girl in junior high, I was still excited to receive it and yes, I did also receive a 4x6 autographed picture of Julie Andrews. I was totally excited and have already told my roommate, a cousin, and several people at work. I don't care if it makes me a geek, I think Julie Andrews is great and I'm considering getting the picture and letter frames.