The time there was talk of abs

If you even semi-regularly read this blog, then you know how elusive Kimberly Derting has been for me. Jennifer has been beyond awesome and has always gotten things signed for me. So just imagine my excitement when I saw that Kimberly was going to be coming to SoCal. And to MGRB no less.

Don't get me started on the other ladies, because the touring group is nothing short of amazing: Jessi Kirby, Sarah Ockler, Morgan Matson, Shannon Messenger [who has to be sick of me by now] and Suzanne Young.

Suzanne was also extremely exciting because I was unable to make the drive over to AZ for her launch party at Changing Hands. I had gotten an arc of The Program when we sat in the back room with Danny Marks. He raved about it [and Suzanne]. He was right, it's phenomenal. 

We got up to the store around 5:30. Thankfully, traffic wasn't too bad. I had plenty of time to peruse the super secret back room [quick and dirty giveaway to come] and buy the books I needed for the signing and book club next month [The 5th Wave! Finally!]. 

Also? I was finally able to meet up with Allison and Morgan of Stephenie Meyer signing line fame. :D 

 

The ladies got to table right at 7:30. Each author introduced themselves and gave a brief synopsis of their book. 

 

When Shannon gave her introduction, she mentioned that Vane has hot abs as a selling point. It then became something that the other authors added. They decided the tour should be called "The Abs Tour". Jessi said, "You can't tell from the cover, but it is about abs and a dog."

When talking about Jay, Kimberly mentioned that he was only supposed to be a minor character. Yet, the more that she wrote him, the more she loved him and he became a bigger character. 

After the introductions, they told us that they had decided to play a game: two truths and a lie. Whoever guessed would get candy and it would [probably] be thrown badly.

  

 

Sz: Dogs are named after 80s characters, champion of forensics for debate [there was more to this, but I didn't get it], took a picture of the cast of Growing Pains. [Actually was the cast of  Family Matters]. 

Sh: Sat in the row for nominees at the Academy Awards, played a trivia game and failed horribly [there's more to this], had a coherent conversation with Brad Pitt when he was shirtless. [Actually Rob Lowe.]

M: Was a cheerleader in high school, first concert at 9 or wrote first book at 16. [Book was written at 26.]

Sa: Skipped prom for New Kids on the Block, wore pjs to school for an entire year, couldn't publish first book because it was a total rip off and would have been sued for copyright. [skipped prom for Grateful Dead]

J: Never ditched in school, drafting is favorite part of writing, 2 weeks ago Sarah Dessen gave her a bag of potato chips. [She hates drafting.]

K: Went 5 years without chocolate, was the fast pitch softball player of the week, in a house during a drive by shooting. [fast pitch player of the week.]

After candy was thrown, they opened the floor to a Q&A.

 

Who inspired you?

Sz: Started writing in junior high. Wrote murder mysteries with her friends as the characters and killed them off one by one. Read a lot of Stephen king

Sh: Started writing screen plays. Read something by Cameron Crowe and that was what she wanted to do. Wondered if she could write for kids. Read Ella Enchanted. Cinderella is favorite character and loved how she was stronger. 

M: Worked in children's department in an independent bookstore, they wanted her to read everything. Started reading a lot of YA. Loved Traveling Pants and Sarah Dessen books. Very inspiring and realized story doesn't have to have magical things. Just abs and kissing. 

Sa: ET [obviously, that's what her copyright infringement book was based on.] Family member passed away and family had to have yard sales when she was a high schooler. Read Stephen King while hiding. In college, took a YA Lit course, had to read Sarah Dessen, Deb Colletti, Laurie Halse Anderson and Traveling Pants.

J: Decided when 8 wanted to be a writer because of Judy Blume. Wrote a bit in high school, mostly bad poetry about boys who didn't like her. Didn't try stories until teaching. Sarah Dessen had the first stories where it felt like she could tell a story like that. Started on 30th birthday. 

K: Wasn't any good YA while growing up. Went from Charlotte's Web to Stephen King and John Saul. Likes to be afraid and thought it would be awesome to scare other people. Wrote a "horrible" book out of high school and worked on it for 10 years [got an agent with it] and learned how to revise.

 

Do you have any writing quirks? Something you have to have?

Sz: Candy corn, buys it year round. Wants tiny food. Pretzels. Cheese it's. 

M: Likes to have several drinks in front of her. Smoothie, latte, diet coke. Then there can't be an excuse, "I can't write right now because I don't have a fruity drink."

Sh: First two books, needed music. Then no music. For LtSF 2, listened to only one cd. Doesn't snack. Forgets to eat. 

Sa: Loves white cheddar popcorn. Then types with one hand while eating. Can write anywhere with pen and paper. 

J: Needs quiet. No background noise at all. Caffeine and chocolate, preferable combined, like chocolate covered espresso beans. 

K: A lot of caffeine. Has an entire drawer of nerds gum balls. Orders them from amazon and UPS guy has to believe she's a shut in. He always sees her in the same clothes [even though they're duplicate pairs of the same pants, one has a bleach stain] and probably thinks she peeks out the blinds, telling them to leave the package on the porch. 

After that question, it was around 8:15. They had to be on the road by 9, so they decided to end the Q&A and start signing. I went to the end of the line because I had so many books.

 

I got up to Suzanne first. I had arcs from Jaime & Erin and we talked about how they were the newer versions from the one that I had. She then showed me the cover of the finished copy... You guys. Have you taken your dust jackets off? Because I didn't and I was floored. 

We talked about how Danny gushed about the arc and that he was the reason that I took it. 

