ALA Day 2

On Sunday, I decided to sleep in a bit since the first event I wanted to go to wasn't until 11 and that was John Green and David Levithan signing Will Grayson, Will Grayson. However, I probably should have gotten there earlier because the line for it was HUGE!

But before I get into that, I met up with Meaghan for a few minutes before I headed over to the JG/DL signing. I had heard that they would be giving away ARCs of Zombies vs. Unicorns at Holly Black's signing if you bought one of her books. Well, I didn't really have the money to buy one of her books so I wanted to stop by beforehand and see if I could snag a copy. I asked one of the publicists about it and she pointed me over to this other S&S rep Justin, who I had seen the previous day at Laurie Halse Anderson and Ellen Hopkins' signings.



I went up and asked him about it and he said "I don't think so. We have all these people waiting in line and we want to make sure they all get one." Obviously, I completely understood and told him so; I'm not some heartless blogger who will beat someone up for an ARC. Blackmail, yes, but not beat up. So I thanked him and then chatted with Meaghan for a few minutes before heading back through the S&S booth to get to the Penguin booth and in line for JG/DL. On my way through, they were breaking out the ZvU boxes and I passed Justin as he was opening his box up. He said "Hey, wait!" and I stopped, turned around, and he handed me an ARC of ZvU!!! I pretty much gushed and was like "OMG YOU ARE THE BEST! I WANNA HAVE YOUR BABIES!!" OK, I didn't really say that, but I did tell him he was very sweet and I remembered his name for later. I emailed my S&S contact when I got home and asked if she had his email address so I could send him a Thank You email and she said "Oh, Justin? He's the publisher. I'll send along your thanks."

THE. PUBLISHER. That guy is THE. PUBLISHER. OF SIMON & SCHUSTER. AND HE GAVE ME AN ARC OF ZOMBIES VS. UNICORNS.

HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!?!?


Anyway, no more caps (For now). I went over to Penguin and got in the LOOOONG line. John Green actually came around before the signing and shot a video of the line and talked with a few fans. While I waited in line, Alexa popped in to say hi and hang out with me for a few minutes. I showed off my books and let her borrow The Mockingbirds (which Meaghan let me borrow from her, lol) and I also told her where everything she wanted was. We parted ways (unfortunately not taking a picture together, which we have vowed to do next time we meet) and she went off in search of an ARC of Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

After about 40 minutes, I got up to David and John (and also met a Penguin contact of mine, Tim Travaglini, who I didn't introduce myself to because I am shy and also hadn't talked with him in a LONG time) and they signed my book quickly. Due to the long line, they did "the conveyer belt" way of signing, but I was able to get an action shot of them AND John even complimented my shirt! HOW AWESOME IS THAT?


While in line for JG/DL, I noticed that Ally Condie and Andrea Cremer were signing, but were finishing up while I was still in line. I didn't need any signed copies (they were out anyway) but I wanted a picture with Ally. I took this action shot of Ally and Andrea hanging out and having a good time. After I got my signed WGWG, I wandered off to the outskirts of the Penguin booth and spent 5 minutes debating with myself about going to get a picture with Ally. I meant to get one at BEA but forgot so this was my chance. I finally got the courage and went over and Ally actually remembered me! We chatted for a few minutes and then I asked for a picture, which her editor (I think) was so kind to take for me. Ally told me no one's tried to track her down just to get a picture yet, which in hindsight, seems like a gentle way of saying "Why are you stalking me, weirdo?". I thanked them both and wandered off to go find Meaghan.

Here's where it all gets fuzzy. I honestly cannot remember in what order these events happened, so I'm just gonna run down these events in the order I think of them:

1) Meaghan and I went to her car so she could drop off her books. On the way there, I grabbed some free ice cream they were handing out across the street and we also ran into this dude who worked at university library or something. I can't remember.

2) Meaghan and I had lunch together and it was SO GOOD. I absolutely loved it. We went there for lunch on Monday too.

