Sunday, October 21, 2012

Authors Are My Rockstars: Fierce Reads Tour





I went to the Fierce Reads tour at the Bethesda Library in Maryland on Wednesday and got to meet some awesome and inspiring authors.

Caragh O'Brien, author of “Promised,” book No. 3 in the Bookmarked trilogy, Gennifer Albin, author of “Crewel,” Leigh Bardugo, author of “Shadow and Bone,” and Marie Rutkoski, author of “The Shadow Society.”

I've never read the "Promised" Series so unfortunately I didn't get any of Caragh's books.

 

However, I just finished "Crewel". I have been wanting to read "Shadow and Bone" for forever. "The Shadow Society" has been on my to-read list too so I did buy some books there.


It was great meeting such a range of authors with such completely different styles and books. Also it was a small crowd. Maybe twenty or so people so there was plenty of face time with the authors.

 

Basically each author talked a little about her book. I've never been to a signing where the authors were asked questions and had to give their own rundown of their work.



Truthfully, it was really awkward. The room was so small and quiet that it made for a lot of uncomfortable pauses. Maybe authors are just awkward anyway (could be why they spend a lot of time alone writing). Either way it was really fun.



This is a funny face Leigh made








There was a Q and A with the audience.  The dreaded question about where they get their ideas came up. Gennifer actually had a cool answer about a painting where people are sewing a tapestry that is flowing out of the window and creating the world. In the corner is a girl sewing herself into the tapestry. It stuck with her for about nine years until she wrote Crewel.











I asked the last question about how long it took them all to get agents and for their book to sell. Each one said that it went really quick for them but that's not the norm. At the end, I got my books signed. I really felt a strong connection to Leigh, who was funny and sarcastic, and got to talk to her about the book I'm writing. I've been having the problem of getting down on my writing ability because I read so many great authors. She told me to take a break from reading and just start writing. We both expressed our general dislike of blogging. It's ironic I'm blogging about not liking to blog....Anyway....









She wrote something really cool in my book.

It says:

Don't be afraid to free the page. Looking forward to seeing your work on the shelves one day!


I've actually gone back to my WIP because of this meeting. So thanks Leigh!!



Next month Ally Condie will be at the library for when "Reached" comes out and I'm planning to go to that. If you live around the area you should come too!


Remember I have a Giveaway going on that ends Saturday at midnight for one Signed Obsidian and two unsigned Onyx to 3 winners.