The time we spent the day in the shade

We went to Festival of Books last year and it was pretty amazing. So I knew I would be going again, I just had to wait until the list of authors was released to decide how long I'd be there for.

I made my plans the day before. And while there were going to be several authors that I love seeing, I was really focused on seeing people that normally weren't in the LA area. There were only two for Saturday: Gennifer Albin and A.S. King.

I already had my copies of Crewel and Dear Bully, so I started the hunt for Ask the Passengers. Again, B&N disappointed me with the BS sob story about how they didn't have it. Surprise, surprise. Thankfully, the awesome people at Mrs. Nelson's had one copy in stock. They were willing to let me pay for it over the phone and agreed to bring it with them for my pick up at FoB.

We ended up getting up to the USC campus early and found excellent parking.

Picture taken from LA Times Festival of Books Twitter

We hunted down the Mysterious Galaxy booth [where I FINALLY met the amazing MaryElizabeth] and the Mrs. Nelson's booth. And then we found LiteraTea, a little campus cafe and killed some time waiting for the official start time.

As we were waiting to sync up with Colleen, we helped ourselves to chairs and sat across from the signing area at MG and people watched.

Marie Lu was signing and even though I haven't gotten a finished copy of Prodigy, it looked she was at the end of her signing time as she was only signing stock before heading over to another booth.

 

We headed back to Mrs. Nelson's to find Colleen. There were hugs and gifts exchanged . We hung out for a bit, catching up before she had to go back to work. So we headed back to MG after getting pictures with the minions from Despicable Me 2.

Robin Benway was at the MG signing table so I grabbed one of her other books and had it signed. I loved Also Known As so much that I'll pretty much read anything and everything she publishes.

 

We sat back and waited in our stolen chairs and just people watched. Gennifer Albin was scheduled to be at the MG booth at 12. Around 12:15, one of the employees told us that they didn't know where Gennifer was, that they were trying to find out if she went to a seller's booth on accident. We were told to stay in line, that they would make sure Gennifer signed all of our stuff.

Around 12:45, one if the MG booth employees came up to us and told us that Gennifer was lost. She had checked into the green room, but no one knew where she had gone.

In the meantime, Hubs had gone back to Mrs. Nelson's booth to pick up my copy of Ask the Passengers by AS King. In their rush to pack for the event, it was left on a desk at the store. They nicely sent someone back for it, so it took some time before it was actually at the booth.

I asked Hubs to stay in line in case Gennifer appeared and I ran over to an adjacent booth to get A.S. King.

She immediately commented on my chest tattoo [which is amazing] and then asked to see my Doctor Who tattoo. We then started talking about tattoos and how her dad told her she wouldn't be able to get a job if she were covered in tattoos.

She's signed my books and came out from behind the table to take a picture.

  

About 30 minutes later, I interrupted A.S. King [who was waiting to start her signing panel at MG] to deliver a message of love from Heather Brewer. I ended up chatting with her for a few minutes about different things and her winning the YA award the night before.

Before we went to our last event, I spotted Debra Driza in front of the signing table, so I stopped to say hi. I ended up chatting with 4 or 5 of the most hilarious girls [I wish I would have gotten names] along with Debra. We talked about tattoos [because they loved my River] and the clothing choices people made. After a few minutes, I excused myself from the group.

The last signing we had was Michelle Gagnon. She was on a panel with Tahereh Mafi and Kiersten White.

I talked to Tahereh briefly about getting Jaime a defaced copy. I may have also gushed about her eyelashes.

I then went over to Michelle. I had talked to her on twitter about where she was going to be signing. When she saw me, she commented on how I really came. And I said that I was an experienced stalker. See below for the best inscription.

We talked about Strangelets. I told her that I loved the book and she told me how she had to cut 20k words from it. And how there's an entirely different ending out there somewhere.

We also talked about Don't Look Back and how I was dying for it. She told me there were arcs out and that it was up on Edelweiss. GAH.

 

After that, we got to steal Colleen away for a few minutes. We went to a courtyard area to hang out and catch up on all of the things.

And when Colleen had to go back to the booth, we called it a day. And right after we drove out of our awesome parking spot, Gennifer Albin tweeted me about the signing and said she was told the signing was at 3pm. She also offered to meet me anywhere to sign my things. I was so bummed that I didn't get to see her, but I love that she offered.

Festival of Books is always worth the drive up.  The USC campus is gorgeous and everyone there is always so accommodating.  If you're in the area, I can't suggest a better way to spend a day outside.  With books.

The time it was all bookish mail -- 2

Book mail is the best mail and this post is all about signed things I've recently received!

When the Breathless Reads tour was announced, I knew I would be ordering books for the authors who were on the east coast.  I had been talking with Fiona Paul and Elizabeth Richards a lot on Twitter and those conversations led to what could be the greatest inscriptions I've ever gotten.

With Fiona, we talked about our mutual love of The Crow.  We may or may not have quoted lines to each other a few times.  When it came to my order of Venom, she told me that if her signing line was slow, she would fill her time with writing quotes from The Crow all over my book.  I said I was expecting it. 

With Elizabeth, I had just finished Phoenix and in my flails, I may have begged asked for Ash. Fiona jumped into the conversation by saying that we had to share him, and I could only have him a few days a week.

And when I opened my books, I almost died...

 

At the same signing, I was able to get Shades of Earth by Beth Revis. I met Beth last year on the Breathless Reads tour and while I'm bummed I didn't get to see her, I'm happy to complete the signed series. And I can't wait to see how this trilogy ends!!

Kimbery Derting and Lisa Schroeder did a signing at Powell's in Oregon and thankfully, Jennifer was willing to get some things signed for me. I am super excited to see what happens in The Essence and I'm thrilled to have another author to cross off the list of the Dear Bully contributors. 

  

When the Dark Days tour was broken into two different legs, Jennifer and I split them up so we could have signed copies from all of the authors.

Jennifer got me things from Lauren Oliver, Dan Wells and Claudia Grey...

  

And then at another event, Jennifer also got me a copy of Scarlet by Marissa Meyer.

Who's a spoiled brat? Oh yah.  It's me!

The time it was a teen panel

The LA public library has been having teen panels for a while and I never had a chance to actually attend one. Somehow I saw the post about the one year anniversary and was interested in going after seeing that it would be Amy Spalding, Michelle Gagnon, Jessica Brody and Sarah Skilton.

I checked with the authors [and the library] to see if there would be a signing afterwards. While there wouldn't be anything formal, I was told that the authors were usually more than happy to sign anything after the panel.

We got up to the library around 5pm and wandered around. And there was definitely a lot to see.

Ceilings like this...

 

Or this....

And Getty exhibits of old Hollywood movie memorabilia.

 

The doors opened at 6:30 and we headed right in. Three of the 4 authors were already in the room and I got caught eavesdropping on Amy Spalding's conversation. *facepalm* The YA librarian, Mary, [who scared the crap out of me when I opened the meeting room door before the event started] said that there would be mingling until 7pm and the panel would start afterwards.

They even had some arcs they were giving away.

Mary started things right before 7pm. She gave a brief introduction about the LA public library teen panel and how it was the one year anniversary. And then she handed it over to Cecil. Cecil gave a brief bio of each author and then each of the ladies read a couple of pages from their book.

 

And then the questions started...

How did you come up with your mystery/thriller:

M: First book thought to be a college coming of age and ended up being a thriller. Had serious meltdown with both drafts: a hard drive crash and a Southwest flight attendant spilled wine on computer keyboard.

J: Was told all books have mystery to it. Big twist in UNREMEMBERED was in the middle and she moved it, tends to have a reveal of sorts every 10 pages.

Other books deal with grief, talk about writing contemp with grief:

S: loves Buffy and shadow cat from xmen. Wanted to write a girl who was strong because she trained everyday, not because she had special powers. At the moment you're tested, you fail, so if you're not who you think you are, who are you?

She took martial arts classes in high school and college - she is a black belt. Took out her journals from her own classes as a refresher/research.

A: Main character is trying to learn about who she is within her mothers world. Contemp is heightening everyday emotions. Like the morning after kissing someone you didn't expect to is like being in a prison of your own mind.

Research for hacking:

M: Most of the research was for her fictional disease. Had endocrinologist friend help with symptoms and such for PEMA. A worker with White hat hacker helped with the hacking info, gave a "top 10 signs you've been hacked" list.

Most importantly, the research can't overwhelm the reader. Michelle writes from beginning to end without stopping, places bracket indicator for where she needs research.

What is the trick for setting up a series?

J: Sold Unremembered as a trilogy, so she had to have some idea. Main trick is to finish off the main story, but leave some questions.

M: Adult series was reoccurring character with four different plots. With YA trilogy, she feels like she's fumbling through it, due to a much larger arc to work with.

How do you keep it fresh?

A: Desperately clinging to what is cool. Had flip phones in copy edits and finds it very hard to keep current.

S: Wants tv shows to stay on longer because they're referenced in the book. Amazing race, csi Miami, Oprah.

What came first: character or concept?

A M J: concept

J: Concept. She took a failed idea and set it up in Unremembered. Actually became the main twist of the series.

M: Concept, It was an idea that editor and Michelle came up with over lunch. Just needs one idea: a sentence or paragraph and can run with it.

A: Concept. Loves long lost family stories and didn't find one she wanted to read so she wrote one.

S: Character.

First person or third?

M: Always writes in third person. Just read a book in multiple 1st person POV and was very confused, they seemed to all have the same voice.

Thoughts on romance being so important in YA:

J: MC is dealing with a boy who claims they were in love before the accident. Wanted to explore the idea of are all memories erasable.

M: Has a hard time with romance, especially when on the run. Didn't seem natural to have them hook up.

S: Has a romance subplot, didn't want it to take over the story.

A: Romance is not focus, but there's definite romance. Also hates when there's something serious, but let's make room or kissing.

Around 7:45, they wrapped it up. I quickly went to Amy and asked if she would sign. I had a book for Tonya as well as myself. She signed Tonya's first and then as she was signing my copy, I explained who Tonya was. Amy recognized her Twitter handle and asked for the book back to "not be so generic".

Jennifer Bosworth was hogging Michelle, so I went to talk to Jessica. I got a signed sample of Unremembered and she commented on my Doctor Who shirt. From there, we started talking about tattoos and she asked me some questions about healing time.

Cecil snuck in and I asked her to sign my Dear Bully. That prompted the conversation about getting everyone to sign and how many authors I already had.

Jennifer was STILL talking to Michelle and while I hovered, started petting my arm. She graciously stopped her conversation so I could jump in and get my copy of Don't Turn Around signed. I told Michelle that I had loved it and had finished it while driving up.

As we left, I thanked Mary for a great event. And it definitely was. The authors were friendly and charming and the library staff were informative. I know I'll be checking for future events to attend.

The time there was traffic

Ellen Hopkins has been an elusive addition to Dear Bully. It seems that I continually miss her signing dates or appearances at ALA. Even after the date at Vroman's was announced, I wasn't sure I would be able to get there. But I did.

We got up to the store around 6:20, which is late by our standards. There was a small group of people already there; however front row was still available! I bought the new book, checked with the events person to see if they were passing out signing tickets [no, they weren't] and settled in to wait for Ellen.

Just before 7, the events lady came in and told us that Ellen was stuck in traffic and would be at the store as soon as possible. To kill time, she went though the "housekeeping" items and even read Ellen's introduction.

Ellen got there around 7:30. She thanked us all for being there and waiting for her after she was late. She immediately started talking about Collateral.

