The time it was in a bar

Once upon a time, Gretchen McNeil posted an panel/event on Facebook with Brodi Ashton, Veronica Rossi and Jennifer Bosworth. Since it had SCBWI in the title, I asked if it was open to the public and then again if everyone would be willing to sign afterwards.

Gretchen's answer? DUH. [STG, My adoration for this woman is immense.]

Now, being the sneaky sneak that I am, I looked through the list of people who said they were attending. On that list? Tamara Ireland Stone. I may have died a little before sending her a creepy DM asking if she was really attending. Annnnd she said yes. 

 

After getting books from Jaime & Erin, I just had to sit back and wait for the event day to get here. Patience. I've got it. 

 

We headed up to LA early. Not only was it one of the last days of X Games, but it was the start of the Sunset Strip Music Festival, so we were expecting traffic to be even more shiteous then normal. And it was. 

We got to the hotel around 4pm. There were so many people. After grabbing Starbucks, we settled into some seats in the lobby bar and waited some more. 

 

I almost [literally] ran into Cynthia Hand and then Veronica, Tahereh Mafi and Ransom Riggs all went walking by. I'm pretty sure I even saw Shannon Messenger. I was excitedly pointing everyone out to Hubs and he was not amused.

The upside to hanging out in the lobby bar area is all of the people watching. And LA has some of the best. We saw J. Bos come through the front door and she we chatted for a minute before she went to go find Gretchen. 

Gretchen found us around 5 and invited us to the "circle of awesome", which was a grouping of couches around a fire pit. She introduced us to the group of people who where already there, including Amy Tintera.

 

I saw Tamara come down to the area. She was talking to Shannon when she saw me. I jumped up and we had an exuberant hug before we chatted for a bit. She also gave me some amazing gifts before breaking away to socialize with the people who kept streaming in.

A quarter from the Time Travel store for my expired parking meter & a Time After Time mug.

We sort of just sat back and took it all in since we were the only people in attendance who weren't authors....which I wasn't expecting. 

Eventually, we left and went to one of the bars to get happy hour food. And had some delicious gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches.

 

We got back to the circle of awesome and were just hanging out. Tamara came over and we started talking about my upcoming Time After Time playlist blog post. She also showed me an AMAZING Time After Time related photo that I hope she'll share at some point after the book is released. 

We also talked about her release party for Time After Time and if Hubs and I were going to come up to San Francisco since she was planning on coming to San Diego. I also gushed all over her about the ending of TAT and how much I adored it. You guys, this book...I don't have words for it. 

Gretchen, Jennifer and Brodi started talking about how Veronica was going to be late around 7:15. Gretchen said they were each going to answer three questions: 

1. What is the best thing that has happened since you sold your book?

2. What is the worst thing that has happened?

3. What do you wish you knew before being published?

B: Meeting good friends. Seeing my book on the shelf. The day it was out I went to the store and freaked out. I told a woman  in the aisle "this is my book". The woman held up the book in her hands and said the same thing. 

The worst part is realizing how much I don't have control. The cover, the tour, the signings. All of it. 

I was under the impression that once I hit this milestone, it'll be smooth, that I'll have a career. And it's definitely not like that. 

J: I'm going to work backwards. Do you know about the It Gets Better campaign? No, it's not true. It gets harder. The thing I thought would happen was validation and it didn't happen. There are so many people who are ready to judge your book and tweet you about it. I wish someone would have told me that. 

The worst thing that's happened is that my publisher passed on my second book. One that I really believed in and I put my heart into it. I had to break into publishing all over again. 

The best thing is that I was able to sell a second book. Not the same book, but a different one. It proved that I had more books in me. 

G: The best thing was when Christopher Pike blurbed Ten. Got an email from cpike number number at AOL. He said that he wanted to blurb the book and I burst into tears. That was the moment I realized that I was an author because a person I read wanted to blurb my book. 

The worst is when Barnes and Noble skipped on Ten. It's happening again with 3:59. It seemed like a death sentence, but I proved that it's not. 

There is a hierarchy in your publisher. There are books that will get more money for marketing. I would have promoted my book differently if I would have known that there wasn't going to be a huge push. 

The Q&A started while waiting for Veronica to come down. 

 

Do you have any idea how much you spent on promoting your own book?

