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 didn't recap the event

Mrs. Nelson's always puts together an excellent event.  I feel like they always go above and beyond to do something special for the authors, as well as the people who attend.  And the staff are consistently some of the nicest I've ever encountered.

The Breathless Reads tour was no exception.

They had a trivia game with a giveaway as well as a "survival kit" that was full of candy.  As well as some pretty awesome Breathless Reads posters that were of the "if you liked this, read that" variety.

The authors got to the store early and came out with the moderator right at 7pm.

Normally, I would go into as much detail as I could remember [or if I actually took notes]. This time, I'm not going to recap at all. There were several bloggers there [so many, one of the ladies from Mrs. Nelson's actually introduced some of them].  I believe there is going to be a recap post at Read Now, Sleep Later, so go check it out.

Instead of my recap, I'm going to brag a little about the books I got signed.  Because really, when you get right down to it, that's what this blog is about.  :D

I got to meet the lovely Brenna Yovanoff and get The Space Between and Paper Valentine signed.

  

And I got to meet Andrea Cremer [again], but this time I had my arc of Invisibility and we flailed over it together.

 

Jessica Khoury and Marie Lu were also there, but I already have signed copies of their books.  Both of them are amazingly sweet. 

So.... yah.  That's all.

Even though I am was disappointed that the tour was broken up into two coasts, I'm so thrilled Penguin chose not to go back to the Bookstore-Which-Will-Not-Be-Named. 

The time it was at a library

While I've been able to see Lauren Kate at several events, I've never been able to hear her talk about the Fallen series. So, when I heard through Mrs. Nelson's that she had announced a date at the Ontario public library, I was definitely going to try to make it.

We got up to the library just after 1:30. They had a table display right inside the door.

One of the library workers, Courtney, happened to be walking around and she showed us where the event would be held. Courtney [who I later learned was actually the YA librarian] also told us that the last time the library hosted Lauren, there were 96 people in attendance.

We went to Starbucks to kill some time and then got back to the library around 2:30, with doors at 3. We sat in the library [which is a REALLY nice library] with an obstructed view of the event room doors. I then proceeded to annoy Courtney by continually jumping up to see if the doors had opened.

Once there was a small group of people hovering, Courtney opened the door and let us in, even though they hadn't set up the books for sale. There were over 80 seats inside [which were all nearly filled by the time the event started] and a huge projection screen that was playing the book trailers and an Australian interview with Lauren.

Lauren [who is adorably pregnant] got there right at 3:30. She started out reading the prologue of Rapture and then talked about all sorts of things.

She started out talking about the teacher who helped to push her into writing by having to keep a diary for two years.  Lauren said that she started to think about what her teacher would want to read and she realized that it was her first idea of writing for what her demographic would be.

She worked as an editor in New York and learned about the steps in publishing.  She did a lot of writing workshops, has a box with 76 rejection letters, Rapture was the hardest book of the series to write, but the one she's most proud of, and her new series is a love story [Lauren's commentary on her own statement was, "shocker"] that follows a 17 year old girl.

I didn't get to ask my question about her favorite character to write because she answered it herself.  Cam is her favorite character.  He is based on her husband ["He's the like the devil and yes, I go home to that every night"].  Lauren loves that Cam goes off the path and does whatever he wants; she loves to follow him wherever he goes. 

One of the best parts was when Lauren said when her husband would come home from work, she would share her day with him.  Instead of gossiping about her co-workers, she would gossip about her characters: "Today, Cam said this. And can you believe he did that?"

After about an hour total of Lauren talking and answering questions, the signing started.  I was the second one in line.  I thanked her for being at the event. She remembered meeting me before, saying that I looked familiar. I told her that I met her first in Santa Monica for Dear Bully and I saw her at FOB, but that it was the first time I had ever heard her talk about the Fallen books. Lauren said that she was worried about spoilers during her talk, but was happy that she didn't ruin anything for me.

I was able to get my copy of Rapture signed along with the lobby card. 

Lauren was definitely worth the wait in hearing her talk about her books.  I look forward to seeing her again, whether it's for the Fallen series or any future series she publishes.

The time I took the entire front row

By now, everyone knows about my love for all things Sarah J Maas and Throne of Glass. So, of course, when the release party date was announced and it was fairly local, there was no doubt that I'd be going. 

On the day of the release, there were loads of people tweeting about the book, the release party and their attendance. Expecting a lot of people, I forced Hubs to leave San Diego just after 2 o'clock. We got up to Mrs. Nelson's around 4pm.

I went to buy the book for a friend and one of the girls working said I was more than welcome to hang out in the store, that they had people wandering around who were attending. I went to the event area and quickly claimed the entire front row.

As I was buying a Mr. Darcy tote bag, Sarah walked in with her husband and her parents. She saw me at the counter and said hi. And STG, I get so giddy around her. Like I've never seen her before. Walking back to my seats, I noticed they set up the guest book [a copy of ToG] next to the display by the front door.

