Author Event- Love and Legend YA Panel at Hooray for Books

This past weekend, I made a quick trip up to Alexandria for the Love and Legend YA author panel at Hooray for Books. The panel featured P.J. Hoover (Solstice), Diana Peterfreund (For Darkness Shows the Stars), Bennett Madison (September Girls), and April Lindner (Catherine).

I love coming to Hooray for Books- it's such a cute little children's book store and they have some wonderful events. When I got there, I had just set my stuff down on a chair when P.J. Hoover walked in. P.J. and I go way back to when her debut came out and we've hung out at a couple conferences together, but it's been FOREVER since we last saw each other so it was really cool to catch up with her. I also had no idea that she had family in the area, hence why she was doing events here when she lives in Austin, TX.

A lot more people came in (including Jon Skovron, author of the upcoming Man-Made Boy) and the event got started. The authors first talked a bit about their books; Bennett did the best job, as his was hilarious. After that, they each read a snippet from their books. P.J. picked the perfect spot because I had just started the chapter she read from (Chapter 5), so I got a couple pages done just from listening to her, lol.

Then they took questions from the audience. There were some really interesting questions, ranging from why YA to the role of parents in YA novels to what they're all working on now. I was called out at one point by Diana when they were talking about the enthusiasm of YA readers and the blogosphere community. But it was really interesting to hear from all of them and there was some great discussions going on.

As for what they're each working on next, Diana has a new book out this October (which I have an ARC of and got signed, since all my other Diana books are signed already) Across a Star-Swept Sea and she recently sold a middle-grade book called Omega City, which sounded really cool. There was also talk of the differences in writing for different age groups, from middle-grade to YA to adult (and new adult, though Diana hates that term). Bennett is supposed to be working on another YA book, but instead has started an adult book about reality television stars and I kinda really want to read it. I love books about that sort of subject. April is working on another modern-day retelling and she did say what book, but I've forgotten. I should've taken notes! P.J. is working on a middle-grade book, which I think she said would be out next year about King Tut as an immortal 8th grader. It sounds very fun!

Once the QnA was over, I got my books signed. I didn't have any for April, though her books do sound very interesting and I'll have to pick them up sometime. I had gotten my For Darkness ARC signed by Diana at a Hooray for Books event that she was attending earlier this year and I got excited seeing that she had written "For James, Your Friend, Diana" I was happy to see that she considered me a friend! Well, I have since read the book and it turns out that she actually writes "Your Friend" in EVERY copy of For Darkness because of the letters that Elliott and Kai send each other, which they sign "Your Friend". Diana reassured me that I am really her friend though so all was made right again in my world. :P For Bennett, I'd brought my ARC of September Girls and the two Lulu Dark books he'd written a while back. He was pleased to see a little mini-collection of his books. I would've brought my copy of The Blonde of the Joke (the old ARC, before they pushed the release date back a whole year) but I couldn't find it. I have way too many books. While Bennett signed my books, April and I talked about my shirt, which said "Authors are My Rockstars." I told her that I've had the shirt since 2010 and have only worn it like once. How sad is that? I plan on wearing it to every author event I go to now. And finally, P.J. signed my copy of Solstice, which I'm reading now and loving. All in all, a wonderful event and an all-around awesome day.

Signing Recap- Sarah Dessen at Flyleaf Books

So last month on April 16, I attended the kick-off event for Sarah Dessen's What Happened to Goodbye paperback tour in Chapel Hill at the awesome Flyleaf Books. This is my fourth time seeing her (she joins the legion of authors-I've-seen-multiple-times like Maggie Stiefvater, Jodi Meadows, and Melissa Marr) and it's just so much fun. Added into the mix was her awesome publicist and a friend of mine Elyse! It was great seeing them both again.

So anyway, I drove down, grabbed a VERY quick dinner beforehand and got some expensive gas (my tank actually hit E just as I pulled in), then headed over to Flyleaf. I got there just a few minutes before the event started, so was only able to say a quick hello to Elyse before going to find a seat. The place was PACKED. I was one of like four males in attendance (one of whom was Sarah's husband)- not sure if they were just with their girl friends or if they really did like Sarah and her books. I found a seat and started reading The Moon and More while I waited for the event to start.

A bookstore employee (maybe the owner- can't remember!) introduced Sarah and then Sarah talked a little bit about What Happened to Goodbye, and also gave a little hint of The Moon and More. She even read an excerpt- the beginning of the book, which I'd just read, lol. So I was like "I just read that and now I'm hearing it!"

After that, she took questions for about half an hour, ranging from inspiration to her favorite boy and girl main characters to write to the editorial process. Sarah's very funny and I love listening to her speak. After the QnA, she signed books. I stayed near the back of the line because I wanted a picture and a chance to chat with her a bit. Since I had a TON of time (like I said, it was packed so the line was very long), I started more of The Moon and More. This girl behind me looked at the cover and asked "Where did you get that?" She was the first person to ask, though MANY girls had walked by and looked at me puzzlingly. I told her that Sarah's publicist had sent it to me and that I'm a book blogger. I gave her my last business card that I had with me (forgot to stock my wallet with them before I left) and we struck up a conversation and gave each other book recommendations. She was actually a graduate student at UNC and was doing her thesis project on Sarah Dessen, so she used me as a source. We were only able to do one question before we got up to Sarah. Sarah waved at me and was like "James, hello!!" (which made me feel good inside; I like authors who are nice to me) and we chatted for a few minutes while she signed my ARC. I got a picture with her and Elyse, who I had to include because she's an awesome publicist and I love seeing her.