G: It's an expense, I got an outside publicist who got me an interview in PW. Indie bookstores carried Ten. More than $5k, less than $10k. Spent hundreds of hours in time and at least $400 at the post office. 

J: I've probably spent around $3k on swag and travel for Struck.

B: I'm the one who spends myself to most places and that surprises a lot of people. I have to charge an author fee now because I've spent a lot of money in hotels. 

Gretchen is great at self promotion on social media and I have a hard time doing that. I look to her to see how it's done. 

G: The bookmarks that we hand out? We pay for those. 

B: I gave out a car. That was a horrible way to spend the money. 

How do you find out beforehand if your publisher will give you the push?

G: If they pay a million dollars for your book, they're going up promote it. 

B: It could be based on the size of the advance. As it gets closer to the publication date, everything could change. 

J: I didn't find out until 3 months before. I tried to find out, but I'm not sure they even knew. 

B: Even if you have a healthy advance, they could decide to cut their losses. 

G: I get asked how many books I've sold from doing the self promotion. There's no way to quantify that. It's not like tv where there are Nielsen ratings to show you exactly what you've done against the shows that aired at the same time.

 

When you do self promotion, do you check in with your publisher?

J: You are your best champion. [There was a lot more to this, but I was trying to take pictures.]

G: And sometimes you get 400 emails because you said something in an online interview that maybe you shouldn't have said.  

Did you have an outside editor before you sold anything?

B: Get a really good critique group. 

J: Find someone you can trust. Someone you know. 

G: Mine is right there. Laurel has done all of the work on Ten and 3:59. It's really hard to find people to trust with your book. 

J: You need to know when to trust yourself. Develop your instincts so it's not turned into something they want to read instead of what you want to write. 

Why am I self publishing an old manuscript?

G: The money is immediately mine. It is completely written. It's not going to take me 6 months to finish, it'll take 2. [There was a lot more to this answer]

Veronica got there at 7:45 and she got the 3 questions.

 

V: I have been so lucky because of the publishing deal, I got to meet some amazing people. You can think of success in terms of book sales, but I'm in this for the long run, I'm going to be writing for the next 40 years. The journey is so rewarding to be able to email and text with author friends, having peers to share it with. 

The worst? Book 2. It almost killed me. I almost fell out of love with writing. Writing on deadline was really hard. I had a fans who were waiting, an agent and editor who were waiting. It wasn't the same as writing for fun, for me. It was work. I pulled more all nighters than I did in college. BUT I LOVE IT. 

G: We are lucky to be standing up here and have the pressure of deadline. 

V: I never lost sight of that. 

J: I way lost sight of it. I wanted to go back to writing for myself. 

V: That's what I wish I knew. I actively try to protect the creative process. I walk for an hour a day. I listen to audio books during that time. I can't always pick up a book when I'm done for the day, I've always been a reader. I plow through audio books, I no longer have the editorial voice. 

J: I listen to them all the time. I no longer read on the page. I'm tired of looking at words. 

 

Did you know how many drafts you were going to go through?

B: if I knew it was going to be 18 drafts, I wouldn't have done it. 

G: My books are really short with a tight outline. 

J: Expect one horrible, rip your heart out of your chest, Indiana Jones rewrite. 

At this point, I stopped typing the Q&A because before Veronica answered a question, she asked everyone not to tweet out her answer. I wasn't sure if it was a joke or not, so I just stopped taking notes. Before I left, I asked all four ladies if I could blog about the event. If one of them had said no or even hesitated with an answer, this post would have been entirely different.

They stopped taking questions at 8pm. I had books for Veronica, Brodi and Tamara. 

 

I caught Veronica first. I showed her Jaime's UK copies and she hugged them, calling them her babies. I gave her the option of a hot pink or black sharpee. She picked hot pink because she had never used it.  We chatted for a minute or so before she told me that she better see us at the next event because this one didn't count. I told her that I was glad we weren't at the point where it was stalkerish. We hugged  and she dashed off to make the rounds. 

Brodi was next. I was able to catch her finishing a conversation and sort of thrust Erin's books out at her. I gave her the option of hot pink or black and she chose black because she was dressed all in black. We chatted for a minute or so before she also hugged me and thanked me for coming. 

And now for Tamara.  

