Rainbow Rowell & David Levithan @ Avid

Hello friends! This is Avid Bookshop. It's my local, independent bookseller. I HEART Avid so much! And I was super excited to hear they were having some super awesome authors come visit on November 10, 2013!

As the sign says, "WELCOME, Rainbow Rowell and David Levithan!!"

How exciting! These authors are like a big deal, a very BIG deal! :)

Rainbow and David: 

They talked about their books, read from their newest releases and A'd the audiences' Q's.

Also, it was a PACKED house! Standing room ONLY! How awesome is that?! So many people coming out for BOOKS and AUTHORS!

David, Me, and the Hubs

We have quite the David Levithan collection in our little library now!

Me and Rainbow!!

Ohhh, and Hubs gets in on the photo too! 

I can't wait to read my new books!

It was a super great night! I'm so happy Avid was able to bring these authors to our little Athens town! If you are ever in the area, you should totally stop by there! And be sure to check out their website to order books and see what kind of events they have lined up for the future! http://www.avidbookshop.com/.

#PitchDarkDays Recap

On February 5, the Mr. and me took a little field trip to the big city to attend the Pitch Dark Days Tour at Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Georgia! Four FAB authors in one place was just too much, I HAD to go! 

I'm so glad we did! Not only did we see the authors we went for, but we also got to see some of the wonderful Atlanta area bloggers and book enthusiasts. We also talked to a couple of other authors who were there supporting the authors on tour. And we got to visit one of our favorite bookstores! All in all it was a good night!

I'm sharing some photos we took and some of the notes and quotes I took down during the discussion. I wasn't recording or trying to conduct an interview or anything like that, these are just tidbits from what they were saying. 

Bird's eye view of the Little Shop! This is one of my happy places!

The Panel: (left to right) in the background is moderator Ali, then Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Tahereh Mafi, Veronica Rossi 

Me & Brodi Ashton

Who said she writes YA because you FEEL so much {as a teen} and everything is so life or death, just ask her about the time her grandma got her clown pants!

In regards to her switching formats from book one to book two, Brodi said that was the way it came to her and she was excited to go on a quest in the second book!

Me & Cynthia Hand

Who fell in love with YA because the pacing and stories. And she is jealous of today's teens who have this genre. She described reading YA like "coming home." Some of her favorite YA novels include Wicked Lovely, Carrie Ryan's Forest of Hands and Teeth and  Richelle Mead's works.

Cynthia also said in her own writing she is more a "panster" than a plotter. She has a vague idea of the ending but the visions change as she goes.

Signing away (left to right):

Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, Tahereh Mafi 

& Veronica Rossi

Veronica Rossi, Tahereh Mafi, Me & Mr

Veronica says YA because that's where she's at mentally and that it's so rich for writers with lots of first and carving of identities.

She also spoke about how she writes male characters, citing the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, having two brothers and now raising two sons. She's says she has always been a running with the boys type. Her writing helps her get out all the testosterone (so she doesn't grow facial hair!) 

She's got a sense of humor too boot!   

Tahereh said that she had always been a reader but wasn't a writer until after college! (Editorial note: Does that mean there is still hope for me!?! Maybe! :) She said she wrote five crappy manuscripts before she wrote Shatter Me (encouragement!) Tahereh allowed the character to dictate where she went and the first few pages of Shatter Me are the same as her first draft! 

As far as a "love triangle" in her books, she doesn't see it but then again she knows what's going to happen. And for a spoiler, if you haven't seen her videos, Tahereh says, "Chapter 62, Stuff Happens!"

Me with our BOOK HAUL!!

I can tell you all the authors were very kind and generous and if you ever get a chance to meet them... you totally should!

What a marvelously bookish good time!

Seven Urban Fantasy Authors at Avid

Yesterday MrCaptKirk and I attended "Meet Seven Urban Fantasy Authors" at our local indie bookstore, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia. (If you are ever in the area, I recommend checking out this little shop. The owner, Janet, and all her employees are super nice and knowledgeable.) 

I honestly almost forgot about this event until the morning of and last minute we decided to go. I am so happy we made the trek to town, it was totally worth it! I mean seven, that's 7, authors in one event?! Yes, please. Also, I'm always super stoked to meet and support local, homegrown Georgia authors so this was a perfect event for such.

Love this place! Avid Bookshop, Athens, Georgia.

The 7 author line up!

Authors and their books from left to right: 

Kalayna Price -- the Alex Craft novels, 

Rachel Aaron -- the Eli Monpress fantasy series , 

Jenn Bennett -- the Arcadia Bell urban fantasy series , 

Alex Hughes -- Clean, 

Delilah S. Dawson -- Wicked as They Come, 

Janice Hardy -- The Healing Wars middle grade series, 

& 

James R. Tuck -- the Deacon Chalk urban fantasy series.

~~~

The evening started with the authors introducing themselves and then read excerpts from their respective novels. (Of course this lead to us buy more books than we planned. :-)

Then there was a q & a/discussion time. All of the authors in attendance had some very interesting insights to the publishing industry.

Two bits of advice and encouragement from the authors that really stuck out to me:

1. Every writer is a unicorn and every writer is also normal. (Meaning there is no one "typical" way of getting published, each author's journey is different but also the same.)

2. Life is too short to read bad books. (I felt like this released me from some level of guilt I carry for not finishing books I start but just don't/can't finish.)

So the Mr and I had ourselves a nice night out, not too far from home. I really appreciate what Avid brings to the community and hope to attend more events there soon!

Are there any events near you that you're looking forward to or recently attended? This can be book related or otherwise. I want to hear about them in the comments below!

Have a FABULOUS week y'all!

YALLFest Photo Recap # 2

In this post you'll see me pose with some of the best authors ever! I'm so happy I got a chance to meet them and speak with them for a few moments. And I am so honored that they took the extra seconds to snap a pic with me. As crazy busy as YALLFest was because there were SOOO many people there, all of the authors made me feel like there were glad I was there. None of them were ungracious or unkind even in the rush of things. That's why authors are ROCKSTARS! They love their fans and their fans know it!

Holly Black

Ellen Hopkins

Melissa de la Cruz

Elizabeth Eulberg

Wendy Higgins and Tara Fuller

David Levithan

S.R. Johannes

Alyson Noel

Simone Elkeles

And perhaps one of my favorite but yet unofficial events, was dinner with several really 

cool bloggers and authors!

Starting at on the left side that's my hubs Clayton,

then me,

K8 from Froze8,

Liz from Elizziebooks,

Joli and Rachel from Actin' Up with Books,

Josh (huz-b to) Tiffani of Dangerous Observations

Author Simone Elkeles

Alli at Magnet 4 Books

Author Lauren Morrill

Kelsey of kelseyrdickson.com

and 

Author Assistant Extraordinaire--Melissa

YALLFest 2012 Photo Recap #1

This past weekend hubs and I spent some time in Charleston, South Carolina for YALLFest.
Let me just tell you, we had a blast! We got to meet several authors and get lots of books signed. We took a ton of pictures per our usual so I wanted to share them with y'all but there are so many I'm breaking them up into a couple of posts. Hope you enjoy the pics as much as we enjoyed taking them! 



The YALLFest website can be found here.

~Author Panels~

The ever talented Cassandra Clare!

Kiera Cass was such a good sport, we were at the end of her signing line and she was being rushed off to her next panel. But she was keeping it positive with a super cute thumbs up!

The movie based on their book Beautiful Creatures is comes out February 13, 2013!

You Tube singing sensation Abigail Ayala entertained us! Check out one of her songs here!

Authors do improv!