The time it was raining

Posted April 10, 2016 by Stacee in Signings | 10 Comments

LA Times Festival of Books is always a sure thing. Well, that’s not entirely true since I didn’t go last year. However, once I saw that Emery Lord was going to be there, I put it on the calendar.

As always, we got to the USC campus early. We like to park in a specific lot that is cheap {$12!} and close to the YA stage {where I spend most of my day}. I was able to have a morning date with Molly, one of my favorite ladies from the Fierce Reads team. We wandered around the nearly empty campus until she had to break off and start officially working.

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I had a loose schedule of what I wanted to do, so we just hung out. Stopped by the Mysterious Galaxy booth to squeeze Rob and generally be in the way. The Pantages Theatre had a booth with a Hamilton banner and I legit screamed when I saw it. I went to the Random House booth and was able to show the First in Line email and I got a tote and an arc of As I Darken.

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From there, I went back to the YA stage to ask about the panels and who was signing when. I also got my copy of Dreamology so I could pet it.

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As we settled in to wait and I alternated between listening to the Magical Realism panel, watching Guns N Roses videos from the night before, and trying to keep my books dry because it was raining.

The panel was over at 11:30 and I had We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson. Hubs had walked away, so I asked some people to watch my stuff and bench so I didn’t have to carry my entire bag with me.

When I got up to Shaun, he commented on my post it {a mustache} and said he really liked it. We chatted about our seemingly odd spelled names. I said I still hated it because it’s always spelled wrong, but it’s sort of what I’m known for. He said he used to hate his too, but finally owned it.

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I sat back down at our bench across the way and waited for Lucy’s panel to start. It quickly started pouring and we struggled to stay dry.

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Hubs and I left the bench and I dropped him off at a couch inside with my bag of books. I took Dreamology and headed back to the panel. Annnnnd there was already a huge line, so of course, I got in line.

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I got up to Lucy and she asked if I was me. I said yes and she got up to hug me and there may or may not have been squeeing. And then it was just a chat fest. We talked about MINIs {she might be buying one} and her recent interview on the blog {which you should go read} and how much I loved the book {so much}. Lucy so nicely said the interview was a lot of fun and loved the questions.

Annnnd then Rachel Hawkins {who was sitting right next to Lucy} said hi to me and told everyone how I just moderated one of her events and it was the best panel she had ever been on. {!!!!!!!!!}

I flailed over Lucy a bit more and we agreed that we would chat soon to discuss MINIs.

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After Lucy, I ran over to the Harper booth to see Robin Benway. She saw me in line and waved. The girl who was in front of me asked if I could take a photo of her with the authors and handed me a tablet thing that I had no idea how to work. Robin laughed and said “and you call yourself a blogger.”

I took the photo and then handed Robin my UK edition of Emmy & Oliver. We chatted about foreign covers and how I’m trying to get better about collecting. She told me that she just got her German editions, the covers are gorgeous, and she would bring me one at YALLWEST.

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There was a brief discussion about YALLWEST and how many authors were there were going to be attending before I sort of ran away.

From there, we were just waiting for Emery’s signing at 3pm. We went to the car to dump some things off and then sort of wandered around. Around 2:25, I stopped at the booth Emery was signing at and asked if they were having a designated place for the line. The woman said no, that Emery wasn’t going to be there for a while, to come back in 45 minutes…

We got back to the tent at 2:45 and there was already a girl waiting, so we stood behind her. Emery got there a few minutes later. She waved to me in line and then announced that she didn’t know what time it was, but she wasn’t going to make people wait in the rain.

When I got up to her we chatted about Hubs getting a new tattoo {“I know about it because of the Twitter”}, how she is tattoo free but follows a lot of tattoo accounts on IG, and how she doesn’t care about holding up the line at signing a because readers deserve to get some time with her.

I had a stack of books for her {surprise, surprise} and she took a photo of them before starting to sign. We talked further about her books and the paperback cover of The Start of Me and You {“I had nothing to do with it, but it looks how the book feels.”}

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I thanked her for coming and said I would see her next year before sliding one table over to FINALLY get to meet Lizzy from Bloomsbury. I introduced myself and she hugged me. We talked for a second about her wedding photos {she seriously had the most gorgeous dress} and her upcoming event with Sarah J Maas at The Grove.

Annnnnd then it was time to leave. FoB is always so much fun and worth the drive. The rain didn’t even ruin any part of it {for me} and I can’t wait to see who’s going to go next year.

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10 responses to “The time it was raining

    • Stacee

      Yay!! I hope you have fun. YallWest is crowded and insane, but last year it was amazing.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

  1. Hey, I went to the Festival of Books too! (may have skipped last year too) but the rain wasn’t too bad. Sort of off and on and completely gone Sunday. I didn’t get to go to these signings, but I checked the stores out and saw the YA stage.
    I thought it was a great event all together, something there for every one. Learned about a lot of new authors. I will definitely be going next year. Everyone enjoyed themselves. Check it out at my blog.

    Hope recently posted: #Bookfest
    • Stacee

      Yay!! I really do love going. It’s definitely one of the best book events and so well run.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

  2. I admit, Stacee, I’ve been stalking your blog waiting to see a post about this event – I really wanted to go and meet Emery and Morgan and see their panel, but alas…Canada is far. =p Thanks for giving us a recap of what went down!

    • Stacee

      I’ll admit that I really like that you said that! <3 I had planned on actually taking notes of the panels, like a regular recap, but I couldn't hold the umbrella and type.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!!

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