She was in the middle of a conversation and I didn't want to interrupt, but after a few minutes, Hubs was getting eager to head home. I hesitantly touched her arm, apologized to the two women who she was talking with, and asked if I could borrow her for two minutes. 

Tamara said that I get way more than two minutes, excused herself from her friends and led me over to a table away from the crowd. Where we talked for 15 minutes or so. I learned all sorts of things about her writing process, how she reads her reviews and the different plot plans she had for Time After Time.

And I tried not to die from fangirling. 

You guys. She is so amazing. *sigh*

 

 

She also signed my UK copies of Time Between Us. 

 

 

She walked me back to where Hubs was standing before we had another quick photo shoot, several more hugs and a promise to see each other in October. 

 

As always, Gretchen, J Bos, Brodi and Veronica were so much fun and the panel was really unique. This was definitely a drive I'm happy I made. 

The time it was a full day of crazy

It might not be a well known fact that I am a Twilight fan.  Yes, I did midnight shows for all of the movies [and the marathon for the BD2].  Yes, I have multiple copies of the books [paperback, hardcover, movie tie in, UK paperback]. Yes, we did one of the Hot Topic tours with the cast [unfortunately, not the one with Rob]. No, I didn't see them in Hall H.

Either way, it goes without saying that as soon as I saw that Stephenie Meyer was going to be signing at The Grove, I was going to get up there.  Honestly, I did go back and forth with it because I knew thought it would be a nightmare.  As soon as Michelle said she was interested in going, it was a done deal. 

The alarm went off at 4:15. I woke up to a text from Michelle saying that she wouldn't be able to go, since Ollie wasn't feeling good. We gassed up the Honda and set off.

We got to The Grove just before 7am. And of course there was already a line in front of the store. There were two lines, actually. Apparently, some people lined up at midnight and security told them to line up around the corner. Hubs ended up seeing Lita out front and she said the major line up WAS the line up.

Around 7:45, Lita came by and merged the two lines. She also said that all of the people in line would be in the preferred group and get a special The Host t-shirt.  We also got a list of guidelines.

We got into the store around 9:30 and we played another round of "hurry up and wait".

But then we got up to the counter and bought our books. Our wristbands were still in group A and the t-shirts were still available.

We got out of the store just before 10am and went on a hunt for some food. On the way to the car [to grab my Twilight books], we decided to head into B&N to see if they had the event section set up. Hubs stopped a woman who had just gotten out of line at the register and asked what letter she was. Her answer? J

We got up to the events area and they had the corral up and tape on the floor indicating where the lines would start.

 

There was a girl who was already laying down to the left of the start of the line. She said that she had been there for over 90 minutes and no one had said anything to her about it. She ended up having priority wristbands and said I could have her spot.

So I waited in line without being in line.

Around 12:00, a girl from the studio said that she was going to clear the events area out to set up the lines. Meanwhile, security and booksellers from the main cashier section were telling people they were allowed to line up on the taped letters. I quickly became the head of the official unofficial line.

And then we were told that group A was actually going to be lining up on the letter C and everyone merged over to that aisle.

They pushed us back a few times while they were setting up the barriers. After about 35 minutes, we were happily lined up in the official line as the first group of the A's. [We met Allison and Morgan in line and they hung out with us as it was their first book signing]

Stephenie and the cast showed up right after 2pm. They posed for paparazzi pictures and then moved to their separate areas. Stephenie was at the main table alone and Max Irons, Jake Abel and Diane Kruger were at a side table signing posters. Saoirse Ronan was supposed to also be there, but she missed her plane and they expected her later.

Once we got up to the holding section, we were told that all cameras had to be down. You handed your books to a handler, who handed them to Stephenie.

Once I got up to her, we both said hi and then I thanked her for coming. I had the UK version of Twilight as my extra copy and she commented on how she loved the UK versions, that they were so special. She then said that she was waiting for her white copies for her personal collection, that she still didn't have any.

Hubs and I weren't allowed to walk up together, so I only slightly overheard Stephenie comment on what a great helper he was.

 

We then walked over to the cast table. Diane was first, she signed my book and then asked if we still wanted posters. We said yes, so she signed and starting passing it down.

Max and Jake had tweeted earlier about throwing ping ping balls at Stephenie. As we were in line, someone was passing them out. Someone threw one at Jake and I laughed saying that I forgot all about the ball. He asked if I still had it and if so, we were going throw them at Stephenie at the same time. When I said no, because I didn't want to get thrown out, he laughed again and said he would "huck them both" himself.

