AWP 2014 Day One

Hey! It has been a while. I am still really busy with school, but I had an amazing day at AWP. First I went around and got information on MFA program in Creative Writing and/or Publishing. There are definitely a lot of schools that I want to go too, which makes the process even more difficult. So, if you are reading this and have a MFA, let me know where you went and if you would recommend it. 

Next I went to a panel on  Commercial Literary Fiction (Not an Oxymoron): The Place of Craft in Writing and Teaching Children's and Young Adult Literature. It had Micol Ostow moderating with Stephanie Kuehnert, Nova Ren Suma, Sara Zarr, and Laurel Snyder. It was a great panel on how being commercial doesn't mean that it is not Literary. That they like to push boundaries and challenge themselves into becoming better writers with each book. 
Here is Sara and I. 
Nova and I took amazing selfies together and this is the best one. 
After that I wandered around the bookfair more and collected more brochures. Then I went to a panel on  I’m Just Not That Into You: Unsympathetic Characters in Fiction. I found this panel to be very illuminating on character development and it presented a lot of great points.
Irina Reyn,  Hannah Tinti,  Lynne Sharon Schwartz,  Maud Newton, Erin Harris, Richard Nash, and Katie Crouch presented the panel. I found this whole thing to be very interesting. Next, I just hung around, since I was worried about the next panel filling up. I actually didn't enjoy the last panel. So, I am not even going to mention it. It honestly wasn't what I expected with the title and description. 
Next I went to the Seattle Public Library, because  E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, Adele Griffin, and  Robin Wasserman were presenting their new and upcoming novels and also read from their juvenile attempts on fiction. It made me laugh so much and helped me not feel as embarrassed about the stories that I wrote when I was younger. They also talked about their journey into publication.Afterwards, I got books signed.

Here is Robin Wasserman and I.

Here is Sarah Mlynowski and I.

Here is E. Lockhart and I.

Here is Adele Griffin and I.

 I hope you enjoyed this recap of my Day One. I will try to make one for Day Two. Now I have to go write an essay for Ethics.


 

Signings, Rock The Drop!, and other things I have been up to.

Happy Saturday! Lately I have been really busy. First off signings, I went to Rachel Hawkins and Sarwat Chadda last month, Gwen Hayes earlier this month and Holly Black and Cassandra Clare's signing on Thursday. All were really amazing and I enjoyed it. I also did Rock the Drop on Thursday, which is awesome. If you are the person that found White Cat on the Bremerton-Seattle Ferry let me know.

And Lastly I became an Aunt to Damien Chance Sherwin. He is so adorable and a really awesome baby. He verily cries and already is adorable.

Carrie Ryan's Signing

Carrie explained where her inspiration for her books came.

She also didn't used to like scary movies,

But her fiance slowly had her watch them.

She did a reading from Dead-Tossed Waves,
then she did Q&A about her books.

I also got to meet Mindi Scott, while waiting in line.
She is so friendly in person,
and I can't wait for her book to come out in October.
I also met Serena Robar,
who has a cute half-vampire series that is getting reprinted.
I also saw Barbara Ferrer again.

Here is Carrie and I.
She is such a sweet person,
and I can't wait to read her book.

Kimberly Derting's Launch Party

On Saturday, I went to Kimberly Derting's signing.

I really loved The Body Finder,

and Kimberly is such a sweetie.

So, I was really excited for the event.

Kimberly had this awesome gift basket that was in a raffle.

It included a blue ipod shuffle that was engraved with The Body Finder.

She also had stickers, bookmarks, and posters for everyone

and there were over 100 people there for Kimberly's signing

Here is Kimberly signing a few books before the signing.
Her family and friends had The Body Finder t-shirts made.
Some of them had characters on the back.
I loved Kimberly's husband Josh's t-shirt said Unpaid Intern,
which made me laugh every time I saw it.
Sorry for the blurry picture, but here were all of her family and friends.
Kimberly did an introduction of her book,

and thanked so many people.

I was honored be part of the speech.She then did a reading of The Body Finder

She then did the Q&A.

Most people wanted to know when the sequel was coming out.

and also if there was going to be a movie.

Here is Kimberly and I.
Mandy Hubbard also came up and talked to me.
I didn't get a picture with her though.
Mindi Scott and Phoebe Kitanidis were also there,
but I didn't get to meet them then.
Overall, it was an amazing signing.
I heard that Kimberly was signing for over an hour.
Congrats to Kimberly on her release.

Beautiful Creatures Signing

Last night, I went to a signing for Beautiful Creatures. I loved the book and I have talked to the author a few times. So, I was super excited to go.
Kami and Margie started off with explaining how they wrote the book and their love for Diet Coke. Also where they got their ideas and much more.
Then Kami did a reading of Beautiful Creatures and then there was a Q&A time.
Then Kami explained the contest that they are doing and gave the first clue from Melissa Marr's book Wicked Lovely.

Then it was time to sign books. I also gave them a bag of goodies which you can see.

Kimberly Derting, author of the soon to be released The Body Finder(I think it is 22 days now!) was there.
My Cybils buddy Jackie Parker was there.
Liz Gallagher(Author of The Opposite of Invisible) was there too. I got to have a lovely chat with all of them!

What Cool Kids do...

So I have been asked by a lot of people to post this. I'll have other pictures from this signing later this week. Anyways, I got the scanner to work. So here is the photo booth picture with Michelle Zink. Aren't we the coolest?

Signing with Richelle Mead and Lili St. Crow

So, on Tuesday, I went to a signing for Richelle Mead and Lili St. Crow. It was at University Bookstore. Here is a huge stack of both their books, which is amazing.

Lili St. Crow did an amazing reading, she was really funny and her reading was awesome.

Richelle Mead did an amazing reading. I am really excited to read Blood Promise.

They had one of the funniest Q&A that I have ever been to. It was great.
Here, I am with Chelsea Campbell. She is really awesome and we met in the line. Woot for Tenners!

Here is picture of Lili St. Crow, Richelle Mead, My sister Elizabeth, and I.