Wordstock Event Recap- photo heavy!

Hello everyone!  I have been sick with some bad sinus's (bad pain in my nose and head) and I'm starting to feel better now, it's just a little pain here and there now, like it's fighting to return.  I managed to get rid of it without antibiotics, which is always my goal, so I'm pretty proud of that.  However if it does come back I may have to cave and get some.  I know that illnesses are going around this time of year so I hope you all are doing better than my family!

So as many of you know I attended Wordstock over the weekend.  It's the Northwests largest book festival and there were over 30 YA authors (and many more that weren't YA). {Find the list of YA author here.}  I attended Saturday and then Sunday my daughter was sick and then I got sick later in the day anyway.  So my recap is just of Saturday (sadly).  I have been attending events in the Portland area for a few years now (almost 5) and have a large circle of book friends in the community.  Many are bloggers, some are teachers, some are librarians, some are booksellers and some are just people who love to read and attend a lot of events.  I was telling Shelley (Tsk, Tsk, What to Read) that it's like a family reunion each year at Wordstock because I see people through out the year at events but almost everyone attends Wordstock.

Be warned, all photos are taken with my iphone (certainly not the newest version!) and are rather crappy.  Lighting had much to do with that as well.

On Saturday I arrived a tad late but after checking in went

straight to the panel for "Is This Thing On?" which is about music in books and featured Emma Trevayne (CODA), Kari Luna (The Theory of Everything), Kevin Emerson (The Dark Shore), Tara Kelly (Amplified) and Sean Beaudoin (Wise Young Fool).  It was moderated by Martha Brockenbrough  (The Dinosaur Tooth Fairy is her newest). 
Things asked were:

• What was your first love, music or books?  Most of them said books, and it seems for the most part that was because they were from musical families and books were more of an escape.
• How does being a musician affect your writing?  Kari says music and writing go together, she always listens to music while writing.  Emma says she listened to Hospice by the Antlers and that it's super super depressing but she listened to it constantly while writing CODA (I did not look to see if I have that music correct, so correct me if I'm wrong).  Sean said he stopped being a musician when his daughter was born 8 years ago and now he writes instead.
• Can you listen to music while writing?  They all yes, though Kevin said recently not so much.
• Playlists in books (I don't recall how this was phrased.)  They all have music themes in their books.  And all their books have playlists.  Kari's is 80's music.

After this panel I was going to go to 'Crossing the Genre Line' but the panel was full and a bunch of us couldn't get in.  So I visited a bit and then when they came out I had  Francesca Lia Block - 'Love in the Time of Global Warming'  and Jennifer Bosworth - 'Struck' sign my books.  Jessica Brody was also there, but she'd signed my books in June when I saw her. 


Next up I ducked into 'So Much for Normal' (a bit late) for S.A. Bodeen 'The Compound' and 'The Fallout', Anne Osterlund  - 'Salvation'  and Keary Taylor - 'What I Didn’t Say'.   This was moderated by Sara Ryan.

I didn't take notes in this one as I was standing in the back of the room but this is what I'm remembering.

• Coincidentally these authors are all female but write male POV.  One audience member asked if that was challenge and it didn't really seem to be.  Anne says it doesn't matter if it's male or female for her, it's just being that character.
• The books mostly take place in small towns and Anne said she felt like you couldn't really write about a small town that you grew up in.  Though Keary wrote her book in the town she currently lives in, though she didn't grow up there.
• There was talk about how the financial situations impacted their books and in Salvation Anne said that everyone is poor (though she worded it differently) so there's not that issue since everyone is having tough economic times.

The next panel was the one I was most excited for and I squeezed in there as quickly as possible!  This one was 'Captivated by Contemporary' and had Corey Haydu - 'OCD Love Story', Gayle Forman - 'Just One Year' Just One Day #2,  Miranda Kenneally - 'Things I Can’t Forget' and was moderated by Stephanie Perkins - 'Lola & The Boy Next Door'.
I love all of these ladies so this was VERY exciting!

• Stephanie brought up parental relationships in books and how their books, for the most part, have parents present.  Miranda says she had parents that were present so it seemed only natural.  Corie says parents are important and she's a Gilmore Girls fan (I take it she drew inspiration from that- and can I only say, she's a girl after my own heart! I <3 Gilmore Girls!).  Corie also said she likes unique and off the beaten path parental relations.  Gayle says she was a parent when writing If I Stay and it had a lot of influence in it.  Parental back-story is integral and you can't tell a story without family.  She also commented a bit about Alyson and Willem and their parental relationships and how they are important but they aren't easy, they are a little more rocky, I guess.
• Next up was friendships.  Corie said mistakes are natural and it doesn't make a person a bad person when they make them.  If you read OCD Love Story, you'll get that.  I'm not sure how to really explain it, but in the book her friend could be seen as a bad guy and a good guy.    Gayle says that Melanie and Alyson have a complicated friendship as they are going through transition.  And Willem has a great group of friends (you'll see that once you read Just One Year. ;)  Miranda commented that some didn't like that she had so many characters and she said that's real life.  When you go to school you run into more people then just a few friends.  (Personal comment- I think that it's great that her books are all
  
