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 I almost didn't have books

When it was announced that Gretchen, Debra and Shannon were doing a library event just a few minutes away from me, I knew I was going. What I didn't know was how difficult it would be to find books to bring.

I went to Barnes & Noble first because they're 30 seconds away from my apartment. I was told that none of the books were in stock because the paperback copies were being released in September. I asked for clarification as to why they would choose not to carry a book for over 5 months. The employee told me that it was too expensive to carry hard cover copies and once the first run of them sold, they wouldn't be carrying the title until the paperback was released.

Anyhoo.

I called Mysterious Galaxy and the awesome employee, Rob, nicely went through their entire stack of stock to get me unsigned copies. Unfortunately, they didn't have any unsigned Let the Sky Fall, so he picked out the nicest signed copy.

I got to the library early, as always. I had never been there, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

I found out that the event was being held in the community meeting room. There were two women who were setting things up and they let me take a peek inside. One of them said they were hoping for a big crowd and that they'd be opening the door around 4:15.

So, I found a lovely shaded table and settled in with a book. After looking around in the bookstore, of course.

Debra was the first to arrive, Gretchen shortly after that. I chatted with Gretchen for a minute and she gave me a 3:59 shirt.

This is the back. The front has 3:59 in the same font as the book cover.

The door into the meeting room opened and one of the ladies I had talked to earlier said that I could come in. I briefly said hello to Debra and commented on her awesome blue hair before going in and claiming the front row.

The event started a bit later, so everyone was chatting amongst themselves.

Around 4:45, the teen librarian introduced herself and acted as the moderator.  The first question to each author was to tell the audience about themselves and their books

G: Book synopsis of all 3 books. Talked about how she was a trained opera singer, worked in tv production and did cartoon voice over work before becoming a writer.

D: Book synopsis. Professional grad student, worked as a physical therapist, had kids, and then became a writer.

S: Book synopsis. Always sells it with "Vane is very attractive with hot abs." Started college as an art major, switched to being a film major when she found that she didn't have the level of art talent she needed. Study screenwriting, then realized she was expected to make films. Left Hollywood to start writing.

Today is Support Teen Lit day, what is your favorite book?

G: Anne of Green Gables. Read a it lot, it was all about a redheaded girl who was smart and got into a lot of trouble. Really related to her, molded her more than she realized.

D: Dune. Didn't identify as liking sci-fi, but loved that book. Also read many Sidney Sheldon novels.

S: Loved to read as a kid. And in 7th grade, ran out of books. Got a list of the classics from a teacher and didn't care for them. Loved reading fantasy, but her 7th grade teacher wouldn't accept a book report on the 4th Indian in the Cupboard book. Didn't start reading a lot again until around 25.

What is your favorite YA novel?

S: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Very swoony romance, but don't let it fool you. There's a lot of meat.  It's brilliant.

D: Answers differently every time because there's just so many favorites. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta.

G: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. Brilliantly narrated. [At this, I interjected that Rainbow was going to be in San Diego at some point soon and everyone was very excited about it.]

  

Tell us about your writing process.

G: Doesn't like desks. Writes in bed. Likes to have sports on tv, preferably baseball. Has a daily word count goal when on deadline.

D: Writes whenever there is time. Not good with schedules and easily distracted. Has a hard time writing at home, will go to Panera or Starbucks instead.

S: Writes in bed because office is still packed. They recently moved into a new house and there hasn't been time to unpack the boxes. Training herself to compartmentalize time between the two books. Routine is to wake up, address urgent emails, then turn off emails and internet. More creative at night after 9pm and on, sometimes will start getting emails from editor around 7am and she'll realize that she hasn't been to bed yet.

How do you select character names and locations for the books?

G: Possess set in San Francisco, which is her hometown. Wanted something creepy and thought of the fog in SF. Ten had to be set on a island and a storm, could only really choose Maine or Seattle. Since Seattle was closer, that's what she chose. Set in Maryland, went to grad school there and picked the specific area for the top secret military base. Settings tend to be utilitarian.

Names: Based on personality. Bridget was chosen because in 2nd grade, she learned that Bridget was a name that was up for consideration when she was born.  She went to school and told everyone that her name was now Bridget. Mom was called by the school and young Gretchen was told that she was Gretchen until she was 18.  Jo/Josie were chosen because they had to be names that were from the same.  Besides the main characters in Ten, used behindthename.com.

D: Mila is an acronym that would be a spoiler to explain, so it was a utilitarian choice. Looks at baby names, but in her urban fantasy, the character is named ironically.