Security sort of got mad that we were still there, so they ushered us away. On the way out, they cut off the wristbands am told us if Saoirse showed up, we could use the wristband to get back in line for her.

 

It was just before 3pm when we headed up to Thousand Oaks for the second signing.

We got up to that B&N around 4:30. And right when you opened the door, they had a table display and sign promoting the event.

I had to get a couple of books and was rung up by THE NICEST employee I've ever met. Ever. Anywhere. From there, we scoped out the event area and asked when it would be set up. Grabbed some dinner, then went back to the store to wait and steal electricity.

Chairs were set up just before 6pm and I quickly grabbed front row.

The authors got there at 7pm, but the events person said they don't normally start on time, to give people extra time to get there. Once the event started, each of the ladies did a brief introduction to their books and then opened it up to questions.

For each person who asked a question, they were given a prize. Jodi gave knitted flowers, Cynthia gave out patches and Brodi had gum.

Where do you get your ideas?

C: likes Kiersten White's answer of getting them from a back alley on the streets of LA. Actually, they come from a lot of random places.

J: Time traveled to year one in Japan and fought a ninja, broke into a sealed vault, stole a magic dagger, time traveled to year one million, found a unicorn and some of the dust that may or may not have come from the unicorn horn got into her brain.

B: Got the idea from girl from school, in pottery class [C: "no good comes from pottery class"] coming back after a long absence, looking completely different. There were a lot of rumors and it prompted the idea of telling the story of where she went while gone.

What's the hardest part of being a writer?

B: Writing. She thinks it'll get easier but it doesn't, has come to the conclusion she can't write.

J: Waiting. For responses. For phone calls from the editor. For edits being returned. For everything. Publishing moves so slow. Incarnate sold in 2010, released 2012.

C: The 48 hours right after she gets her first revision letter from the editor are the hardest. Spends that time feeling bad and thinking she's a bad writer. Time management is hard, making time for the important things.

  

Best advice for someone wanting to be in the exact genre? Maybe the hardest lesson they learned.

B: Read a lot and finish your book. Don't chase trends.

C: Takes about 17 months before its on the shelf after selling it, so something that is a trend now won't be when it's released. Write the story you want, that's in your heart. Prove to yourself that you can finish.

J: Start with a change. Kill everyone if you want. In fiction.

How many manuscripts?

B: One. Got an agent with it and the second was published.

J: 16 full books, most about 100k words.

C: Unearthly was the first book she finished. Wrote short stories, got rejections there. Had an agent already through a short story in a literary journal. Didn't try to publish until she was pretty practiced as an author.

Should you wait and polish your craft until trying to publish?

Novels are a marathon, short stories are a sprint. Why she loved being on tour, everyone had different experience. Short stories worked for her specifically.

What made you pick this genre?

C: It picked me. Didn't know Unearthly was YA. Wrote fanfiction in high school and literary fiction in college. Read 70 YA novels in one year and fell in love with it.

J: Same. Tried writing seriously and her friends were telling her it was YA. Her response was, "No. I'm an adult. I'm 23." Years later, she loved the YA covers and wanted to read those. She just had a man on the airplane tell her she should write about Argentina. He said, "Come to Argentina you can stay in my apartment". She said no and put on her headphones.

There were a couple other questions, but I didn't pay attention. Then before the signing started, Jodi had a giveaway for some mitts she made. The question was the full name for Sam's pony. I knew the short name and another girl said if I said the short name, she's remember the full name. She gave the full name and won the mitts, I said I should get one for the assist and Jodi gave me a knitted rose.

The signing started and I walked right up to Jodi, since I had already seen Cynthia and Brodi. Cynthia said hi and that it was nice to see me again. She asked where we lived and I ended up telling her about SM and being up since 4am.

Since Michelle couldn't go, I ended up getting books for her and Caitlin. Jodi asked if I was Caitlin's emissary. I laughed and said yes. And then when she saw Michelle's book, I explained how she couldn't make it since the baby was sick.

 

After all of the books were signed, I thanked them for coming, hugged the wife and started the long drive home to get some sleep.

Even though it was an insanely crazy day, it was all worth it.

