October 1 - Smart Chicks Kick It Tour

Last year, a group of YA authors toured and picked the cities they visited. This year, they're doing it again, and I headed out on a Saturday afternoon to the BC stop. :) I love when authors come here.

The authors appearing in Burnaby were Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Beth Revis, Margaret Stohl, and Sara Zarr. I so wish some of the other authors appearing at other tour stops were there, and honestly, I could've gone down to the Seattle stop today to see Richelle Mead and Melissa de la Cruz and Rachel Vincent (and others), but considering I'm going down to Seattle on the 4th to meet Tahereh Mafi and again on the 12th for Kiersten White, Claudia Gray, Anna Carey, and Anna Garvey, and maybe in November to see Tara Kelly and get my copy of Amplified, I'll need a border break. And a wallet break.

Also, it was my mom's birthday this past Wednesday and she loves Kelley Armstrong's urban fantasy series, so this was the perfect present opportunity. :)

I took my copy of Across the Universe, bought Spell Bound (for my mom) and the Enthralled anthology (for me). I didn't want to haul every single book I have written by all the authors to the bookstore because it would've hurt me and them (me carrying and them signing). Plus the anthology has stories by most of them in it. (Sorry to Sara Zarr, I'll read your books now, I promise.)

I tweeted before and during the signing, but here's a bit of a recap for everyone who wasn't there. Plus pictures. I'm sorry I didn't tweet more during the event but my phone was dying. At the end I wanted to get one last picture looking down the table at everyone signing books but my battery wouldn't let me.

And hello to Jenny and Alita and the other bloggers who were there (plus that nice girl from Vancouver Island who was in line behind me, I forgot your name but I gave you one of my cards so with any luck you'll see this). Sometimes I think Caitlin and I are the only ones, but that's because I only know Caitlin. ;)

And here they are (from left to right, Margie, Melissa, Kelley, Jen, Beth, and Sara). :) They're all so funny and willing to answer the strangest questions. There was some giveaway fun, Jen gave away an ARC of Every Other Day (which I've read and enjoyed, thanks to NetGalley), and Kelley sort of gave away an ARC of The Calling (she's promised to mail one to someone who got a trivia question right).

There were the standard questions about writing process, music tastes while writing, advice for writing and for finding an agent, whether or not the authors outline or just write from the seat of their pants. You've all heard stuff like this, you've read it online, you don't need me repeating it.

Plus there was a thrilling round of Marry, Shag, or Kiss if you're under 17 ;), or Pitch Over a Cliff. So much fun. Here are some of mine. Beautiful Creatures/Darkness: marry Ethan, shag Link, pitch Ridley or Sarafine over a cliff. Wicked Lovely: marry Seth, and shag Seth, pitch Keenan over a cliff. Across the Universe: marry Elder, shag Harley, and pitch Eldest over a cliff (duh).

Here's Melissa and Jen signing with Sara sitting in the middle. She's probably looking out at the crowd. I figure maybe 100 people were there. They didn't beat April when 550+ people showed up to see Cassie Clare and Holly Black, but the crowd was just as enthusiastic. And I gushed a bit about Every Other Day to Jen. ;)

I love Margie's glasses. They're so cool, and she pulls them off. Sorry this last picture is blurry. Camera phone fail. ;)

In short, this event was so much fun. I hope more YA authors make their way out here. The response is always positive. :)