By Teh Jen Lee

SHE was like a female Pied Piper, with droves of squealing schoolgirls following her.

That was the scene at the Singapore Chinese Girls' School last Tuesday morning, when author Meg Cabot, who wrote the wildly successful The Princess Diaries series, went there to give a talk.

Cabot, whose books have sold 15 million copies worldwide, was pleasantly surprised by the enthusiastic reception.

She said: 'There were a lot of screaming girls. I don't usually have hordes of girls running up to the car when I pull out. It was very sweet to see them.'

Although it was a school holiday because exam scripts were being marked, many went back to listen to Cabot. About 300 girls filled the lecture theatre by 8.45am.

There was a wall of pink and lavender balloons at the front of the theatre, and balloon flowers were also made by some parents and students.

Right from the start of her 45-minute talk, Cabot had the girls hanging on to her every word and giggling at her funny stories.

She described how she once lied in her journal about meeting a 'hot alien guy' on her way to school, who zaps her to another planet and marries her, leaving a 'robot Meg' on earth so her family would not know she was gone.

But then her younger brother read her diary and believed it - he freaked out and cried to their mother about the robot Meg.

'I got into so much trouble and my younger brother wasn't punished at all for reading my diary!' said Cabot, with a slight pout.

Later, during the question-and-answer session, Cabot was quizzed by 8-year-old Estella Aditirto, who asked how the alien looked and how old he was.

The Primary 3 pupil said: 'I like her creative speech and her writing. The way she tells her stories is very interesting. I also liked the story about the hot alien guy. It was very funny.'

Many of the students were inspired by Cabot to keep their own journals.

She said: 'Let your imagination go wild. Write about things that happened to you which you wish had happened differently.

'Write about how you feel rather than punching your little brother. It makes you feel better.'

Lynette Lim, 9, who has at least five of the author's books, said: 'I liked it when she talked about her diary. I will keep a diary and I would like to be an author.'

Rejected 17 times

But being an author is no walk in the park. The Princess Diaries was rejected 17 times before it got published.

It went on to spawn two Disney hit movies.

Mrs Amanda Chia, a physics teacher who helped to organise the talk, was glad that Cabot peppered her presentation with lots of good advice on how to grow one's imagination and how to take hard knocks.

She said: 'We have a strong culture here of girls enjoying literature and the art of creative writing. That's why there's such a buzz over her talk.'

This article was first published in The New Paper on Oct 17, 2008.