I found out the girl's name was Melissa, and after we got our books signed, we sat down and had a little mini-interview. It was nice for me because I love being asked questions (well, ones I can answer); seriously, if you see me at an event, just ask me a bunch of questions about books, blogging and writing and it will be a fun time. But anyway, she's using me as a source for her project, which was very sweet of her.

I almost forgot- while she and I were chatting, some young girl came up to us and asked how I'd gotten an ARC of The Moon and More. I pointed to Elyse, and said "Sarah's publicist sent it to me." Then, as I was explaining WHY she sent it to me ("I'm a book blogger."), the girl just said "Oh" and walked away IN THE MIDDLE OF MY TALKING. I only said two sentences! You can't stick around for both? While it was rude, it was also pretty funny.

Since we had been chatting, the line had finished, so Sarah was just signing stock and getting ready to leave. I hung around for a few minutes, then said bye to everyone. I thought it was funny that we all had to get up early the next day- them at 5am for a plane, me at 5:30 for work. I got all the way to my car before realizing I should have used the restroom so I went back in and asked where it was, then used it. I'm really hoping those booksellers know I was there for the event and was not just there to use the bathrooms, then leave.

All in all, another fun book event and I may go see Sarah again during her tour next month. We shall see!

Pic 1- The outside of Flyleaf Books
Pic 2- The LONG signing line (you can see a bit of Sarah's table on the left there)
Pic 3- Me, Elyse, and Sarah (from l to r)
Pic 4- Sarah signing stock and also the huge poster they had made for the event. How cool is that?!

Signing Recap- Hooray for Books Author Panel

So I did something really crazy. I drove a total of 7 hours in one day for a book signing (well, and also to do taxes at my parents' place but the signing spurred the idea). I was up early and back late, but it was so worth it. I loved seeing my parents for a bit and meeting a new author (Megan Shepherd) and seeing many others another time.

The signing was for Jodi Meadows, Meagan Spooner, Megan Shepherd, and Lenore Appelhans and held at Hooray 4 Books in Alexandria, VA. This is my fourth time meeting Jodi, so I had both her books signed already (as well as my copy of Dear Teen Me). I had met Meagan at BEA and she signed my copy of Skylark then, so I only had books for Lenore and Megan. When I showed my ARC of Level 2 to Lenore, she kept being like "Didn't I sign this already?" I had gotten my copy at BEA, but had only told her I'd gotten a copy but she didn't sign it at that point.

I got to the signing a bit before it started, but there were already plenty of people there. I was able to grab a seat and be my usual shy self by having my nose in a book (Skylark, to be exact, since I hadn't yet read it, which I still feel terrible about since Meagan helped so much in securing me a copy at BEA last year). Ellen Oh bumped into me while she was trying to find a seat, and we did a half-hug. It was great seeing her again. Lenore also came and visited me in the audience before the panel started and it was great to have a little chat with her. She was caffeinated and even more witty than she usually is.

The panel started and the authors introduced themselves and their books, then we attempted to launch into a QnA, but the bookseller wanted a reading first. So they answered the first question, then there was a little game where someone in the audience gave a page number (out of 288, as that was the length of Lenore's book; the others are longer) and the author would read a short bit from that page. It surprisingly worked out well and then we went into the QnA session. Jodi and Lenore bribed the audience with various swag to get them asking questions.

There were a lot of questions, and here's my notes that I wrote down at work the next day:

- Both Meagan and Megan share the same agent, and they originally wrote their debuts as stand-alone titles and were going to sell them as such. Their agent basically thrust the trilogy idea onto them once it sold, and they had to come up with ideas for the next 2 books. It's interesting to know that because, in the case of Madman's Daughter, I was trying to figure out how a trilogy would work since it's inspired by the 1-book Island of Dr. Moreau. So, Megan came up with the idea to use other gothic novels as inspiration for these characters' arcs. Book 2 will be inspired by Jekyll and Hyde.

- Jodi bribed with mittens, and tried to throw them. It didn't really work, so the third time, she just walked the prize over but shocked the person who won it. Someone joked that now no one would ask any questions.

- Someone asked about books-to-movies. Lenore and Megan both have movies in development, and there's a script done for Madman's Daughter already, which is good progress considering most options end in nothing happening.

- In answer to a question regarding writing advice, Megan stole Meagan's quote that she wanted to use. This was apparently the second or third time this has happened.

- In talking about upcoming books, Lenore is working on a picture book with her husband about cats. I am so hoping this gets published. I would totally buy a copy.

- Lenore talked about how she gets ideas and figures out plot problems in two different showers- one in Pompeii where she got the Level 2 idea, and her shower at home.

- Someone asked about how the authors chose their characters' names. Jodi mentioned how when she first wrote Incarnate, she came up with names that could be either male or female, but that didn't really work out. So she had to go through and change almost everyone's names.

- Lenore showed off Level 2's shiny spine underneath the dust jacket.