While doing research for Collateral, she spent 100 hours interviewing military families. She also planned to launch something with a particular veterans program, however, after they saw the book, the veterans decided it wasn't a good fit. Ellen figured it was because she doesn't "pretty up" any of her topics.

She then read a poem from the book. The particular poem that is now part of a traveling Iraq photo exhibit. After reading, she shared that she followed a battalion through 2 deployments for authenticity as well as the fact that $1 from every sold copy of Collateral will be donated to a military charity.

The Q&A started after that and many of the questions focused on Crank, which was a very personal story. Crank focuses on Kristina who becomes addicted to meth [and is based on Ellen's daughter]. It was 6 years of Ellen's life and she decided to write the story for herself. She quickly learned that it was a story that touched a lot of people. Ellen would sell the book without an agent and on only 75 pages.

Ellen's daughter, Kristina, has been supportive of the books and is quite proud of them. At first she was wary, but now shares them with her friends. A lot of the stories from the sequel, Glass, come straight from Kristina, who is doing well now.

Ellen's advice for writers is to be a voyeur: listen to conversations. She gets a lot of information while at airports. Always write every day and if a block happens, try going to a new place to write.

After about 40 minutes of talking, the signing started. When I got up to her, I thanked her for coming. Ellen looked up and me and commented that we've talked on twitter. I said yes, that I'm the one who drove from San Diego. She said it was a far distance. I then told her that we almost came to Vegas for her and Michelle Hodkin. Hubs asked why we had to go to Chicago if they were in Vegas. Sooo I clarified that we flew to Chicago for Michelle.

AND THEN ELLEN SAID THAT MICHELLE TOLD HER ABOUT ME.

After getting my things signed, Ellen asked if we were driving back right away. When I confirmed that we were, she told me to drive safely.

Ellen Hopkins is funny. She's an excellent storyteller. And while I haven't read any of her books yet, after what I heard tonight, I'll be starting them soon.

The time it was all bookish mail -- 1

Obviously, I can't be at all of the signings, which is a tragedy.  Thankfully, I haven't had any serious problems with various bookstores across the country when it comes to ordering for events. And sometimes, I have awesome friends or family get stuff for me....

I had been chatting with Trish Doller on Twitter about Something Like Normal [among other things].  When the time came to ask about getting a signed copy, Trish was awesome enough to give me the number to the Barnes & Noble that she works at so I could order a copy.  She did say that they had signed stock, but that she would happily personalize my book.

When the line up for Austin Teen Book fest was announced, I really thought we were going to go.  I misunderstood some of the information and thought Beautiful Redemption and Reached were both going to be released early at the event.  After I found out that I was completely wrong, I begged asked Christine to get me a copy of Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan. She also got my Dear Bully signed by Sophie Jordan.

I had talked with Kat Zhang about sharing my arc of Sever by Lauren DeStefano in exchange for cookies.  Unfortunately, with the time restraints between the both of us, I was unable to share it with her. I had plans to get What's Left of Me and as soon as I saw that Kat was signing with CJ Redwine [whose Defiance I was dying to read], I knew I'd be ordering both.

The day of the event, either Kat or CJ had tweeted a gorgeous picture of Parnassus Books, where the event was going to be held. I answered back that I was jealous that I couldn't be there.  A couple of days later, I got some lovely books in the mail and they were in the super nifty bags that Parnassus ships everything in.

When I went to Chicago for Michelle Hodkin, I saw that R.L. Stein was going to be appearing at the same bookstore later in the month.  I had asked if I could ship my copy of Dear Bully to be signed.  At the time, the events manager wasn't working, so they told me to call back. Instead, my sister and brother in law offered to attend on my behalf.  I called and ordered a copy of Red Rain, shipped my Dear Bully and waited.

On the night of the signing, I started getting text messages from my SIL.  It was their first book signing, they both had a great time.  And....they even took all sorts of pictures for me.

I'm so happy that everyone is so accommodating when calling to order books.  Sometimes, I wish they would say no so I wouldn't spend so much money.  Same goes for family members.  :D