Sarah came out around 6pm.  The events manager, Beverly, introduced Sarah and told everyone there would be mingling and snacks.  Beverly said there would be a talk and Sarah would sign, but to enjoy the food [cupcakes!!] and the company.  After about 20 minutes or so, Sarah and Beverly both came back to the front.

Beverly revealed the results of the Who Would You Choose? question [Chaol won 75% to Dorian's 25%] and the raffle people were chosen to win the pack of books the store had put together as a giveaway.

Sarah didn't do a reading, but immediately opened it up to questions.  She also asked the crowd if there were any FictionPress fans.  Amazingly, ToG was written and posted on FictionPress ten years ago.  And Sarah wrote this lovely blog post about how thankful she is for those specific fans. 

I would like to thank them all as well.  While I have no doubt ToG would have been found at some point [because it is that phenomenal], the encouragement Sarah received from her fans propelled her to look into publishing.

There were some good questions, but the most important one is that the story of Throne of Glass will span 6 books.  Six.  Books.

SIX BOOKS.

You guys.

She's contracted for 3 books now, but hopes the she will be able to continue with the other three because the story arc will not be finished after the third book.  After that news, I just didn't pay attention to anything else...

The signing started and it took a bit to get up to Sarah.  She was taking her time and chatting with everyone who came to the table.  Ava and I went up together and when I handed Sarah my book for Christina, I mentioned that I would be getting my book at her tour date in San Diego.  And her answer? 

"And if I recall, that's your birthday, right?"

After I confirmed that it was my birthday, she said she was going to embarrass me at the event and perhaps even bring me a birthday hat that I had to wear.

We chatted a bit more [she likes Doctor Who and my Tardis phone case] and then we took some photos.

Since I don't have my copy to show the picture of the autograph, take a look at this lovely map that's inside the finished copy...

The time there weren't hysterics

As a die hard Gleek, as soon as I heard that Chris Colfer was going to be doing a book tour for The Land of Stories, I knew I was going. Didn't matter when or where the signing was taking place, I was going to be there.

On the day wristbands went on sale at Mrs. Nelson's, I called right at ten. And was met with a busy signal. I redialed, only to get the same response. I double checked the number and kept calling.

After 20 minutes, and over 200 calls on 2 phones, I finally got through to someone. She said that people had been calling since 7am, they had several people on hold and the best thing for me to do was order online and notate that I was attending the signing.

The day before the event, Mrs. Nelson's was tweeting about parking and the line up situation. They claimed there wouldn't be a line allowed until 3pm, so we decided to leave San Diego around 1:30. We got up to the store just before 3 and the line was about 2 1/2 blocks long.

We picked up our books, tickets and wristbands and were told by the staff that the line was only going to be 2 hours long. Chris was only going to be signing from 6-8. Period.  Later they would elaborate that he had to catch a plane from LAX at 10:30.

Around 6:20, some of the staff walked through the line telling us that Chris was stuck in traffic in east LA, was doing his best to get to the store and that it would be about a hour. When I asked if he would would still be honoring his signing time of 2 hours, they said that they didn't know, but not to panic.

And so we waited some more...

While we waited, some of the staff passed a copy of The Land of Stories for the people in line to sign for Chris to commemorate the signing.  By the time it got to us, the front and back cover has been filled up.  We flipped to a random chapter and Ava, Kim, Hubs and I all took turns leaving our notes for Chris. 

At 7:15, we heard screaming.  Serious, shrill screaming, so we knew that Chris had arrived.  The line started to move pretty quickly.  Every couple of minutes we moved up a few steps. Until finally we could at least see the front of the store.

And a few minutes after that, we got up to the front door.  [I did forget to mention that the store had set up two huge water coolers with cups for everyone who was waiting.  I thought that was pretty cool.] There were staff lined up all over to stand in front of windows, etc and when we could finally actually see Chris, there were some serious screaming from girls behind us. And jumping up and down.

At that point, I hoped to see some hysterical girls weeping.

The only disappointing thing about the signing was that there wasn't any sort of personalization.  We had even asked if the line moved quickly, would they allow it.  The girl said no because that wouldn't be fair to the people who showed up early to get in line if they let the people near the end of the line personalize. 

I wasn't expecting to be able to take photos with Chris.  Hoping? Absolutely.  Definitely not expecting.  But after hearing that Chris personalized books and stayed for all of the stand by/extra people who waited while at The Grove event the night before, I thought for sure we'd be able to get personalization. 

Anyhoo.

They let us into the store in small groups.  We were only allowed to take pictures from the line up to the signing table. 

A staff member took the book and handed it to another person [I'm guessing it was one of Chris' people because they weren't in the bright orange "I'm a reading Gleek" shirts]. His person handed it to Chris, basically said hi, gave an adorable smile and slid the book across the table.