After the QnA, the authors signed. I spotted a TON of authors in the audience; aside from Ellen Oh, there was Jessica Spotswood, Miranda Kenneally, Jodi Lynn Anderson, and Diana Peterfreund. I had actually brought my copy of Diana's last book in case she showed up; I would've brought Star Cursed if I'd gotten an ARC by that point. So I had to run out to the car and grab the book so Diana could sign it. It was so great seeing her again and getting to chat for a minute. While we were waiting in line, she mentioned about how she was at a Melissa Marr event at Library of Congress a while ago trying to be incognito, and it was just her and 4 LoC members in attendance. Melissa recognized her, which she was surprised about. When she talked about being incognito, I thought she was going to mention being at Maggie Stiefvater's launch for Lament in Richmond, which I was at as well but didn't really know who she was then. But anyway, Diana's a sweetheart. I also said hi to Jessica Spotswood, who I wasn't sure if she remembered me since it had been like a year since we first met in person and there was a bit of an awkward moment when I first crossed paths with her in the crowd. But then when we were up at the table with the authors, she said I was awesome, which made me happy.

I got my books signed, and Lenore tried to get out of signing mine by saying she'd already signed it, which she hadn't. I'd only told her at BEA about getting the ARC but didn't get it signed then. I talked with Megan about my review for Madman's Daughter, which had gone up that day. She hadn't had a chance to read the review, but had seen the tweet and was excited about it. I got a picture with Lenore and Megan, and then almost left (like I had said goodbye to everyone and was outside the store) without getting a pic with Meagan. For some reason, I had equated already having my book signed with having gotten a picture with her, which was not the case. So then I left and made the long drive back down to Lynchburg. I went up and back in the same day; it was craziness, but so totally worth it.


Picture 1- Outside of Hooray for Books, where the event took place.
Picture 2- The authors on the panel; that person in front is blocking Jodi.
Picture 3- Me with Lenore and Megan.
Picture 4- Me with Meagan

Book Signing- Jodi Meadows, Ellen Oh and Victoria Schwab

So I braved the snow storm and drove up to Charlottesville for a book signing. I got there right on time. I had to wander around the whole store though before I found where the signing was taking place. Usually there's a signing area, but this time, because of the storm, the authors just got a table right near the customer service area. No reading, no QnA, just a signing. But we had a good time anyway.

I sneakily (as I tend to do, being as shy as I am) made my way to the table and Ellen Oh spotted me and IMMEDIATELY got up to give me a big hug for reviewing her debut so positively. It was an awesome hug (and was followed up at least twice more during the course of the night) and it's always great to be received so well by an author. I listened in on a conversation Ellen and a blogger's mom were having about K-dramas and K-pop. Then I got my books signed by Victoria and Ellen; I already have all my Jodi books signed (I see her too often and yet not enough).

After that, I chatted with Anne Marie Pace (Vampirina Ballerina, which was optioned recently to be a TV series!) and a librarian who had a cute husband who got so excited about the books. I want a boyfriend like that. It was a lot of fun.

Then the signing kinda ended, but we all hung around the table and just chatted. Ellen talked about law and getting into writing. Victoria ranted about cake pops and tea (no joke- it was probably about 20 minutes long; she is not joking); we also both hate water. Jodi showed off her yarn accomplishments. I also got some fun swag, including a tiny figurine that Ellen made to promote her book- it's so cool.

I had a wonderful time and I'm so glad I made it up to the event. It was great seeing Jodi and Victoria again, and meeting Ellen for the first (and hopefully not last) time.

Book Expo America Recap 2012 Part 3

I got to BEA Wednesday not too long before they opened so the line was very long. On my way to find my friends, I happened across two hot shirtless guys going down the line (with an S&S person following them taking pics) passing out postcards for Becca Fitzpatrick's Hush Hush series. The cover for Finale was being revealed that morning. I followed them for a bit before gathering my courage and asking the S&S lady if I could get a pic with them. She said of course and called them over. We had to find the right light first to take the pics and then she took two. I was able to make coherent sentences (and even make a joke!), which I did not expect. They then told me to tag them when I put the picture online but they didn't say what to tag them as. I asked S&S on Twitter and got no reply; they may not have liked me asking for their phone numbers too...

So as soon as I was let onto the BEA floor, I immediately went to S&S' booth for the Becca Fitzpatrick signing. I've been talking with Becca since before Hush Hush came out and we've been trying to meet up since then. I was SO EXCITED to hear she was signing, though I do wish it had been a poster of the Finale cover instead of a Hush Hush paperback (since I already have a signed ARC) but the T-shirt was an awesome extra. I love it. Anyway, Becca is amazing and so sweet. She recognized me, gave me a hug and we got a picture together. We only got to chat for a minute, but it was so nice to see her.

Since it was only a little after 9:30, I decided to go find the line for Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass, which started at 10. There was already a HUGE line for it, so I abandoned it and went to the Little Brown booth to try lining up for Chris Colfer. Technically, we weren't supposed to start lining up until 10:30 for the signing at 11, but we threw that out the window. I wanted to make sure I got a ticket- only 200 were handed out! I was number 45. While waiting in line, I got to chat with Pam, Rachael, Lenore, and probably some other people too, as they were passing by on their way to some other place.

