Welcome to the wonderfully wacky words of a woman named Willow. How’s that for “wild” alliteration? LOL!

There are several things one should know about me in order to truly understand me.

First of all, I am the oldest member of this little group of Fictionistas. I’m also the newest writer of the group. I’ve been a Bon Jovi fan from the first day I saw him turn around in those gold pants on American Bandstand when they performed “Runaway”. I saw them in concert during Slippery When Wet but then was relegated to merely listening to albums/CD’s while I was raising my daughter. My introduction back into “Jovi Live” was during the “Have A Nice Day” tour.

I was introduced to the online Jovi world through Topix and that is where I first discovered a well known story called “The Layover”. I read it with rapt attention. I had no idea that there were stories like this out there, in this or any other genre. The next story I discovered was “The Joker”, which I actually took the time to print out and put in a binder so that I could take it with me on vacation. Imagine sitting on the deck of a cruise ship next to the pool, little umbrella drink in hand, IPOD blasting Jovi in my ears and me reading “The Joker” like I couldn’t get enough. I was utterly and thoroughly hooked. I realized that I had to know this “Goddess Hathor” person and that we were destined to somehow be friends. We got in touch, I followed her around the ‘net like any good minion should and we “promised” each other that someday we would get to a show together.

Fast forward to May… fan club tickets are going on sale for Boston and I get on the phone to Hath. Can you imagine… the very first time we ever talk on the phone and I suggest she send me A LOT of money with PayPal so I can buy us tickets. HAHA! Ten minutes later then money arrived and the plans were in motion. I knew I liked this girl! We ended up with tickets to both shows in Boston and tickets to Central Park… this was going to be a blast!

Not long after this, I was talking on IM to Sam, of whom I had become a big fan and who was quickly becoming one of my most favorite people. I say to her “You should totally come to Central Park”. We laughed and giggled and planed and schemed… and three hours later she was coming not only to CP but to Boston also!! Holy shit! I couldn’t believe I was going to get to meet them both. At first Sam and I thought we would be able to keep this a secret and surprise Hath when Sam got to Boston. Yeah, right – that plan lasted barely 24 hours.

It would take up dozens of blog posts to try and explain what Boston was like. From the moment I arrived at the hotel and saw Hath in the lobby I felt like I had re-met a long lost best friend. We clicked immediately. That first night together was really unbelievable because even though we didn’t get to sit together at the show, we were still there together. We went back to the hotel, donned our jammies and crawled into bed together to look at all the pictures we had both taken that night. We laughed and laughed and I don’t think I had smiled that much in years. The next day when “The Queen of New Orleans” arrived there was even more frivolity! There was the world’s most freakin amazing pizza, the process of getting dressed for the show (with several other crazy Jovi girls crashing our room to use the shower) and how each of us gets ready for that differently. That night we drank, we sang, we all went to pee together when “Juke Box Hero” came on overhead and most importantly, we got to meet up with Tara!! The show was freakin amazing, we all took pictures and Hath powered through the whole thing with a bum knee. We went back to the hotel, had another picturefest and got up the next morning to head to New York City to do it all again.

And that’s not even the half of it.

I cannot even begin to tell you all how excited I am for our upcoming 1st (hopefully annual) Fictionista week/weekend. To be able to see my friends Sam, Hath and Tara again and to get to FINALLY meet Queenie in person is more than one girl could possibly be excited about. And now we have “The Court” to look forward to with about 45 people coming so far. OMG!! I am counting the days! I have it circled in green marker on my calendar that Sam made me of pictures from the Boston trip. Everyday when I get to my office I put a big green “X” through the previous day.

How can I explain this…. These friendships have transcended beyond just “Jovi” girls, we are true friends. It wouldn’t matter to me if we didn’t do a single Jovi related thing this week (but of course you know we will… muahahahhaha)it would still be completely amazing. I know we will be sightseeing, partying at Chickie’s & Pete’s, going to “Willow East” and eating and drinking until we simply cannot anymore. I am sure there will be movies, I am certain there will be “oot-bay egg-lays” and, once again, I am sure there will be a ton of pictures!!