Adventures at YALLFest 2015

This past weekend, Ally, Melissa, and I headed to Charleston, South Carolina for YALLFest. It was our first time attending, as well as our first time visiting Charleston. The amazing lineup of authors included Richelle Mead, Alexandra Bracken, Gail Carriger, Gayle Forman, Scott Westerfeld, Brandon Sanderson, Libba Bray, Marie Lu, Veronica Roth, Leigh Bardugo, Marissa Meyer, and many more. Since BEA was not in the cards this year and Charleston was reasonably manageable travel-wise, we decided to go for it.

Our plans hit a pretty big snag the night before we were supposed to leave. Melissa was ecstatic to be seeing Rick Yancey, whom she worships, and he was THE author she had to meet at the festival. Unfortunately, he had to cancel due to illness, and I saw the announcement on Twitter on Thursday night. I broke the news to Melissa, and she was heartbroken. But, she still wanted to go, and so we did.

On Friday afternoon, a small group of authors was scheduled to sign at various venues. Ally wanted to see Scott Westerfeld and I wanted to see Gail Carriger, so after scoping out where we each needed to be, we went our separate ways (we were actually only a block away from each other) and got on line.

Gail Carriger's signing started a little early, and the line moved quickly. I got this feeling of unreality when I found myself next in line, like this couldn't possibly be happening. She was super sweet, and I was giddy to have a signed copy of Soulless:

Melissa went with Ally to wait in Scott Westerfeld's line, so I joined them over there in the tent next to Blue Bicycle Books. Ally got Leviathan signed, and after getting some much needed coffee, which would be our fuel throughout the weekend, we called it a day and headed to the hotel.

Ally & Scott Westerfeld

Saturday was the main day of the festival, and we knew that a game plan was absolutely necessary with all of the panels and signings that would be taking place at the same time. We thought that we'd arrived downtown early, but there was already a line outside of the Charleston Music Hall at 8 AM for Richelle Mead and R.L. Stine's opening keynote, which didn't start until 10. We were useless without coffee, so we went to Starbucks first and then got in line for the keynote.

You needed a wristband for Richelle Mead's signing following the keynote, and a limited number were being distributed to those waiting in line. We were among the lucky recipients, which totally surprised me because a good number of people were in line ahead of us. I hadn't even taken my copy of Vampire Academy out of the car, so guess who had to go back to the parking garage to retrieve it?

After the doors opened and we went inside, we were each given a sampler of Richelle Mead's upcoming The Glittering Court. We made a strategic decision to sit toward the back of the music hall so that we could make a hasty exit for the signing afterwards. Margaret Stohl said a few words before the keynote moderator, Kami Garcia, introduced R.L. Stine and Richelle Mead. We got to see a clip from the Goosebumps movie, and R.L. Stine was just hilarious throughout the keynote. I never read Goosebumps or Fear Street, but I so want to now.

We scooted out of the keynote the second it was over, and as we were exiting, there were some ARCs available. I just about freaked out when I saw Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, which is already garnering a ton of buzz. So I was very, very, very happy at this point, and the day had only begun.

Melissa and I got in line for the Richelle Mead signing while Ally went to explore some of the booths. We were the last two people in the first group that was allowed into the train museum where the signing was taking place, and it wasn't long before it was our turn to go up. Again, I had that incredulous feeling, like I couldn't believe this was actually happening. Richelle Mead was so, so sweet, and I'm still in a little bit of disbelief that we were able to go to her signing.

Me Meeting Richelle Mead!

After meeting up with Ally outside, we went to two panels back-to-back. The first focused on world-building in historical fiction and was moderated by Libba Bray. Then we went straight to the next panel, which also discussed world-building and was moderated by Alexandra Bracken. Gail Carriger spoke at both panels, and Richelle Mead was at the second one. Both panels were excellent, and I just loved listening to some of my favorite authors talk about writing. There were so many great panels going on, but alas, with all of the signings happening simultaneously, we could only make these two.