In this line, there was a cute guy in front of me who I thought might be gay (mainly from how he acted and spoke. I know, I know, I shouldn't stereotype, but I do). Anyway, I found him on Twitter and he is. So I basically admired him from afar and remade a song in my head (Boy on the Dancefloor by Lisa Scott-Lee became Boy on the BEA Floor).

So eventually, the line started moving and I had my camera all ready. I was able to take a picture of Chris as soon as the booth came into view and then my camera DIED. I had batteries with me luckily, but it was a mad scramble to switch the batteries before I made it to Chris. He was signing just his name so the line moved very fast. I was able to switch JUST in time, but apparently the publicist didn't think so, hence why this picture now exists. I think it's hilarious. I had planned to give Chris my business card with my phone number written on the back, but as you can see in the picture, the table was pretty bare so I didn't feel comfortable doing it. I also don't know if I would've gone through with it anyway.

On the way out, they were handing out Land of Stories totes but as I was leaving, the tote lady was dealing with some crazy lady who wanted to cut in line or get a picture of/with Chris or something. When the publicist wouldn't back down, the lady marched off in an angry huff. I gave the publicist this look like "That was crazy, wasn't it?" and then asked in a meek voice, "Can I have a tote?" and she gave me one. YAY!

After that, I went into Tim Gunn's line since it wasn't too far into his signing. He was signing in the same aisle as Chris (3600) and I had to start at the 4200 aisle. I actually ended up right behind the cute boy, but was too shy to talk to him. I kinda stayed at the periphery of his conversations with other people, part of it but not really. It didn't take too long to get to Tim and he was the sweetest. He took the time to ask your name, take a picture, and just chat with you. He had asked previous people what they did for a living and I was excited for him to ask me because I could mention my blog and give him a business card (specifically, the one with my phone number, lol). But he did not, however I did do something equally, if not more, awesome- I made him heartily laugh. I had mentioned that I was so excited to meet him this year because 2 years ago, when he signed another of his books, he was ticketed but it was just too early for me to get up.

Then I went over to Penguin's booth for Marie Lu's signing of Prodigy. Well, kinda. There was already a line so I had to get to the end of it. It was ticketed and I was number 100 and no, I did not get a prize. Yes, I did (jokingly) ask. I also think an author/publicist that I know was running the line but I could be wrong. It was great to see Marie again (not that she remembered me, I'm sure) from when she did a signing for Legend last year. Once I got my signed copy, I went over and chatted with Becca Fitzpatrick (and completely forgot to get her to personalize my copy of Hush Hush!) and the lovely ladies from Fallen Archangel before having lunch.

After lunch, I stopped by signings for Flock by Wendy Delsol and Drink Slay Love by Sarah Beth Durst; it was lovely to see Wendy again and so great to meet Sarah after all this time (we've been chatting since her debut!). I then went to go stand in line for the ticketed signing of Eve and Adam by Katherine Applegate and Michael Grant. During that time, I found out about an upcoming non-fiction book about women in comedy coming out later this year. It's called We Kllled: The Rise of Women in American Comedy by Yael Kohen and the cover has like all my favorite women comics! I asked for an advance copy but they didn't have one. I will totally review that book though so expect an email from me soon, Macmillan! Anyway, the line moved really fast and I gushed to Katherine about how much I loved Animorphs and Everworld growing up, which I had no idea she and Michael wrote together. I can't wait to read this book because it sounds so interesting!

I then stopped by Dan Krokos' line in the autographing area, except it was like an hour too early and they wouldn't let me stand around and start a line yet. So I just kinda wandered for a minute and happened across Kate Ellison's signing of The Butterfly Clues. I of course made a fool of myself. First off, there was no one in the line (probably because Egmont did not advertise ANY of their signings; in the autograph book that they give us, for all of Egmont's signings, it was just TBA.) so there's me charging down the aisle with my big bag of books and I come up and tell her how much I loved the book and, like with Sarah Tregay at TAC, mentioned my review of it, like she would remember every single blogger's review, especially from 6 months ago. I was babbling a bit and she looked at me like I was insane. She politely said thank you and asked if I wanted the book personalized and she signed it. I said thank you and left, then berated myself for acting like a loon in front of yet another author. The list just keeps growing.

Anyway, I wandered around some more but around 25 minutes before Dan's signing, I decided to go back and I was not the only one waiting! There were already like 5 or 6 people in line. So I put my stuff down and waited for the signing to start. Dan remembered me from Twitter and thanked me for coming. I refrained from telling him how cute he is. I then went to Tamara Ireland Stone's line and I think I made a fool of myself, but I'm not entirely sure. I believe she asked me if I liked time travel, and I was like "Yeah, sure." or something like that. I don't remember, but it felt like a very awkward conversation at the time.

After Tamara, I got in line for Rachel Cohn. I love Rachel's books so much and am so excited to read Beta, however I'm not entirely sure how this picture came about. Most of the time, I just took pictures of the authors while I still had one or two people ahead of me. Only with authors I know do I ask to get a picture with them, or if they're a celebrity and I can do that. But Rachel and I only talked once several years ago when I asked about getting an advance copy of her book You Know Where to Find Me, so I don't think she would remember me. Either way, I've got this picture and it's great.

I then went to Susane Colasanti's line because the BEA website had given me false information about Lincoln Pierce's (Big Nate) signings. I thought he had one at 4 in the autographing area and he did not, so unfortunately I missed out on seeing him. While in Susane's line, I chatted with Kristi (The Story Siren) who was in the next aisle over for Julie Kagawa. Now, I already have a signed Susane book so I was mainly in line just to say hi and get a picture with her. Kristi does not have a signed Susane book so she gave me her name on a sticky note and I got a signed copy of Keep Holding On for her. We also both got up to our authors at the same time so I told Susane I was getting the book for her and then pointed, lol. Susane and I also got our picture together which we've been trying to do for the past two BEAs but we keep forgetting! But now we have it and we're happy.

Phew. So that was my Wednesday at BEA. I'm going to stop here and next week, I'll finish up with Wednesday evening and my morning on Thursday before I had to leave NYC for home.

Pic 1- Me with the two shirtless guys playing fallen angels. They were very happy to do the photo and did not appear to be creeped out by me.
Pic 2- Becca Fitzpatrick and I!!!
Pic 3- Picture of the Chris Colfer line (cute boy I'm referencing in the post is on the left in the black shirt with red lanyard; you can only see his back though)
Pic 4- Chris Colfer signing books and the publicist telling me to MOVE DAMN YOU MOVE!
Pic 5- This is a pic of where I started in the Tim Gunn line. He was in row 3600.
Pic 6- TIM GUNN AND I!!!!! OMG *dies right now*
Pic 7- Sarah Beth Durst and I!!!
Pic 8- Rachel Cohn and I!!
Pic 9- Susane Colasanti and I!!!

Book Expo America 2012 Recap Part 2

WARNING: It has been way too long since BEA so I may have forgotten some things (including people I met and chatted with!). I'm mainly going on what pictures I took and my autographing schedule.

The morning started off early and we got to the Javits a bit before it opened. I took the time to look through my schedule and the autographing book and make sure everything was still correct. On the way in though, I saw this group of people promoting Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr. I felt weird taking a picture of them but luckily, they were standing underneath a billboard for The Diviners by Libba Bray. So I pretended to take a picture of the billboard.

The line to get into the Javits is MASSIVE. But it's not too bad once 9am rolls around. My first mission of the day was to go to: Flux, Egmont and Disney/Hyperion. I figured no one else would be going to those booths (instead flocking to Harper, Penguin and other big publishers) so I would have first grabs of ARCs and stuff. At the Flux booth, I chatted with a lovely lady about some of their books, like Hollyweird, and she told me to grab whatever I wanted. She then later rescinded that offer because they had limited ARCs, but it's not like I was going to shove all their books into my tote bag and run off. At least, not after she said that (I'M KIDDING). I grabbed ARCs of Narc and Demon Eyes as well as a finished copy of Ferocity Summer, which had expired on my computer before I had a chance to read it.

I then walked over to Egmont's booth. They had a couple ARCs out, but they didn't have what I really wanted, i.e. copies of Taken by Storm and Dark Waters. Their reasoning was that the books came out in a couple weeks. I'm like, "and your point is...?" You should still have more than just the display copies of your books! But they took my business card and should be sending them to me; we'll see if that happens. I grabbed two ARCs and then attempted to stop by Disney, but I was intimated and they had nothing out so I didn't ask them about anything.

I hightailed it over to the autographing area to get a signed copy of Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin for my roommate, who read the first book in the trilogy last year. I however have not gotten around to it, which Gabrielle jokingly yelled at me about. I've promised her that I will read both books... which reminds me that I need to put them on my schedule somewhere. I also got into the lines for Emily M. Danforth (who thanked me for the interview I did with her) and Shannon Messenger (who remembered me from all the tweeting I did at her). After those three, I stood in the LONG line for Andrea Cremer's Rift and may have made a fool of myself in front of her by acting like a crazy loon.

I then left the autographing area for an in-booth signing. Malinda Lo was signing ARCs of her upcoming book Adaptation at the SFWA booth, who were a new exhibitor that year. It was great seeing Malinda again and she remembered me! It's always nice when that happens, especially when it's been two years since we had first met. After that, I went to another in-booth signing for a non-YA title. How weird! Except not, because it was for a comic strip collection I love ever so much- Pearls Before Swine. It was a pretty long line but moved fast. Stephan Pastis was really fun to talk to and he knew the Lynchburg paper (apparently he knows like all the papers where his comic is syndicated- it's FREAKY)! He asked me which character I wanted him to draw and I said Pig because I just love him so much and find him very amusing.

I then had some lunch down in the food court because I had quite a bit of free time. There was no place to sit so I stood up and ate my pizza. I reconnected with Susan and her posse, and got to hold an exclusive ARC of Shannon Messenger's Let the Sky Fall (which I now have, thanks to Kristi- yay!!). I may have pet it and contemplated stealing it, but I am a gentleman so I gave it back to Jessica.

Going back to the autographing area, I was going to get into the line for Gretchen McNeil, but decided not to when I saw how long it was. Instead, I got into the line for Lauren Oliver about 40 minutes before it started because it was taking place in the same row as Gretchen's. I was #6 in line! I decided not to do Gretchen's cuz I already had a copy of Ten and knew I'd see her later. Lauren Oliver was really nice though I feel really bad because I have yet to read ANY of her books, yet I have all of them. I need to get on that.

