S.I. Mathews: From Where I'm Standing [11]

I am so bad at remembering to do these! Anyway, I recently had the immense pleasure of having five awesome YA authors visit my hometown on April 9th, as we were the grand prize winners of the Bringing YA 2 You contest!

Not only was it great to get to drive a measly five minutes instead of two hours, but I was also ecstatic that every author was one I wanted to see and meet. I'd met a couple already, but that never dampens my excitement.

When I arrived (a bit late, but hey, better late than never) I grabbed a seat by my bestie Caitlyn and listened as the authors answered questions from the audience. Despite having already done an event at the school earlier that day, the place was packed with students, parents, grandparents, teachers, librarians, and those YA enthusiasts who are none of the above (yep, me).

The authors present were Victoria (V.E.) Schwab, Marissa Meyer, Beth Revis, Marie Lu, and Megan Shepherd. All of them were hilarious and answered all questions as honestly and gracefully as possible. There was talk of beheading Barbie dolls from Marie, growing up in a bookstore from Megan, writing fan fiction from Marissa, drinking lots of "coffee" to get through rejections from Beth, and stuff about how Neil Gaiman is amazing from Victoria. The authors shared about the books and people that inspired them as well as some about their writing and publishing processes.

Megan Shepherd ~~~ The Madman's Daughter

I loved everything the authors had to say and though the bleachers were uncomfortable and the air was hot and humid, I had a wonderful time. After the hour long Q and A, everyone moved to the library to buy books and have them signed. I got to talk to a lot of people, some of them were teachers from my past (hi Mrs. Flatt!) and others were YA readers from Columbia (hey Elizabeth and Debbie!), and the crowd was excited and it was so much fun getting my books signed. It was almost as much fun as watching some of the students talk to the authors and take pictures. I love seeing the books and authors I enjoy reaching a new readership!

Beth Revis ~~~ Across the Universe / A Million Suns / Shades of Earth

Marissa Meyer ~~~ Cinder / Scarlet

I was also able to get a sneak peek at Victoria Schwab's next book, Vicious. It was sitting on her table and Caitlyn and I were fawning over it and Victoria let us pick it up and look through it (she's lucky we didn't try to run off with it!). Guys, it is SO AMAZING. I cannot wait to get my own copy when it comes out. I don't typically read many books geared toward adults, but just the tiny bit I got to read reminded me why Victoria Schwab is one of my favorite writers. If she wrote her own version of the phone book, I'd read it.

Victoria (V.E.) Schwab ~~~ The Near Witch / The Archived / Vicious

Caitlyn and I hung around talking with Victoria and Courtney C. Stevens, who's book will be out in ARC form in a few months, and then after we left we stood around talking in the parking lot for a while longer, mostly about Adventure Time. Such is the life of nerds.