The time we were last

As soon as I posted that I was going to the Dark Days tour with Tahereh Mafi, Cynthia Hand, Veronica Rossi and Brodi Ashton, friends started asking if I could pick up books for them.  At first count, I was going to have 36 books for the four ladies.  It ended up being 19 to bring, with 11 to pick up.

We started up to Huntington Beach early, stopping to pick up Ava. She had already talked to Jeanne about holding seats and books for us, so we didn't have to rush.  But, we all know how hateful the 405 can be...

Anways...

We got Ava and hit the store around 4. We had front row AND Jeanne was super awesome and set aside the books we needed to purchase day off.

 

We went to buy the books we needed and headed back upstairs to flap everything. While we waited, we met up with Kristin and chatted about everything and anything book related. It was also good to see Crystal and finally meet Beverly. 

The authors got there just after 7. There was a moderator from Harper Collins and a designated blogger who would also have questions.

The first question of the night had the authors explaining their books as if they were texting their best friends. So there were some BRBs, a LOL and an OMFG.

During questions, Brodi said that she "didn't like reading", but actually meant that she didn't like reading educational materials. She then implored everyone to NOT tweet that she hated reading.

Tahereh fell over in her very tall shoes when she learned that she could have a "pants optional" job.

And now the questions:

Explain the most exciting part of your book:

V: that she got to play with opposites. Two protagonists, two societies, and an Amazing Race of two worlds, who will survive.

T: Chapter 62

C: the question of destiny versus free How Clara has to face that over and over and decide what she believes in.

B: Nikki and Cole both so certain in their reasons and so morally upright. She loves exploring their relationship.

What kept you going from book 1 to book 2?

B: Candy

C: Deadlines

V: Wine

T: Coffee

How did you come up with your villain?

C: Didn't do a lot of research until the end. Knew she wanted a complicated villain and while reading the Book of Enoch, found the name Samjeeza.

T: Thinks its important to create someone who isn't easy to hate. She wants to ask "wait. What are your motivations".

B: At first Cole was the love interest. And that's it.

V: Would second everything already said and then added that she thinks Kelly Slater [the professional surfer] is Sable.

 

After publishing, is there anything you would want to change?

V: The opposite. Finds that it's exciting to go back and the story inspires itself.

T: Exactly what Veronica said

C: Loves revising. She sees that things should have changed [mostly the language]. Sometimes a reader will point something out that will make her imagination go.

B: Once the story is in book form, it's over. But it still lives in her head. There's a specific scene that she hates and when she relives it, Nikki says and does the right thing and its frustrating.

 

After about 30 minutes, the signing started. Ava and I stood off to the side to be last since we had so many books to get signed.

As the lines started dwindling, the handler came over to me and said that I could head over to Brodi to start.

First off, Brodi is adorable and absolutely hilarious. She asked if I was a blogger. When I said yes, she asked if I had included the comment about her reading. I said that I did, but would gladly take it out if she wanted me to. She laughed and said no.

 

Cynthia was next. I had the most books for her -- 11. I didn't have them organized very well, so it took a minute for me to realize that it would be easier for Cynthia to sign the same books together, since different colored markers were used.

After that was figured out, it ran smoothly and I was able to get them all taken care of.

 

Up next was Tahereh. I had asked if she was ready and she opened her arms and said "My body is ready!" I had quite a few for Tahereh as well. When she got to my copy, I asked if she would deface it. She said because it was for me, of course.

I had a book for my HBIC and asked for a special inscription. Not only did Christina get the special inscription, but Tahereh also used my phone to text Christina.

 

We took pictures and hugged many times. And she told me that she expects to see me at every LA event that she does. I happily said that I would be her stalker if she was okay with it.

 

And last but not least was Veronica. We also hugged many times. We started out with the books and then it morphed into a serious discussion about Kelly Slater and Snarkles who was there with the HC woman [and I didn't catch her name].

 

She mentioned how many books I had and asked if someone had recorded how many it had because it had to be a record.

We were the absolute last people there and said goodbye to all four ladies a few times as we left the store. Huge thanks to Brodi, Cynthia, Tahereh and Veronica for making the trip out. And extra special thanks to Jeanne at BN for being so amazing.

Now.

Want a signed copy of the first book from each author? I've got 'em. Just enter below to win!!

Rules are listed on the "terms and conditions" section of the Rafflecopter widget!  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway