ALA Day 3

The final day was pretty short and fairly event-free. I only had a few signings to go to and they were all pretty well spaced out. The first event of the day was Heidi Kling's signing and we all got to the Penguin booth fairly early. Heidi was there already and just hanging out, so we were able to chat, hug and get some pictures before the signing took place. It was awesome.

After that, we wandered around to other booths to see what was out on the tables. Then we got in line for Heidi's signing. She had a pretty big crowd and I was so happy for her. Not only that, but guess who was in line? JOHN GREEN!!! He wanted a signed copy of Sea too! How awesome is that?

When we finished up at Heidi's signing, we went over to Egmont where they were having a signing later, but it had been pushed up because the time got printed wrong in the ALA program so it was a desperate rush to get the three authors all there since they still thought it was the later time.

Each of them trickled in eventually and so people in line got books signed individually as they waited for each author to come. I went and said hi to Tricia since I was featuring her in a couple weeks as a Fresh New Voice of YA and figured she'd like to put a face to the name. We chatted for a few then we were off.


We all didn't really have much to do. Meaghan and I stuck together since we were going to the same place at 1, so we grabbed lunch together again. It was pretty good today as well, though it ended up not agreeing with me later which sucked (and was also weird since I'd had the same thing the day before and felt fine). Anyway, around 1, we went over to Disney's booth where Lindsey Leavitt was signing copies of her debut Princess for Hire.

Being one of the few people with an ARC helps, because she recognized me right away. She was so sweet and fun, and I was so happy to meet her. I cannot wait for the sequel!

After that, Meaghan and I just wandered around until it was time to get in line for the Ally Carter signing. Meaghan wasn't participating so she just kinda hung around for a few, then wandered off because she had had enough of me (not really). I was able to hang out in line with Linda and Tiffany and also this really adorable young teenager with Jennifer Lynn Barnes hair whose name I don't recall. The line was long but it went by pretty fast, especially with the company I had. I was just gonna buy GG4 for myself and 1 and 2 for PAYA, but Linda gave me $5 to buy GG3 and complete the collection. Ally remembered me from RWA the previous year and from my emails where I was like "I'M GONNA SEE YOU AT ALA!! DON'T GIVE ME A RESTRAINING ORDER! I SWEAR I'M NOT STALKING YOU. KTHXBAI!" and she signed my book and I even got a picture with her, which was featured on the Readergirlz blog in July when Ally was the guest of honor!

Once we were done at the signing, I went and found Meaghan and we wandered around to all the booths to see what we could grab as they were giving away display copies. I stopped by Random House to get the display copy of Dash and Lily's Book of Dares but it was already gone.

We just stopped by the smaller pubs, like St Martins, Macmillan, and Flux. We spent a lot of time at Flux and I was able to get four books from them!! It was tres awesome, including Tips for Having a Gay Ex-Boyfriend by Carrie Jones which I have been wanting since its release way back when. I was a happy boy then.

We also stopped by the S&S booth as Harmony was going through the line multiple times to get books for PAYA and a couple for herself. Meaghan was right at the front of the line (I just now remembered that this is where she went while I was in line for Ally's signing) because she wanted the display copy of Enchanted Ivy by Sarah Beth Durst which she is letting me borrow because she's AWESOME! Not only that, but since you could get two books while you went through, she grabbed me a copy of Glimpse by Carol Lynch Williams- yay! Meaghan and I chatted with a publicist whose name I don't remember for a few while we waited on Harmony to finish up her S&S raiding. It was interesting seeing all the publishers closing up shop and taking everything down.

Also, I can't remember when this happened, but you know how I went to Ellen Hopkins' signing on Saturday? I had to buy a copy of one of her books to get an ARC of Fallout. Well, on Monday (or maybe it was Sunday), she was signing copies of Fallout at the booth and you didn't have to purchase anything to get one! WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?!?!? It really bugged me, especially since I had to borrow that money from Harmony, which I felt bad about. Now, it's not the purchasing I have a problem with (well, ok, kinda) because I love to support authors and indie bookstores when I can but now I have an extra signed book that I don't have the room for. This was the reason why I brought all my ARCs because I didn't want signed hardcovers because then I'd have to spend money on buying the hardcovers and then shipping out the ARCs to contest winners because I'm not gonna have two copies of the same book in my room. So ALA, while you were fun, I did not like this aspect of you.

And before I go, I want to thank Laura Lutz and Ksenia Winnicki for being awesome publicists. Laura was sweet enough to send me an ARC of I Shall Wear Midnight, the upcoming Terry Pratchett YA novel, and Ksenia because she introduced herself to me as we had been corresponding a bit via email not too long before then and she had sent me some review copies. Also, Flux publicists whose names I cannot remember (well, I remember one, thanks to Karen Kincy, and that's Steven Romije), you are awesome because you loved chatting with us book bloggers and were so accomodating.

OK, that is all. Whew! I am now caught up on all recaps!! YAY!! Next weekend is PAYA which I'm way excited about, so expect a recap two weeks from now. Hopefully.

Picture 1- View of ALA Exhibit Hall from above
Picture 2- Harmony with Egmont Authors (left to right) Bree Despain, Jennifer Lynn Barnes and Tricia Rayburn
Picture 3- Susan, Meaghan, Heidi Kling, me, Harmony before Heidi's signing
Picture 4- Action shot of Lindsey Leavitt
Picture 5- Ally Carter and moi!
Picture 6- In a June Fresh New Voice of YA sandwich with Holly Cupala and Heidi Kling