“Even though some of us have never met her, we feel like we know her...like she’s a friend from school.”

—Amy

Stephenie Meyer, like most superstar authors, carries an image.

We see their names on shelves every day: the people whose books really run the show. From J.K. Rowing to Stephen King, these are the stars who sit as forerunners in publishing. But in order to set themselves apart from others in the world of books, each super-author seems to inherit a distinct public image that sticks to them.

J.K. Rowling seems to hold the image of the ‘Kind Writer Aunt’ you may see at Christmas and Easter. Publicist-protected and sheltered, it would take an army to get close to Rowling, let alone send her a message and hope for a reply.

Stephen King is perhaps the genius, yet slightly odd, neighbor— the one you hear pattering about in the cellar late at night, shrieking about “The Idea!” but in the morning smiles and waves with the newspaper as if nothing happened.

Both of these writers are awesome in their own ways with the public images they have meticulously created. Their public profiles follow with the things they write. Rowling writes books about secret wizard societies in Britain; King writes terrifying stories to chill our bones.

But Stephenie Meyer, author of Twilight, has a strikingly different image— the image of the ‘Ultimate Mom’.

“There were hundreds of people at the signing I was at, and she had something lovely to say about every single one of them.”

—S.

Stephenie listens to music from Linkin Park, Anberlin and Muse (and gets to meet them), writes vampire romances with characters that people fall in love with, keeps up with a huge Myspace profile, meets movie star guys on her film set, loves having vampire-themed proms, and is still a regular mom at the end of the day who cares for her kids just like any other. What teenage girl wouldn’t want her mom to be a little more like Stephenie?

And don’t think just the girls are for her. When I wrote about Edward Cullen needing a better ride than his old Volvo, Stephenie made it known that he does in fact have a cooler car, and started talking about S60 R’s and Aston Martin Vanquish’s and all sorts of other car jargon that left my head spinning. Since when does a 34-year-old mother of three know more than a college guy about cars? Stephenie put me right in my place with that one.

During my research, I asked Twilighters to tell what they liked best about her, and if they agreed with my idea of her being seen as the Ultimate Mom. In less than 24 hours, I got 400 positive responses from her family of fans.

“Stephenie Meyer really is like a mom. She treats us like her daughters, or even more like her sisters.”

—M.K.

Gone are the days of the harried writer with the thick black coat, snake-tipped cane, face which frightens small children and ever-present bottle of gin. Stephenie Meyer is the friend who shares in the interests of her readers just as if they were her own children— or better yet, one of her friends.

On Myspace, she still runs everything herself: adding friends, posting blogs, and keeping the information flowing to her dedicated fans. Her trusty brother Seth manages her official website, which unlike many author’s, is updated regularly with news and photos. Before her Twilight series skyrocketed into fame, she even had a public email address where anyone could reach her.

“When I read the acknowledgments at the end and she's mentioning all these bands I listen to I'm just like, "UM HAI, WANNA BE MY BFF??"

And she'd probably answer in chat speak as well, lol.”

—M.

Stephenie’s entire personality seems to filter down into her writing and her relationship with her fans. Somehow, she is able to juggle being a star author and a mom at the same time, and write books that are not only entertaining, but strikingly clean in an age of widespread media immorality. She has said she would never write something she wouldn’t want her own kids to read. And because she treats her readers like her family, they defend her like their own. Woe to the blogger who says something against Twilight. The hounds of hell hath no fury like a band of fighting Twilighters.

Stephenie’s fans love her not only because she gives them exactly what they want in her books, but because she is still there, accessible, normal, and answering fan questions, whilst at the same time getting photos snapped for a spot on TIME’s Most Influential People of 2008 list. There is a feeling of knowing her even if you’ve never met before— a feeling that on the inside, she is still just like you.

“She is the kind of person we would all like to be when we grow up.”

—R.B.

If you were to step back in time, you’d see a regular suburban mother, raising three children and writing a story she just couldn’t get out of her head. Multiple bestsellers and uncountable sold-out appearances later, Stephenie is still the same person as before: except now, the Ultimate Mom’s family has grown into millions.

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About the Author: Kaleb Nation is a writer, radio host, blogger, and 19-year-old college student, sometimes better known as The Twilight Guy. His debut novel, Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse, is set to hit stores in late 2009. He currently blogs his journey as a guy reading Twilight at http://www.twilightguy.com/, and as Himself at http://www.kalebnation.com/.