  companions and we kind of get to know a lot of the town, so as you read each book it's like returning to a familiar place with familiar faces.)
• Sex in YA- Gayle said she likes when there's healthy sexual relationships in books instead of always books about consequences.  Not everyone who has sex is going to end up pregnant, broken hearted or with a disease.  There can be healthy sexual relationships as well.  She likes the duet books because she can show us both sides of the story.  Miranda said that no one talked about sex as a teen so she likes to include it but show the right way- not because someone is pressuring you, but part of the teen experience. 
• Next up we talked about lovable jerks.  Gayle was very firm in that Etienne is NOT a jerk.  But males make mistakes too.  They are wounded but lovable.  They are a fuller character with different sides and more depth.  More well rounded.  They need the goodness inside though, they can't just be a jerk.
• Someone (my lovely friend Angel, actually) asked if they ever see their characters in people.  After
  
  they've written the books and they go somewhere, do they randomly see them.  Stephanie was the only one to say yes, she sees them all the time.  And proceeded to point out a Lola, which was my friend Sara (Novel Novice) who absolutely is adorable like Lola!

 
There was a bit more discussion, but it's getting long so I'll leave it at that. I then went and got my books signed.  I had actually had Stephanie Perkins sign mine a bit earlier when I had run into her so by this point we were practically old friends ;)  We'd seen each other around a bit.  BTW, she has the CUTEST shoes!  Her dress was really cute as well, but I LOVED her shoes!  I felt too stupid to ask if I could take a picture, but I SO wanted to!   I totally went all SQUEE inside to get Just One Year and have Gayle sign it.  Seriously, LOVE her books!  While getting those signed I met Stefan Bachman who is the teen (yes, teen) who wrote The Peculiar and The Whatnot.  So I grabbed a signed copy for my daughter.  He was really nice and very

enthusiastic!  I really liked him and I can't wait to read the book, I've wanted it since before it came out.  Emma Trevayne had a dust jacket of her book Flight and Chimes and Mysterious Times on one of Stefan's books and TOTALLY tricked me cause I was like I WANT THAT BOOK!  It doesn't actually come out until May though... so yeah, it wasn't real.  But when the real book exists, it WILL be in my hands!


After that there was a bit of a break so Sara and I went to have some lunch.  I ran into Kriston Johnson (Words Escape Me) and so I was glad when she introduced herself.  She lives in the same town as me but we'd never met.  Sara and I filled up some yummy lunch and caught up on the news in our life (if you don't know her, she's the brilliant mind behind Novel Novice).  After that I saw April Tucholke - 'Between the Devil & the Deep Blue Sea'  and had her sign my book because at that point I was realizing I might not make it on Sunday.  I then saw Vy (Vy's Blog) and her friends again and chatted a tad. 

We had a bit of time left so we walked through the book fair and I got this pretty.  It's from Storiarts on etsy. It's Romeo and Juliet on the scarf and the gloves.


Next up we got a panel with Maggie Stiefvater - 'The Dream Thieves' The Raven Cycle #2, Josin McQuein - 'Arclight',  Robin Wasserman - 'The Waking Dark',  Cinda Williams Chima - 'The Enchanter Heir' and Dan Krokos - 'False Sight'.  Jessica Brody moderated, but Maggie actually did most of it as she managed to have plenty of questions for everyone.  As is usually the case when only one male is present, they had a lot of fun picking on poor Dan.

• First question- tell a story with hand signals only.  This one stumped Dan and it was hilarious.  You had to be there, but lots of laughter ensued!

• Next up was the thing that they are most afraid of.  Of course they picked on Dan again, but his was bees and being incontinent in public.  I kind of get that actually, but mine is mostly just being where I can't get to a toilet (like sitting in traffic).  Josin's was speaking in public (another of mine) and I don't remember what the others said.

• They talked about Maggie's fainting goats and whether it's okay to laugh at them when they faint.  In this case, yes, it is.  Maggie described how one jumped off a table but then froze up and all that it could move was it's head  and it was eagerly trying to eat grass and was apparently unperturbed by being unable to move it's body at the moment.

I didn't take notes on this one as I was too busy cracking up.  This was by far the most entertaining panel of the day and a great ending!  After that we got in line to get our books signed.  I already had Cinda's books signed from a previous visit but I had Dan's to be signed and he just came over to sign them since most of the people were there for Maggie.  I then had to wait in line for Maggie and as always, she remembered me!  She's great with

from left; Maggie, Robin and Josin

faces.  We stuck around to visit while they closed up the center and then Shelley and I walked out to the scary parking garage together.  We parked at different levels though, so mostly we rode the elevator together and then I had to dig and dig and dig for my keys while looking in twenty directions making sure no one was sneaking up on me.  Seriously, parking garages freak me out!  There was actually people still there, so it wasn't really that bad, but I have gone out in the past and I'm the last car in the lot, that's really freaky.  And then it took me over an hour to get home because I was stuck in traffic (and suddenly I realized what a valid fear Dan had, cause I had to go SO bad and was stuck with no where to go).


Anyway, I had a great time and was sad that I was unable to attend the next day.  :(  I'll be looking forward to next year though!

Maggie signing books

Maggie with my friend Mel (also YA coordinator of the event)

My friend Shelley from Tsk, Tsk, What to Read and Maggie signing her books

All the books I got signed!

Don't forget today's stops for Something Wicked Returns!

Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings: Jay Kristoff: Kinslayer

Maja@The Nocturnal Library : P.J. Hoover: Solstice

And tomorrow's are:

 Heidi@Rainy Day Ramblings: Tina Connolly: Copperhead

Maja@The Nocturnal Library : LJ Adlington: Night Witches