This month's event was on the small side. Instead of the large scale that the last one was, this felt more intimate and friendly. (Not that they're not friendly, they are SUPER friendly.) We had prizes and refreshments and it was simply fun.
Let us start with the prizes. ^_^ When we walked in Suzanne had a basket sitting out to put our names in for the drawing. Jennifer was away this weekend at Leekycon. Lucky girl. But back to the drawings. I won! To be fair she drew out several names. Some of the prizes were arcs of Scorch by Gina Damico, there was a tote bag from Scholastic that must have had some really cool stuff in it. A "This is Teens" box, and a copy of The Diviners by Libba Bray. Of course we didn't know these were the prizes until she was giving them away.
Mel won The Diviners copy. It's a really nice copy too. (Ms. Bray is going to be there in December with Maureen Johnson. I can't wait for that one!)
I won the "This is Teens" Box.
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| The Box |
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| The Inside |
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| The Books. |
This book signing (in case you missed the title) was with Gina Damico, the author of Croak and Scorch; Robin Palmer, the author of Wicked Jealous and Cindy Ella; and Carley Moore, the author of The Stalker Chronicles.
The book signing started as any book signing does: with introductions! The ladies were totally cool and down to earth. We had a moment of crap, what am I supposed to be doing, but it passed quickly and we got down to business.
I don't believe they knew each other before the signing. Carley was really shy, which I thought to be fantastic, and Gina seemed to just jump right in and go with. Robin talked with her hands. (I think every author does.)
I did get to ask what they did whenever they got stuck. How they got passed it.
Carley says she convinces herself she's not stuck and just keeps writing. That there will come eventually a point when the story starts flowing correctly again and you can go back and edit the bad part later. The point is to keep going.
Gina says she goes for a walk, or takes a shower. She made sure to emphasize getting up and walking away often did wonders to restore the mind.
Robin said she doesn't have the luxury of writer's block. Her deadlines are too close together for her to get stuck. She said she uses the down/up method. Write everything down first, no matter how good or bad and then once it's all down clean it up.
So overall, what I learned from these wonderful woman?
Carley: Always consider the changes requested by an editor. They are most often always right that something needs changed.
Gina: Being rejected is expected. Don't stop trying because you were rejected.
Robin: Write no matter what. Write. Get it down.
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| Carley Moore and I |
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| Gina Damico and I |
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| Robin Palmer and I |
Simultaneously Mel and I say, "You don't want to tell us that." We are after all the definition of book nerd. Did I bring some home? Of course. Here is my selection that Suzanne was SO VERY GENEROUS to give away.