Next we headed back to the train museum so that Melissa could get on line for Gayle Forman. Ally and I thought we were super early for Alexandra Bracken’s signing, but there was already a huge line, so we just got on it. Melissa kindly got my copy of If I Stay signed for me while Ally and I stood on our line; we ended up waiting for about two hours, but it was totally worth it when we finally got to meet Alexandra Bracken!

Ally & Alexandra Bracken

We hadn’t had time to eat lunch and were completely famished by this time, so we had a nice pizza dinner, grabbed more coffee, and retired to the hotel for the night. It was an exhausting day, but also extremely exhilarating.

We spent our last day in Charleston browsing some of the cool shops downtown and walking around a bit. The weather was very fall-like throughout the weekend, which we enjoyed since it’s still been in the mid to high 80’s in Florida. We also checked out the Charleston Museum and toured one of the historic houses before heading home. We all agreed that we could have used another day to just explore the city and will file that bit of knowledge away for next year, because we absolutely loved the entire YALLFest experience and would go again in a heartbeat.

Melissa's Haul

Adventures at Tampa Bay Comic Con 2014!

In case it wasn't obvious, Ally, The Melissa, and I are huge nerds, not only about books but many other things as well. We've often talked about going to a comic con, and we finally made it to one—Tampa Bay Comic Con 2014. We were only able to attend one day of the con, this past Saturday, but we had an awesome time with the couple of hours we spent there. Two Game of Thrones actors made appearances: Richard Madden (Robb Stark) and Pedro Pascal (Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper). Alas, we did not have time to wait in the super long lines for autographs/photo ops or go to their Q & A panel. Poor Melissa had to go to work that evening, and we had a nearly two hour drive back home. Ah, well. We did, however, make the panel with Evan Peters from American Horror Story and most recently, X-Men: Days of Future Past. Ally has written a report on that experience, which you can read in a bit. Melissa has also prepared a little something for this post; after her disappointment over not winning any raffle prizes at UtopYA, she has a much happier tale to tell this time. First, though, I'm going to recap the con a little bit.

The exhibitor tables and booths were awesome. I had to refrain from buying everything in sight. There was no shortage of Doctor Who merchandise: T-shirts, buttons, figurines, even a teapot! I think my favorite bit of merchandise that I spotted was the T-shirt that had a direwolf on it and said "Keep Calm and Avoid Weddings."

Of course, no comic con would be a comic con without costumes! The four of us (Ally and Melissa's brother, Denis, also went) did not go in costume, but we saw plenty of inspiration for our next con. There were many tributes to several different Doctors, with the Tenth and Eleventh being the ones I saw most often. I also spotted 3 Daenerys Targaryens, 2 Arya Starks, and 1 Jon Snow. Oh, and there was a dude who sported a really cool Gryffindor Quidditch uniform, complete with broomstick!

Finally, we went to an author panel about how YA isn't just for young adults. Aside from buying a poster of the Tenth Doctor, the panel was probably one of Melissa's favorite things about the con because she won a Doctor Who keychain as a raffle prize. Both lovelies are pictured a little further below. And now I shall hand over the post to Ally and Melissa, but before I do, here's a selfie of our quartet, waiting in line for the Evan Peters panel:

Meeting Evan Peters! ❤

Ally: This past weekend, Melissa, Lee, Denis, and I had our very first experience at the Tampa Bay Comic Con. The best part for me was seeing Evan Peters! For those of you who don't know, Evan Peters is one of the star actors of the hit television series American Horror Story, and he also played Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past. It was so flipping amazing to even be in the same room with him! Evan's panel didn't start until later in the afternoon, so we all mucked about for a while before I dragged everyone to go stand in line to wait. We got to the panel room close to an hour before it started and the line was already ridiculously long. I won't lie, I was kind of flipping out because I was scared we wouldn't be able to get in, lol. Luckily, we made it! Evan was just perfect! I can gush all day about him! I didn't go up to ask him any questions because I didn't want to make a fool out of myself like the dozens of other girls were doing, lol. I took lots of pictures though! ;) It was really great hearing what he had to say. Unfortunately, he didn't give away any spoilers for the next season of AHS. But he answered every other single question thrown at him, even going so far as showing everyone that he was wearing boxers! The line was definitely well worth the wait!

I Am the Champion

The Melissa: I AM THE CHAMPION. At last, I have won my raffle. Going into that panel, I just knew that I would be walking out of there with a prize. Let me just say, I deserved it. A lot. Anyway. . . I also bought a prettyful! :D And expect a rant sometime soon. By soon I mean when I feel like writing it. XD

Adventures in Nashville: Elvis! (Costello!)

Today we're venturing off the bookish path for a more musical one, though this journey would not have been possible if I hadn't already been heading to Nashville for UtopYA.

I've been an Elvis Costello fan for about ten years now, which is not all that long considering that his first album, My Aim Is True was released in 1977 (the year I was born). I first began really listening to his music after catching some old music videos of his on VH1 Classic, back when they played videos twenty-four hours a day. One of my favorite EC songs ended up being, appropriately enough, "Everyday I Write the Book."

I attended my first Elvis concert in 2005. I was living in New York City at the time and was fortunate enough to see him perform live twice that year, and twice again in 2006. You could say I was a little spoiled, since he played NYC often, and still does. The next time I saw him live was in 2008, the year I moved to Florida; he opened for The Police on their reunion tour.

I knew when I moved that one of the things I'd probably be giving up was going to an EC concert practically every year. In the grander scheme of life there are far worse things one could be without, but this was a big one for me, and I freely admit it because I love his music. About two years ago, and my mind is a little fuzzy on the exact date because this tale ends unhappily, Elvis was scheduled to play in the Orlando area. Not only that, but the shows were going to feature a giant wheel that audience members were going to be invited up on stage to spin. Whatever song the wheel landed on was the song that was going to get played next. Pretty neat, right? (Elvis did a similar tour in the 80's).

Of course I had to go to this show. I scored third row center seats and all was well until I received an email from Ticketmaster saying that the show was postponed. Tickets would be honored on the rescheduled date, but in a stroke of supremely bad luck, this particular show could not be made up when he returned to Florida for the other gigs that had been postponed. The venue was not available at the time because the touring production of The Lion King had taken up residence at the theater for about a month. I had never hated Simba and his pals so much in my life.

Fast forward to a few months ago. Ally, The Melissa, and I already had our road trip to Nashville for UtopYA booked. Then I happened to see a Facebook post announcing tour dates for some solo EC shows. I could not, and still sort of don't, believe that one of those dates coincided with the Saturday that we were also going to be in Nashville. If this was the universe's way of making up for the Cancelled Due to The Lion King Thing, I was seizing the opportunity.

And that's how Ally and I (The Melissa is not a fan of The EC and relaxed back at the hotel) found ourselves at the Ryman Auditorium last Saturday. The venue is renowned for its place in country music history and stellar acoustics. Although you're assigned to individual seat numbers, you actually share a long church pew. I didn't care if I had to stand on my head for two hours; I was prepared to enjoy this evening to the fullest.

At all of the shows I've been to, Elvis has been a punctual man, and at exactly 8:47, following a half hour set by opening act Larkin Poe, he took the stage. I know I had a goofy smile on my face; I hadn't been deliriously happy in a very long time. I mean, I was about to burst from happiness. Elvis opened with the fantastic "Jack of All Parades," and then, and then, and then . . . he sang my favorite song of his EVER.

At first I didn't recognize the opening notes to "King Horse" because I'd never heard it acoustic before, but when I caught on, I flailed. I think I may have even punched Ally in the arm. I never thought I'd get to hear that song live just because Elvis's song catalog is so vast. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I can now die a happy person for having heard "King Horse" live.