We also talked about Doctor Who and how she loves my twitter avi [who doesn't love David?]. She told me that her daughter refuses to watch the Matt Smith episodes because she wants David back.  I then explained how I wanted to kidnap David when we saw him for MAAN. Suzanne was excited to meet John Barrowman at the Phoenix comic con to see if he was really made out of plastic. 

 

 

Of course she signed my books and we also took some pictures. *sigh* I just love her. 

While waiting for Suzanne, I said hi to Shannon. I explained that I had nothing for her to sign and she said she'd forgive me because she knows I've been buying multiple copies. I told her that I was building a room addition, just in copies of Let the Sky Fall. She gave me some awesome bookmarks. And I don't think I thanked her. So, on the off chance she reads this, THANK YOU, SHANNON!! 

 

I then went down to Kimberly. She was the first author I've actually gone up to and introduced myself. Annnnd, she knew who I was in the crowd. We talked about how awesome Jennifer is and how the internet/twitter can be the devil, but just as awesome as well. 

 

 

She signed my books and we took a picture. And I may have made a damn fool of myself just gushing and fangirling all over her. She hugged me [squeeeee] and who knows what other gibberish I spewed out. I can't explain how happy I am to have finally met her. 

The last books I had were Jessi's. I snuck in between the people at the table to hand her two copies. I thanked her for coming. She really is so sweet, I can't wait to read her book!

 

 

Overall, the night was fantastic. There were laughs and candy and bad throwing and all sorts of mentions of dogs, abs and kissing. Oh! And I got one of these awesome lobby cards that each author had signed...

 

Separately, these ladies are amazing, but together? They're phenomenal. There's such a perfect dynamic between all of them that it made for one of the best times I've had at an event. 

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!!

 



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The time it was the YAppiest WonderCon

Going to WonderCon was an iffy thing. We couldn't decide if we were going or not. And then LeAnna asked if we could volunteer at the MGRB booth on Friday...

So we got passes for the weekend and figured why not.

Friday traffic was ridiculously light. We got to the convention center around 8am and got front row parking. We grabbed some breakfast and went to see about meeting everyone.

Since we had exhibitor badges, we were able to walk around before it opened to the public. We stopped at the booth and got pictures of LeAnna's awesome Tardis dress [that she made!!].

And then we went off in search of a bow tie and fez that I could wear.

Around 1:30, we went back to the MG booth to help with the line for Patrick Rothfuss. Patrick got there and was being awesome, taking themed photos with his fans. Hubs controlled the line and I flapped books and wrote out post-its for personalization.

Somehow the unicorn head came out and Emilio started dancing. Then Patrick put it on, making sure that his beard was sticking out.

And then of course there were costumes....

 

And things like this...

 

At some point we saw Jordan Hembrough [AKA: the Toy Hunter] at a booth filming a segment.  We stopped for a few moments to watch them film.  It was amusing to see them bring the box out, talk about it and then take the box away.  Only to do it again 30 seconds later.

I found some awesome Doctor Who lanyards and handmade hair bows.

And the most amazing metal bookmarks with River Song [yaaaaay!!!] and David Tennant on them.

Around 3:30, we called it a day.  We made one more pass around the convention center and headed home so we could miss the traffic.  I was dying to stay to see the early screening of the new Doctor Who episode, but we were getting up early for the YAppiest Day at Disneyland on Saturday.

We woke up early Saturday morning to fight Disneyland traffic, which is an entirely different thing. We were off the freeway around 7:20 and started the battle for parking.

We made it to the front gate right before 8am and found the group. All of the authors had on YAppiest Day shirts in bright blue. Cat handed out stickers and pins to everyone. There were shirts left over so, she gave me one.

The authors were doing a book drop giveaway. Each person had a copy of their book and would sign it and leave it somewhere, so there was some markers passing around in preparation. After about 20 minutes of waiting for everyone to show up, the authors took a group photo and we went inside.

The groups split off between Matterhorn and Space Mountain. We were in the Matterhorn group with Lish McBride, Jennifer Bosworth, Gretchen McNeil, Kasie West, Jessica Brody, Chris Howard, Elise Allen and Shannon Messenger.

 

      picture from Kasie West's twitter

We fast passed Space Mountain and hit Star Tours. In the line for Star Tours, Gretchen handed me this, making her book drop complete. [I was standing with her when she signed it and I told her that I was going to be following her around all day until she set it down.]

Kasie and Chris both left their books in the ride. We found out later through the Twitter hash tag that someone had taken them from lost and found to hide them again. We also learned that some of the authors from the second group had been stopped by the Disney police for leaving things behind.

From Star Tours, we headed to Indiana Jones. Lish and Chris had both never ridden the ride, so it was fun to see their reactions.

After Indy [Shannon did a book drop by the castle], we hit Space Mountain [Jessica did a book drop] and our group almost took an entire car. And then we headed to California Adventure.

We got fast passes for Tower of Terror [Jennifer left her book by the entrance] and went to ride California Screamin'. Where Chris took the best photo.

We had just over an hour to kill before we could ride Tower of Terror, so we grabbed some food and relaxed a bit. And then ended up grabbing fast passes for Soarin' over California before riding Tower of Terror.

Yes, my face is completely covered by Shannon's hand!

From there, Hubs and I decided that we were going to call it a day. We had a quick photo shoot with everyone before leaving.

Huge thanks to all of the authors who participated in this event. It was so much fun and a really unique way to hang out.

Now. The only person who didn't do a book drop was Lish. She gave me her copy to take home and do a giveaway with it. You get the signed book and bookmark from Lish and I'm including a YAppiest sticker and pin.

 

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

Good luck!!

 

 

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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.