S: Wanted them to be wind related. Didn't put vane/weather vane right away. For Keeper, the characters are not human and wanted names that didn't sound like kids that would be in a classroom. Picked up a New Age baby name book that has been helpful.

Settings: invented everything in Keeper. For LtSF: it's where she grew up.

How long did it take to get published?

G: Possess was the third book. First book was horrible, second book got an agent. 2 years total.

D: Wrote harlequin romances that were both bad, then wrote something that would now be considered NA, but without the sexytimes. Next was an urban fantasy that got an agent. About 4 years total.

S: Worked on Keeper for about 2 years, building the world. Published book is draft 20, got an agent with draft 13. 3 years total and LtSF was written in between.

What is the process for getting optioned for film or tv?

G: A film rights agent will take the book to studios. If purchased, the studio will own the rights for a while and if they do nothing, the rights go back to author.

S: Had a list of people she didn't want to work with. Waiting to explode like JK Rowling to have more clout about the decisions that would be made.

D: Harper owns rights. [There was a lot more to Debra's answer, but somehow I clicked out of where I was taking notes and didn't get all of it...]

Favorite place, can be fictional or real.

G: There's a prehistoric [something, maybe a castle? I didn't catch it] in Ireland that she's been to 3 times. It's the end of the world and it's amazing.

D: Yosemite and Laguna Beach

S: Disneyland or Hogwarts.

Chocolate or Vanilla?

All three: Chocolate!

  

Favorite fruit?

G: Pineapple

D: Watermelon

S: Cherries

Favorite literary character?

G. Batman

D: Bridget Jones

S: Legolas

Peeta or Gale? or Edward or Jacob?

G: Never read Twilight and never will. Loves Hunger Games, but because of Katniss. If had to choose, it would be Peeta.

D: Peeta. Loved the bread moment.

S: Team Peeta, he brought out the best in Katniss.

From there, it was opened up to Q&A. There were a few questions before the signing started.  I went to all three ladies, thanked them all for being there and took bookmarks and candy! Before I left, I also thanked the librarians who put everything together.  As I was walking out, one of the ladies asked if I would do a book drop for the Rock the Drop event.  I did take a book and ended up setting it up on a park bench near a busy local restaurant.

Now.  Haven't been able to get your hands on Gretchen's, Debra's or Shannon's books? Never fear, I've got them for you!!

Rules for the giveaway on "terms and conditions" on Rafflecopter widget.

Good luck!!

 



a Rafflecopter giveaway

The time I was talked into more books

When the Dark Days tour was posted, I had "leg 1" authors taken care of and Jennifer had "leg 2" taken care of and then we swapped. Thankfully, before she went to her tour stop, Mysterious Galaxy announced a date with Debra. With Shannon Messenger, Robin Benway and Chris Howard.

So of course I was going.

Michelle wasn't able to come out and play, so I forced Hubs to come with me. We got there early, as always. I ended up chatting with some of the employees about how to pick a perfect book. And then I sat down to start flapping.

Robin introduced herself as the moderator and then she gave a short introduction to each author.  Each author then gave a short synopsis of their book. 

Talk about your book:

S: Broke a lot of her own rules, because she wrote for herself. Vane is attractive and there are lots of hot abs.

D: Will say there are hot abs, even if there's not. There is one of her dogs in there. A bit of a Where's Waldo scene that you have to find.

C: There are no dogs or hot abs. Well, there could be, depending on how you interpret it.

What kind of research?

C: Background is forest ecology. Certain decisions were made just because of the background knowledge. Did more thinking it through to make sure it made sense within that world. Not ours.

D: Fair amount of research, but not a lot used. Too many details and it will bog down the story. Felt it was important to know the background. Found a blog speculating about the year 2029 and didn't want to do any more research.

S: Googled a lot of hot abs. Didn't have to do a lot of research because it's set where she grew up. Did some for the 4 winds, to make sure that she did something different.

Found an article about weird weather. Haboob is a type of storm. And with a 17 yo boy, there will be a definite joke in book 2.  And Chris said, "Let the haboobs fall"

It's a myth about sitting down, writing a book and sending it off. What is process like?

C: Worked on something else for 3 years. Wrote Rootless quickly, a couple of months. Edited with his agent. Short time writing, lengthy editing.

D: 3 months to write. 10 months to edit.

S: Wrote Let the Sky Fall just for fun. Would work on it when her editor was working on the revisions for Keeper.