I'm not going to bore you with a song-by-song recap of the evening (although I'd be more than ecstatic to do so for anyone who'd like one!). Elvis rocked for over two hours with an eclectic setlist that ranged from early compositions like "Cheap Reward" to the very, very recent "The Last Year of My Youth" to an absolutely electrifying "Watching the Detectives." He also did an awesome mash-up of his own "New Amsterdam" and The Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away." He sang "Alison," which made me very happy for our own Ally, because she's an Allison (with two L's).

Needless to say, this concert was the highlight of the trip for me. It also goes without saying that I fangirl hard over Elvis, really on a par with my book fangirling. So to tie Elvis and books together, here's a clip of him and his band, The Imposters, performing "Everyday I Write the Book" live. ;)

Adventures in Nashville: UtopYA Con 2014

It's good to be back! Last Thursday, in the very, very wee hours of the morning, Ally, The Melissa, and I set out on a nearly 700 mile drive from Central Florida to Nashville, Tennessee for four days of bookish and some non-bookish fun. Our primary destination was UtopYA Con 2014, with some ambling around Nashville thrown in.

We had a pretty straight route from Florida through Georgia and then into Tennessee. This was the first road trip for my car, which Ally christened "Ronan" along the way, after Ronan Lynch from Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys. Poor Ronan had to endure a lot on this trip: boiling outside temperatures, some bumpy roads, and lots of bug splat. Fortunately it rained a few times, otherwise I was going to have to manually clean the windshield. And I so did not want to do that.

View from the passenger side window

The drive ended up taking about 12 hours with breaks and getting stuck in traffic through Atlanta and once we got into Nashville. I think we were all very grateful to see the hotel. After dinner, we checked out Downtown Nashville for a little bit and then passed out for the night back at the hotel.

Friday was the first day of the con. Gennifer Albin was scheduled to give the opening keynote speech but had to spend the night in an airport, so Sylvia Day, who was set to speak on Saturday, spoke on Friday instead. She was fantastic and delivered an extremely insightful speech about the business of being an author. After the keynote, we got to meet the lovely Ali from Ginger-Read Reviews and the lovely Carmen Jenner, author.

We checked out the author tables, where I basically wanted to buy every book I saw. Alas, some unfortunate luck right before the trip prevented me from buying any books during the entire con. My car required some necessary repairs before departing that totaled over $500, thus completely obliterating any notion I had of buying books. I bought exactly one souvenir during the whole trip (and which will be featured in the next Book Loot post). I was really down about my book budget going bust before I even left home, but there was this one thing, which I'll get to later, that cheered me up considerably . . . .

We squeezed in a little sightseeing, the highlight of which was the Belle Meade Plantation:

We also had the best lunch ever on Friday:

I had not eaten a White Castle hamburger from an actual White Castle restaurant since moving to Florida six years ago. Because there are no White Castle restaurants in Florida. I still buy them frozen and microwave them, but it's not the same. Eating one of these unhealthy babies steamed fresh off the grill was heavenly.

Saturday's keynote speaker was Gennifer Albin. Something she said that really resonated with me was how you have to make time to write. I'm not writing a book, but I applied it to writing blog posts and even to reading. I'm always going to think of a million other things that I should be doing instead of reading and blogging, but sometimes, those other things can just wait.

We attended the blogging panel, which was inspiring. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, but at the end of the con, I really felt a renewed passion for reading and blogging that I hadn't experienced in a while. And I still feel that way, which is why I'm sitting here at night writing this post when I should be grabbing some sleep, lol.