I caught up with Susan again and she introduced me and others to her contact at Disney and we got some ARCs. We also handed her our business cards. I got an ARC of The Darkest Minds because I wasn't sure I could make Alexandra's signing on Thursday. We then separated and I went back to the autographing area for signed copies of The Blessed by Tonya Hurley and the second Stella Batts book by Courtney Sheinmel. Courtney was such a sweetheart and recognized me and then gushed about me to her publicist. I've been reviewing her books since her debut came out (though I have yet to read All the Things You Are) and we've been in touch over the years. She's such a wonderful author. The publicist then exchanged business cards with me and agreed to meet at the booth when the signing was over so she could give me the first Stella Batts book and talk about possibly doing a giveaway, which is going on now! I also got an adorable Stella Batts tote bag!

Then, I walked on over to get into line for the Carnival of Souls book drop, happening right after Melissa's in-booth signing. I tried to get a picture of the whole blown up cover but there were WAY too many people in that area. After that, I went to Suzanne Lazaer's line to get a signed copy of Innocent Darkness.

I went back to the hotel, grabbing Subway on the way back (it was on the same block as our hotel) and watched Charmed while I ate. My roommates came back mid-way through the meal and we got ready to go to the Teen Author Carnival. I absolutely love the Carnival and was so sad I missed it last year. This year was so much fun. I went to two awesome, funny panels (one of which was moderated by the amazing Melissa Walker) and then chatted with a TON of awesome people.

I met Victoria Schwab (who still likes me despite my meh review of Near Witch, and whose book The Arcived I cannot wait to read!), Karsten Knight (cutie!), Scott Tracey (cutie!), Gretchen McNeil (so funny), Kieran Scott (who helped me get an ARC of the 3rd He's So/She's So book and was so sweet), Sarah Tregay (who was lovely even though she probably thought I was a loon for gushing about her book and then expecting her to remember my review of it from 6 months ago), and Crissa Jean Chappell (whose debut Total Constant Order I loved- and recommended to someone that night!- and think it's so overlooked; we hugged and she thanked me for all my support of her over the years. It was extremely sweet.).

I also got to see again authors Melissa Walker and Diana Peterfreund, as well as bloggers Mitali, Kristi, Yara, Brent (who I was sad I didn't get to see more of; we were always passing each other!), and Kendra. I'm sure I probably forgot some people and I'm sorry if I did. Leave a comment berating me!

I completely lost track of time and didn't end up leaving until 9:30pm. Now, why does that matter, you ask? Because I had another event to go to. Little, Brown was holding a speakeasy party to celebrate Libba Bray's The Diviners. By the time I got there (after getting directions from a McDonald's employee and my friend Tiffany), everyone I knew was gone and the party was basically over. I did get to chat with Libba Bray, who recognized me from our chat last year, for a few minutes and then had a bit of an awkward conversation with a lovely lady who put up with me and my non-mingling skills. I then fiddled with my phone a bit, trying to look busy, and then eventually just picked up an ARC and little goodie bag and left. I spent a total of 10 minutes there. I felt HORRIBLE that it looked like I had just shown up to grab an ARC. It's just hard to fit two events into one evening!

I trudged back to the hotel, got a bit lost (texted my roommates to ask what street our hotel was on, which caused me to feel the need to tell them that I was not drunk), but eventually made it back. I then chatted with my roommates about our days while I had a soda and finished off my AMAZING chocolate cake from the night before. Then I climbed into bed and went to sleep.

To see all my pictures (this is just a selection from each day), go to my Facebook album and leave comments!

Pic 1- The line behind me to get into Javits
Pic 2- Gabrielle Zevin signing copies of All These Things I've Done and Because It Is My Blood
Pic 3- Stephan Pastis signing a Pearls Before Swine collection
Pic 4- Courtney Sheinmel signing the second book in the Stella Batts series
Pic 5- A panel at the Teen Author Carnival, moderated by Melissa Walker
Pic 6- Karsten Knight and I!!
Pic 7- Scott Tracey and I!!
Pics 8 and 9- This is how I got into the speakeasy. I came down the stairs and hallway in Pic 9, then continued through the stairs at the back of Pic 8.

Book Expo America 2012 Recap Part 1

This was my third year going up to BEA and it was the best one yet! I woke up VERY early Monday morning to take the train up to New York City. I meant to get a bunch of reading done since my e-galley of Timepiece by Myra McEntire was going to expire in a few days, but instead I spent the vast majority of my time checking email and on Twitter.

I did however finish Don't Breathe a Word and got a good chunk of Timepiece read. I arrived in NYC on time and stopped at the McDonald's in Penn Station for a quick bite. I was going to be meeting my friend Susan (Wastepaper Prose) at Penn Station to help me walk to my hotel but she got held up. I found the hotel REALLY easily and that gave me confidence that I could actually find things in NYC by myself. I checked in with no problem and then hung around the room a bit before heading to Scholastic. I did have to ask the concierge how to get there by subway though because I had no idea. He was very nice and helpful and gave me a subway map with directions.

Now, I left the hotel around 5 for the Scholastic event at 6 because I wasn't sure how long the train ride would be. Guess when I arrived at Scholastic? 5:20. Both subway stops were like right next to my locations and there were only 4 stops in between. So I entered and wandered around the Scholastic shop for a bit, but you can only do that for so long.

