That's an ongoing theme for me so far here in New York. I've been so constantly in awe while here that I'm completely verklemmpt and can't think of anything intelligent to say. (I think this is improper usage of the word verklemmpt. See not sounding right, above.)
ANYWAY, I have to tell you, the Teen Author Carnival on Monday was beyond amazing. THANK YOU, Devyn, Mitali, Korianne and everyone who helped for putting it all together! And to Marie, probably the coolest YA librarian I've ever met. Not only did I get to meet a lot of my online author friends for the first time, but a lot of my favorite book bloggers as well. I think I made a fool of myself many times over trying to talk to everyone because in truth I'm a socially awkward and kinda shy person, so I'm not very smooth conversationally. Add on top of that being completely star struck by so many bloggers and authors in the room, and I could barely think straight, let alone talk coherently.
Here's a picture I stole from Devyn Burton's tweet pix of the Mystery Fantasy panel I was on. You can't see me - I'm hiding behind Maryrose Wood (who gave me her one ARC of THE POISON DIARIES and has agreed to come visit for a future Freebie Friday! Yay!) but look at the authors I got to share the stage with! That's Eliot Schrefer, who started our sisters' theme for the panel (he's the author of THE DEADLY SISTER); then Maryrose, who hangs with royalty to research her book; me, hiding behind Maryrose; Judith Graves, who brings multicultural monsters to life (UNDER MY SKIN); Melissa Kantor, (INVISIBLE I, the first book of The Amanda Project - which has the coolest website for the series!); Violet Haberdasher, who started the Harry Potter theme for the evening (KNIGHTLEY ACADEMY); Michelle Zink, who is seriously funny and brought her own entourage (PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS); Tonya Hurley -OMG!- (GHOST GIRL); Michael Northrup, who would very much like to make the Banned Books List (GENTLEMEN); and Jeri Smith-Ready, who is the nicest person you'd ever want to meet (SHADE.)And that's only one panel! My only regret is that I missed the other two. But I did get to meet TFC sister Stephanie Kuehnert for the first time. And see another TFC sister, Melissa Walker again. I also met Heidi Kling for the first time, after reading her blog online for so long. I'm excited for her upcoming book, SEA. Oh! And Holly Cupala actually knew who I was! (I must have totally babbled to her, I'm such a fangirl.) And so many others. 30 YA authors in one library. Oh, the power.
My publisher was kind enough to send over a box of TRANCE ARCs for the signing, and B&N was on hand with the Death By books. Jon Skovron signed next to me and we discovered not only an Ohio connection, but a D.C. connection as well. He'll be joining us later for a Freebie Friday (and giving a copy of his book STRUTS & FRETS) as will Kitty Keswick (except, you know, she won't be giving away STRUTS & FRETS... she'll be offering up FREAKSVILLE).
But really, the stars of the evening for me were the bloggers. Several I knew from before (Lenore came from Germany! And Daniel was with her!) and some I met for the first time ever (Kristi, James and more!) I probably didn't convey it very well because I was so overwhelmed by the whole event, but I appreciate their support and enthusiasm for reading more than I can say.
I could go on and on, but it's 1:15 a.m. and I have a full day tomorrow (including a group signing at Books of Wonder with another group of fabulous authors, 6-8 p.m.) If you're in New York, please stop by. I might not be able to tell you in nice, pretty words, but I'd love to see you!
Please come back on Friday for a GCC tour and Freebie with Jennifer Echols!
This week's video linkie because I am all fired up and empowered from the BEA trip so far:
