YallWest is one of my favorite events every year and it’s always a sure thing. Michelle, Keiko, and I always stay up in Santa Monica and it is always so much fun.
Friday:
We got up to the library for the Fierce Friday event around 1pm. There were only about 15 or so people there and the library staff came over and offered us some chair while we waited. We grabbed some food from Lemonade and settled into wait.
Things got set up and they moved us into the proper line up around 3:15. Staff came through the line to check us in and give us wristbands shortly after that. It was a bit frustrating to see the group in front of us let people join them over and over and over again, so we went from being maybe 18th in line to being around 40th.
Thankfully we were able to get the wristbands we wanted: Victoria Schwab and Jay Kristoff. Victoria was at 6pm {and Jay was at 7pm}, so we headed over to the line.
While we waited, we saw our favorites from Mysterious Galaxy, bought Aurora Rising, and chatted with our line neighbors. The authors came out with the mayor of Santa Monica and the director of the library. They did a quick intro about the event and then headed inside. Shortly after that, they brought us into the library and we lined up for Victoria.
Now, before YW, I had emailed Victoria’s publicist about an interview. I was late to the party on this one, but tried any way because what did it hurt. Kristin told me that they were pretty solidly filled on Saturday, but maybe something could be done on Friday.
When I got up to Victoria, Kristin was there. I introduced myself and we hugged because it was the first time ever meeting after talking for about three years. Victoria said hi and she told me that they were going to do the best they could to meet me and would get ahold of me. I told both of them not to worry about it because I didn’t want to run anyone ragged. If it was possible, great, but not to try to squeeze me in.
We chatted for a second or two more and that was mostly just me telling Victoria how much I adored her and her books and how I would probably see her again this year and maybe we could do something then.
Keiko went to another line to see if she could get in stand by and I went with Michelle to see if she could get things signed by Susan Dennard. Sadly, the line wasn’t moving too well, so we headed over to Jay’s line.
We lined up numerically and it wasn’t too long before we heard that Jay showed up early and had started signing.
Several of the people in front of us had carts and stacks of books, much more than the three allotted. We had great numbers for the line and it took almost an hour to get up to him. It only started moving because the director of the library came over and told people that had they had to start following the rules.
Finally it was my turn and Jay gave a fist bump. I asked how he was doing and how Amie was. I showed him my <error> tattoo in person. He asked if he would see me on Saturday and I said we were going to try. We chatted for a minute more and then I thanked him and moved away. {And I am loving that IOU stamp}
After the three of us got done with Jay, we went to see if we could get into Stephanie Garber’s line, but it was cut off. As we rounded the corner to find her table, she saw me and I jumped over to give her a quick squeeze and tell her we would see her Saturday.
From there, we headed out. Alas, I didn’t hear from Kristin about an interview with Victoria, but I did see that she stayed well past the time she was supposed. And so did Jay.
Saturday:
We got over to Santa Monica high school around 8:45. We met Tara and Brittany and Megan. We got checked in for press and headed in.
The three of us had a pretty loose schedule with Jay and Victoria out of the way, so we headed over to the MG tent to say hello to our favorites. And then we found finished copies of Finale.
As we were buying copies, Stephanie Garber showed up and we chatted with her and flailed all over the finished copies. After a few minutes, we wandered around and then headed to the first signings of the day. For me, it was AG Howard.
I got up to her and we chatted about when she got into town, how she was spending her days, and how she was having so much fun. She laughed that I had a post it with my name for her to personalize with and said that we were best friends, so obviously she knew my name.
After we all got our 11am signings completed, we headed over to the Riveted booth to see about the Sorcery of Thorns arc + Margaret Roberson signing. I wasn’t concerned about the arc because I have one, but I desperately wanted Margaret to sign my copy of Enchantment of Ravens.
We were told to come back at 12, that they weren’t allowing a line until then. We stayed in the area and watched a line start forming. As I was asking one of the ladies about the Permanent Record pins she was wearing on her lanyard, a man came over, and let her know they started the line for the drop.
I’m not going to go into details about this, but I will say that a large large large crowd slash line formed. People were cutting in front of people, other groups of people were joining one person holding the line.
Riveted did the best they could to make it fair, but it had already escalated and was pretty bad. People were pushing, throwing their hands in front of other people’s faces, and I ended up moving from where I was sitting away from the line because people were stepping on my feet.
Needless to say, it was a shitshow. Thankfully, the crowd without tickets eventually dispersed and they started a second line for people who just wanted a signature. There were a few of us and we ended up talking with one of the Riveted ladies about how they were going to change up the arc drops for the rest of the day.
I was able to get up to Margaret and I basically word vomited all over her about how much I loved Enchantment. I thanked her for staying to sign and then thanked the ladies at the booth for everything.
As I was done with Margaret, the Riveted woman who I chatted with in line handed me a numbered ticket for Mary HK Choi. Michelle and Keiko ran over after their signings were done to grab tickets as well.
I joined Keiko at Sandhya Menon right as she was getting to her. Keiko had my copy of Sweetie and was getting it signed. I popped up and said hi and we chatted for the briefest of moments.
After Sandhya, we headed back to the Riveted booth to hang out until Mary’s signing. I had asked if she would be signing Emergency Contact and the ladies said they hadn’t asked Mary yet, but thought it wouldn’t be a problem.
We were able to line up a few minutes beforehand and were pretty close to the front. Of course I continued my trend of word vomit and lost my mind all over Mary about Emergency Contact. She was lovely and thanked me. Mary signed my copy of EC and then also signed the arc of Permanent Record.
Before we left, we thanked the Riveted ladies again for being awesome. I found the woman who gave me a ticket on the sly and thanked her again.
After that signing was done, we headed to the wristband line for Stephanie Garber. We were pointed in the right direction and settled in to wait for a bit. The wristband distribution went quickly and we were able to basically head up to the third floor for signing line.
Time went by quickly and I was in front to Stephanie before I knew it. I gushed about the book and she told the woman she was with {her editor or publicist} that I had been with her from the beginning. Stephanie said some lovely things and then the woman asked how I heard about Caraval in the first place and I told that story.
I think we chatted for the briefest of moments before leaving. After Stephanie, we were done for the festival. We slowly made our way back to the car, saying goodbye to some friends.
Like I said at the beginning, YallWest is one of my favorite events. We’ve gone every year from the start and I can’t imagine not going.
Huge thanks to all of the people who take the time to put this together, the publishers, authors, and volunteers.
It was my first YALLWEST and I had a blast! Saw a couple of VE Schwab’s panels and got her to sign my DARKER SHADE book. I actually was in the insanity that was the SORCERY OF THORNS drop (I was in the group of people that had formed a line that ended up being disregarded). I got an ARC but I do not want to repeat that particular experience! Congrats on meeting so many amazing authors!
Hooray!! I’m so happy to hear that you had a good time! It’s one of my favorite SoCal events. Congrats on getting an arc!!
Thanks for reading and commenting!
It sounds like you had a blast, I love book fair/con because I get to meet so many authors and people. I am saddened I am going to miss BookCon this year – I am going to be on vacation and I can’t travel to NY the same day I arrive (Saturday when the even is in full swing). But I am looking forward to the New York Comic Con when they have authors signings and panels.
Oh, I would love to go to NYCC one year, just to experience it and see how it differs from SDCC.
Enjoy your vacation!!
Wow, I love this post! Thanks for all the photos and sharing your experience. Getting to meet authors, listen to them speak, and then signing books sounds amazing.
Hooray!! It really is so much fun being able to see and interact with authors and YW is a great place to do it at.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
YallWest looks like so much fun! It always comes out around finals for me, but at some point in the future I’d love to go! I’m also very impressed that you managed to have coherent conversations with so many authors! I can’t even babble properly most of the time! I’m going have to work on my conversational skills with authors before BookCon!
Ooh, I hope you can make it someday. It really is so much fun. I feel like I only had coherent conversations because I’ve met these authors several times. I was a mess with Margaret and Mary, but maybe next time it won’t be so bad {spoiler alert, it totally will be}
Thanks for reading and commenting!