Hubs went first, so he could take pictures afterwards.  Walking up to Chris in a Batman shirt triggered a brief conversation about the new movie.  They were trying to shoo Hubs away and simultaneously usher me over to him. And while I was in front of Chris, he was still talking to Hubs about mother fucking Batman, so all I got was a "Here you go, sweetie" and the adorable smile. 

We were both quickly ushered of to the side. There was a small corral of people taking pictures, but security kept saying, "One picture and move on".  Outside in the parking lot, there were even more people trying to get pictures.  I wanted to wait to see if the screaming-in-line-girls were going to exit weeping. 

Nope.  :(

We hung out for a few minutes before leaving and I came to the conclusion that Hubs doesn't get to go to signings anymore.

The time it was at a senior center

I've been wanting to meet Jay Asher since I read The Future of Us. I missed the signing the-bookstore-which-shall-not-be-named had with both authors and I refused to buy the signed copy from them, even if it appears that Carolyn Mackler doesn't tour that often. Anyhoo. As soon as I saw Jay's appearance at the Teen Book Fest, I knew I was going.

I had planned to meet Alexandra Monir at the Santa Monica B&N, but Hubs was out of town and asked me not to go because he didn't really want me driving up there alone. As soon as Alexandra confirmed that she would also be at the TBF, I decided to wait. Even if I missed out on hearing "exclusive" content from her next book.

Josie Angelini was at FOB, looking adorable in yellow pants [which she really pulled off well]. She was on the same panel as Kendare Blake and Robin LaFevers, but I didn't have any books for her to sign. I consider her my added bonus for being at TBF.

Anna Carey is another author who is scheduled to be at TBF. I haven't had a chance to check out her books and I sort of feel like a d-bag that this was going to be the second event that I'm sort of ignoring her at. Thankfully, they were selling her books and I was able to get a copy of Eve.

There was rumor that Tahereh was going to also be in attendance, but she let us know that she had been double booked and would be in Seattle.

We got up to the senior center just after 12, with the event starting at 1. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the building is really nice. The room was set up with loads of chairs, there was a separate room selling the books. We quickly found out that that the authors were going to be talking from 1-3 with the signing starting at 3.

I saw a flash of Ava's curls entering the book selling room and ran after her. Keeping with my promise to sit in the front row with her if she read Shatter Me, we grabbed seats [after buying books] and were able to talk for a few minutes.

The authors got there right at 1. There was a brief introduction by the moderator before each of the authors did a reading from their books. The moderator also had a short list of questions before it was opened up to the audience.

After all of the questions had been asked, lines were formed in front of each author. Of course, we were told that we couldn't stampede.  :(

Alexandra was first. We sort of both thanked each other for being there before she signed my book. As she was signing, I was pushing Ava in front of me and moved to the side, so there wasn't much actual talking... O_o

Jay was next, but his line was the longest, so I left Hubs to wait there and I went to Anna. She asked if I was from the area, I said no, San Diego. We talked about the traffic and how long it took to drive. Anna also thanked me for coming and said she hopes I enjoy the book.

Back to where Hubs was, I don't think he had even moved. I got up to Jay after a few minutes. Of course there's always a bit of a back story...

The day before the signing, Jay tweeted about the event and asked if anyone was going to be there. I answered, saying both Ava and I would be there and we'd probably want pictures. This was his answer:

So, when I got up to Jay, I told him I was the one who asked for pictures and that I wanted to know if he did bring the baby or wedding pictures. He laughed, saying that he had baby pictures on his phone, but no wedding pictures because camera phones weren't invented then.

As he was signing my books, he said, "How old are you?" I answered, "Too old to be here!" I guess Jay had heard Anna asking people how old they were, so Jay asked Anna how old she was and I thought the question was directed to me. That was a bit awkwardly awesome before I thanked him for being there.

Ava and I walked up to Josie at the same time. I told her that I loved how fangirly she was with her answers. She said that she's read her entire life and if she loves a book, she'll become obsessed with it and read it a million times. I'm not sure I could love this girl more.

Josie also had bookmarks and Starcrossed chapstick. She asked if I wanted something special written in the book and I said she could write whatever she liked. Then, being mega fangirly people that we are, Ava announced that we'd be at Josie's event for the second book at The Grove in June.

After having all of the books signed, Ava and I chatted with Nicole [who joined us mid-discussion and sat with us] for a bit, talking about what upcoming signings everyone was going to. And then we were on our way.

There are good things and bad things about panel-like events. I love watching the interaction between the authors and these 4 together were hilarious. I think there's also a different set of answers you might get in a group setting as each author can build off each others ideas...

The downside is that with that many authors, I always feel rushed. Not that if I had questions, I couldn't ask. I'm just painfully aware of the crowd in that sort of setting.

Either way, this particular group of authors was a lot of fun. They had great stories and interesting answers to the questions asked. I look forward to seeing them all again. And the Teen Book Fest is definitely worth the drive up, the building is gorgeous, the staff are friendly and they have awesome signs like this. 

*whispers* I'm still not sure why this makes me laugh so much, but it does.