Around 5:35, I just went back to the lobby and stood around, fiddling with my phone trying to look busy. Eventually, my friend Rachael (Book Muncher) came by and we chatted a bit before heading up to the event.

Like last year, it was held on the Greenhouse level, which is absolutely gorgeous and I wish I had gotten a picture of the view. But it basically overlooks Soho and at evening time, it's simply beautiful with the sun setting. They had set out popcorn, cookies, pastries, and cotton candy as well as drinks. I grabbed some food and drink and attempted to mingle. As Rachael and I came to realize later, we're not good at mingling when we don't know anybody.

I did however get to see publicists Sheila Marie, Becky, and Charisse, who introduced me to James Dashner (who I think is pretty darn cute). Surprisingly, James actually remembered me from his BEA signing two years ago because he had mispronounced my blog name as "Book Chick" not "Chic" and asked why I had "chick" when I was a guy. His publicist informed him of the correct pronounciation and he felt silly. But it was a funny story and, honestly? All too common. Ah well. We had a nice little chat and then we separated to mingle with other people.

I also talked to Maggie Stiefvater about our train rides; I thought it would be awesome if we ended up on the same train up to NYC, but alas, we were on different routes. I ran into Donna Cooner, author of Skinny, and chatted with her a bit about her book and how I can't wait to read it.

I also talked with some bloggers, like Mitali and Erica, and it was so good to see some familiar faces! Eventually though, it was time for the presentation to begin. I loved what they did this year. There were 8 authors presenting and they were broken up into two groups of four.

Each author got a chance to talk about their book and then the whole group would read a scene from it. It was a lot of fun and I loved some of the authors' interpretations of the words and character actions. By which I mean, I enjoyed seeing Maggie fall down several times during the James Dashner reading of The Infinity Ring where she played two characters, and when I say she fell down, she FELL DOWN. Completely committed to it, especially when the two characters she played landed on each other during an earthquake. She deserved an Oscar.

Anyway, after the event, I snagged a quick picture with James Dashner and then I headed out to Junior's Cheesecake where I met up with my roommates, all of whom I had never met before, as well as Susan and her posse. Here's the complete list of people who were there: Susan, Miranda, Jess, Kat, Jessica, Stacey, Emily, Yara, Allison, and Wes. You can also check out this video to see us at Junior's (thanks Emily!)! It was an AWESOME time and I loved meeting new people and seeing old friends and talking about books. I want to do that every night!!

Afterward, we parted ways and my roommates and I got distracted by Ricky Martin coming out from the Marriott as well as Obama driving by around the corner. We eventually made it back to the hotel and prepared for the first day of BEA, which involved asking me a lot of questions since I'd been twice before. I love answering questions so I enjoyed it. Finally, around midnight or so, we got into bed and slept.


To see more pics, go to my Facebook album for it! If the link doesn't work, let me know!

Pic 1- My view after getting out of Penn Station
Pic 2- A view of the Scholastic store
Pic 3- Rachael eating ALL the cotton candy! (Actually, the one on the right is mine.)
Pic 4- Raina Telgemeier, Jeff Hirsch, Kate Messner, Donna Cooner (Raina's book is on the screen)
Pic 5- Maggie Stiefvater, Eliot Schrefer, Sharon Cameron, James Dashner
Pic 6- James Dashner and I!
Pic 7- Outside of Junior's.

Meandering Monday- Jessica Spotswood/Miranda Kenneally Signing

Alright, so I am way late in recapping this, partly because of my break in March but also because of my extreme procrastination. The event was held March 10 in the late afternoon at One More Page bookstore in Arlington, VA.

My mom was kind enough to drive and come with me, especially since we had to parallel park, which I am not good at. The bookstore was in a pretty nice part of town and my mom left me at the bookstore to go take a walk around. I was a couple minutes late, but I wasn't the only late one; people were still coming in half an hour after it started.

I came in the middle of Jessica's reading, and then afterward, Miranda and Jessica took questions from the audience and there were some really great questions. There was talk about how YA has changed over the years, why there's such a bounty of female authors in YA (they had no answer, other than that it rocked, lol), and what brought them to YA in the first place.

It was a really nice event and I got my book signed by Jessica and a picture with her, and I wish I'd had money to buy Miranda's cuz I've heard such wonderful things about it. I may have to see if my library has it...

Anyway, something else that was interesting too was that there were a lot of bloggers/writers in the audience, which I didn't realize until after the fact, lol. The only one I recognized was Michelle of GalleySmith but I think the reason it was so well attended is because of the DC YA Mafia, which includes Rick Lipman (who's now represented by my friend Pam!) and many other writers, the full list of which you can find on the sidebar of Rick's website. As you can see, Miranda and Jessica are part of it too. Hopefully someday I can spend some time with them; I had no idea (obviously) that there were so many awesome DC YA lovers! I'm always out of the loop.

Picture 1- The outside of the store, which also had a wine and chocolate corner.
Picture 2- Jessica and Miranda getting ready to sign. Also, whatever book that is in the corner is apparently EPIC!
Picture 3- Jessica and I, with Miranda and Michelle in the background. Also, Jessica has the smallest, neatest handwriting. It's crazy.