What is daily writing routine?

S: Best time at night. 7-8pm and then an hour to get in the zone, and write until 2. Some all nighters during deadlines. Often does word wars against Kiersten White and that gets her going into the creative zone.

D: Late at night. Take the kids to school and spends all the time on social media. Doesn't do well with schedules.

C: Gets started and if it's flowing, keeps going.

All of the books are trilogies. How do you build up climax?

S: Sequels suck to write. The free flowing in book 1 doesn't happen. Have to pay attention to things, can't break anything. Always knew it would be a trilogy, because there was too big of a villain to defeat in one book. Almost like Harry defeating Voldemort in book 1.

She used the timeline of 7 days and within the looming date, added obstacles.

D: Hard to do because it has to be a huge arc, but each book has to be its own arc.

C: If it's a trilogy, you already have established the stakes and built the world.

Someone mentioned that coming back to the characters is like returning to summer camp and seeing your friends again.  Everyone agreed. 

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

S: Didn't know until 17. Liked writing, but wanted to draw. Enrolled in art classes in college and found they could draw from their head, she needed to see the subject before she could draw it. Enrolled in broadcast writing, sounded like fun. Ended up with film school brochures.

D: Late to writing. Always had stories in her head while swimming. Quit swimming and eventually started writing things down. Wrote horrible Harlequin romance.

C: Wrote a lot. Short stories and poetry and songs. It wasn't until 6 years ago when great idea happened.

What has lived up to expectations when it comes to writing?

S: Reality hit when agent did an intervention and asked if she could handle 2 books a year. Didn't realize all of the overlap. Thought it was 6 months on one book, 6 months on another.

D: How infrequently writers to bathe. How many hours of revisions, etc. How many things you have to give up to work.

C: Didn't have a vision of what it would be like. What he loved is meeting so many people who love books. Thought it would be more of a hermit type thing.

Rejection. What have you faced?

S: Not much on Let the Sky Fall. There were 20 drafts with her MG series.

D: Harlequin romance was rejected. Wrote a YA set in college that wasn't very good either. Wrote NA before NA was around. Another book, that got her agent. Mila is book number 4 1/2.

C: Hardest part is the idea that you spent so much time with characters. Getting rejected is like those characters got killed.

What advise do you give to aspiring writers?

D: Never give up. Keep reading and writing.

S: From Ellen Hopkins: never treat anything as "this is it". This is the book that gets me the agent. Or gets me a best seller. It's just a set up for disappointment.

C: Don't let the number of people who connect with your book determine your success. Think about the journey instead of the destination.

After about 45 minutes, they opened it up to Q&A. And then the signing started.  They had one person go up to the table at a time, which was nice.

As I was waiting for my turn, I was talking to Rob about Chris.  We both agreed that he was absolutely charming and so much fun to hear talk [he has a fantastic accent].  I mentioned to Rob that I had just donated my arc of Rootless to ARCycling.  And somehow he convinced me to go buy it.

Anyhoo.

It was my turn to go up to the table and I had seven books.  I sort of dropped them on the table and apologized for being a hot mess.  Then I started distributing the books to everyone. 

Chris opened his book first and commented on the spelling of my name.  He told me that his sister in law is Emilee [spelling it out] and that he wrote my name really slow because he couldn't stop staring at it.

 

Debra asked if I was "book junkee Stacee".  I started laughing and said yes, that I never tell anyone who I am from Twitter.  And [I think it was Debra] said that the spelling of my name made it obvious, that if I didn't want to be recognized, I should start getting books signed for Stacy instead.

 

Robin was just finishing signing Jaime's book when I went to take a picture. She looked up and said that I couldn't take it just then because of girl code.  I said that I needed a picture of her signing the book and posed in a fun, sarcastic manner.  I started laughing and said that I wanted that picture exactly.  So, she posed again.  When I mentioned that I was going to post it on the blog, she asked the name of my blog.  I told her and she said that she saw me tweeting about waiting at the bookstore.

I promised that I would put an asterisk or something on the posed photo to make sure everyone knows it's a joke.  :D

 

I picked up some bookmarks and treats [from a huge bowl of candy], thanked everyone for coming and went to pay for my copy of Rootless.  I did get something signed from Shannon, but it was for Jaime.  I already have my signed copy of Let the Sky Fall.

The four authors work really well together.  They laugh together and all interrupt each other to make jokes and interject different things. I highly suggest meeting any of them, if you get a chance.