3) We hung out with Maggie Stiefvater for a bit! She was wandering around as a spectator and was given free books because she's a NYT Bestselling author. They were throwing them at her! It was nice to see Maggie again because she's just so hilarious. We also had a fun time reenacting the Halo by Alexandra Adornetto cover and how one should ask for a copy of the book. Maggie also put pressure on me in regards to my Linger blog tour questions; I hope she liked mine, lol.

4) Meaghan and I (we hung out a lot, ok? lol) went to the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt booth cuz she wanted to get something and they were handing out these baseball caps to promote some book. Anyway, the guy that was there looked really familiar but I didn't say anything cuz I wasn't sure if it was him. As we walked away, I whispered to Meaghan "I think that guy back there at the booth was Daniel Nayeri, co-author of Another Pan." Yes, I actually said it like that; I know I'm a nerd. She was like "No way!" and we went back to investigate and he chatted with us for like half an hour and took pictures with us. He's such an awesome, funny guy and totally invited us over to his place for dinner, if I recall correctly.

After all that, we went to Danielle Joseph's signing at Flux for her new book, Indigo Blues, which I'm so excited to have a copy of and need to read soon. I got a picture with Danielle and it was just so awesome meeting her. Once I got my book signed, my friends and I all just kinda hung around the Flux booth until it was time to go to Holly Cupala's signing.


Holly signed my 4 two-chapter samplers that she had given me at BEA and which I gave away during her feature week in June. After that, we all just kinda hung around her signing at the Harper booth. It was a lot of fun. Pictures were taken and it was awesome.

Our last signing of the day was at S&S with Jeri Smith-Ready. I was not there for her signing though. After my disastrous attempt to find Politics and Prose the day before, I had sent Stacey Kade an email that night to see if she'd be around at ALA the other days cuz I really wanted her to sign my copy of Ghost and the Goth. She said that she'd be around but she was definitely going to be at Jeri's signing because the two of them were friends. So we agreed to meet there. As we got into line, I saw two authors up a little further at the signing table. One was Bonnie Doerr, and the other I thought was Stacey Kade, but I wasn't sure. I could barely remember what her author photo looked like and so for a few minutes, I was debating if I should go up and ask. I figured if they were at the front of the line, it must have been Stacey since she and Jeri were friends.

Well, I went up and I said "Hi, excuse me, I was wondering, are you Stacey Kade?" And the woman looked at me blankly and went "No, I'm not. Do I look like her?" Thoroughly embarassed, I stuttered and was like "Oh, well I thought so, but I only saw an internet photo on her author site, so I wasn't entirely sure." I apologized profusely and went back to my spot in the line and recounted the story to Meaghan and Harmony. Not two minutes later do Stacey, Jeri, and Stephanie Kuehnert come strolling in and as soon as I see Stacey, I immediately know it's her. Also, it seemed she recognized me too because she came over right away and said "You're James, right?" We chatted for a few minutes and I told my embarassing story to her too.

So she signed my book, then someone else in line had a copy of her book and asked if she would mind signing hers and so she did. Then somebody else said "That book looks really cute. I wanna read it." and Stacey ran off to Disney further down the aisle and grabbed a few books to hand out and sign. It was also funny because one of the girls in line went to Disney to go ask for a copy and came back saying the publicist had given her a blank look and said she didn't know what she was talking about. That's why Stacey had to go and ask. It's a funny story and I'm sure Stacey wasn't expecting a little impromptu signing, but I'm sure she enjoyed it.

That was it for that day. Tune in next week for the final day!

Picture 1- Action shot of John Green and David Levithan
Picture 2- Action shot of Andrea Cremer and Ally Condie
Picture 3- Me with Ally Condie (!!!!!)
Picture 4- Me with Daniel Nayeri (!!!!!)
Picture 5- Me with Danielle Joseph (!!!!)
Picture 6- Harmony with Holly Cupala
Picture 7- Harmony with Jaclyn Dolamore