How I Started Reading Twilight

It's all Susan's fault.

That's not entirely true, not really, but it is the upshot. Susan read the Twilight books and had the (brilliant) idea that OF COURSE we needed to make a Blood Sucker. We also started brainstorming Pacific Northwest themed flavors for the Lickanthrope (Jacob) and Sweetheart (Bella) lollipops and then I was about to need to write some copy talking about the flavors and it was clear that I wouldn't be able to do my job without reading Twilight. How did I know what flavors would be good for Jacob or Bella? How could I talk intelligently about how the flavors and shapes related to their characters without knowing anything about their characters? I couldn't.

So I caved and read the first one. It helped - there's no way I would have known that every teenaged boy in Forks had a crush on Bella if I hadn't read it. I treated it as way more tongue-in-cheek than Stephenie Meyer probably intended, but it turned out to be entertaining! Then I traveled to Seattle for a holiday show and we snuck in a New Moon viewing while I was there. For those of you who know me, I hate watching a movie without having read the book. So I read New Moon. I read Eclipse shortly thereafter (and we're planning a trip to see Eclipse while I'm in Seattle for UCU).

There you have it. I discovered that Twilight is good, campy fun because Susan wanted to make a Blood Sucker. It is all her fault.

photo by Kevin Keeker