Cat Friday (26)

Cat Friday is a somewhat-weekly meme that's similar to Presenting Lenore's Cat Tuesday, in which I show off pictures of my cats. You've seen them in videos wandering by but now you can see them more clearly.

So I told you guys about the new cat tower we bought and I've finally got a picture of it with cats on every level! They absolutely love it and I hope you do too!

From top to bottom, it's Pearl, Meeko, Samson and Maya. The pink cubby hole didn't come with the tower- we bought it separately but they all really like it.

Cat Friday (25)

Here's another pic of a cat in one of our cat towers.

It's Pearl in the cubby hole! We love it when they go into the cubby hole. The other cat tower we have didn't come with one so we bought a separate cubby hole that we put in an empty slot on it. You'll see it in future pictures.

Hope you enjoyed these pics!

Incarnate Launch Party Recap

You guys, I had the most awesome Saturday last weekend. It did start off with having to get up early which was not fun but after that, it was great. My roommate, her boyfriend, and a friend of ours came with me on the trip. We stopped at a winery my roommate loved which was only 2 miles out of the way. It was called the Hill Top Berry Farm and we did a wine tasting (my roommate's bf didn't though). I've only had a few sips of alcohol over the course of my life and not really enjoyed it, but with these wines, they're more fruity and they also have a lot of meads (made with honey) so I decided to give it a shot. It was not as bad as I thought, but I could definitely taste the alcohol and that wasn't enjoyable. We got to sample 10 different wines for just $3 and they provided a ginger snap with one of them. We were only there for about a half hour but it was fun. The people working there were really nice; the lady who orchestrated the tasting was the owner's daughter. It was just a nice, local, family-owned winery.

Anyway, you're not here for that, so let's move on. We got to Harrisonburg about an hour or so before the signing and had lunch, then went to the store. We actually showed up a few minutes late- Jodi had already done her reading and had been answering a few questions. There were a lot of people there, which was exciting, but there were also some young children there, which was a bit perplexing. My roommate asked if this was a children's book and I said no, it's 12+. But whatever, they were there and full of questions. Also full of questions was Jodi's agent Lauren MacLeod who is amazingly adorable.

Once the questions were done, the big signing started! I got into line while my friends munched on cookies and cupcakes off in the corner. While in line, I chatted with Joli from Actin' Up With Books and Angela from Reading Angel. It's always fun to meet bloggers at events, though I am very shy so it's hard to get me out of my shell. I got up to the front of the line and hugged Jodi 2.5 times (once for me, once for Emma, and then a side hug for the obligatory picture). We chatted for a few minutes while she signed my book; Jodi is such a sweetheart and I loved her knit hat that she wore.

After that, I did some munching on cupcakes and cookies and won a little butterfly knit because my plate had an Incarnate sticker on the bottom of it. Since there were a lot of snacks left over, Jodi told people to please take as much as they wanted, so of course we grabbed a few of each. I didn't take a picture of the whole setup but imagine what's in the picture I took of our haul times a bajillion and you can imagine how much was there. Or you can just check out Jodi's recap that has a picture of it before people devoured them. Also check out these other recaps: Fictional Distraction and The Musings of Almybnenr.

Signing Recap- Cinder by Marissa Meyer

I was so happy to be able to attend Marissa Meyer's signing in Chapel Hill, NC on January 6. There was a slight hiccup when I accidentally missed my turnoff for the interstate, but then another junction came up a few miles down the road, which put me just an exit ahead of where I had to get off! I stopped at McDonald's for dinner, then went off in search of Flyleaf Books, which was in a small plaza with a couple other places. But seriously, Flyleaf Books is a HUGE place- they even have a separate room for signing events (half of which is taken up by the used books section). Before taking my seat (I was like half an hour early), I read through the extra material in the paperback of Bossypants by Tina Fey which made me chuckle, and browsed the YA section.

Then I headed in and took a seat near the front and continued reading Darkness Falls by Cate Tiernan while more people trickled in. I also took a picture of the speaking area because I had a feeling I'd be too scared to take a picture once Marissa was up there. I always feel awkward taking pictures of authors when they're reading or doing a QnA- does anyone else feel that way? Anyway, one of the booksellers came in and gave a great introduction and then Marissa was at the podium. She talked a bit about how Cinder came about, read a couple pages (she asked us to pick a number before page 150 and she would read starting from that point), then did a QnA. There were some great questions. By the way, the whole time Marissa was talking, I kept thinking she was like a cross between Sarah Rees Brennan and Molly Shannon- looks and personality-wise.

Once she was done with the QnA, people lined up to get their books signed. I waited a few minutes then got in line. Marissa was really nice and I gave her my business card to help introduce myself and she was like "I know you! You've been tweeting about this event!" We talked a bit about how I've come down to Chapel Hill/Raleigh quite a few times for book events and how this is such a great book community. There's a lot of great indie bookstores down there.

Afterward, I browsed throughout the whole store and while in the Used Books section, I overheard Marissa talking with some other people about how she needs a better phrase to write when signing for boys. She currently had "May all your ever afters come true!" (or something like that) which she thought was a bit too feminine. I later tweeted her with "May you grow cyborg arms with weapons and be happy." because there had been a young boy who had asked if any of the cyborgs in the book had weapons. So it seems fitting. Anyway, just a lovely event and I'm so glad I went!