On the tourist-y side of things, we paid a quick visit to Nashville's replica of the Parthenon, which is also an art museum:

I had a rough day on Saturday. Like everybody else, I was exhausted, but unlike everybody else, I let it get to me. I'm also not the best traveler. I mean, I love visiting new places, but I also get homesick very easily and quickly begin missing the comforts of home, like my own bed, softened water, being able to microwave a snack (White Castle hamburgers!) whenever I'm hungry, etc. So I was longing for home on Saturday, too. My GPS was also having trouble navigating Nashville, rerouting us quite often. The frustration of not being able to get from Point A to Point B without an unintentional detour, plus the heavy traffic, just pushed me over the edge. So I did the only logical thing I could do: cry. Who cries on vacation? I do. That was an eye opener, in that I was stressing out while on vacation, and I definitely need to get a better handle on my stress.

And now for the thing that cheered me up: Ally and I went to see Elvis Costello at the Ryman Auditorium on Saturday night. I am a HUGE fan of his, and when I found out he was playing Nashville the same weekend we were going to be there, my heart nearly raced out of my chest. Everything: the drive, the expense, even the tears, everything was worth it for this moment. I'm actually going to write about the concert in a separate post, because it totally needs its own space.

And so Sunday, our final day in Nashville, arrived. As much fun as I had, all I could think about was how wonderful it was going to be to sleep in my own bed that night. The trek home took another 12 hours, and by the time we reached the home stretch, I wanted to kiss the sign welcoming us back to our county. When I walked into my house, I wanted to hug its entire contents. When I finally went to sleep that night, hitting the pillow was more like falling into a coma.

Road tripping was tougher than I'd anticipated and I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but I'm glad we did it, if only because it's something I wouldn't ordinarily do. We're setting our sights on attending BEA next year, especially since it'll be the last one in NYC for a while. At least I know my way around the city and can pretty much go anywhere without having to drive. :D

Adventures in NYC

Melissa and I were both ecstatic to be able to spend a few days back in our old home, New York City. The main purpose of our trip was to attend a wedding, which was absolutely beautiful. We walked a lot, we ate a lot, and we left with a lot of great memories of a place that will always remain special to us.

Our flight there left bright and early at 6 A.M., and we were up at 2:30 that morning. It really didn't pay for us to bother going to bed the night before because we were both too excited to sleep. We were at the airport by about 4, and things got off to a rather inauspicious start when we went to park the car in the long-term lot. I'm super petite at 5'0", and I had to almost completely climb out my window to grab the parking ticket from the dispenser. In retrospect, this was totally hilarious, but not so much when I was struggling to reach the freaking ticket. It could have been worse; luckily, Melissa hadn't had her coffee yet and was too under-caffeinated to snap an embarrassing photo of me.

We were greeted in NYC by low 50 degree temperatures, which was a bit of a change from the 80-something degree temps we had left. It'd been four years since I'd last been there and six since Melissa had moved, and we've both probably adjusted to the warmer climate we now live in. We had packed jackets and sweaters and were comfortable most of the time, but nights were rather chilly, with lows in the 40's, which we just aren't used to anymore.

We were both eager to visit our old neighborhoods in Brooklyn—Greenpoint for me, Williamsburg for Melissa, and those were the first places we headed. I lived in the same house for 30 years, and seeing it again was bittersweet. A huge part of me needed to see it, while another was crushed to think that someone else was living there. The reality was, however, that the house had moved on without me, and it's time for me to move on my with life, too. Since I moved, and especially after my dad passed away a little more than a year after we left NY, I've had so many doubts about whether or not I would ever adjust to living where I am now. It's a completely different lifestyle, and I'm OK with that now. Don't get me wrong—I was thrilled to be back in the rush of the city, but I don't think I could do it every day. I certainly couldn't afford the cost of NYC living, either. When I got home, I felt that it had truly become home. I'd still love to visit NY once in a while, but I now know that living there has officially become part of my past.

We spent quite a bit of time just walking around both neighborhoods, reminiscing. We ate at some of our favorite restaurants, including our favorite pizza place. There is nothing like NY pizza; do not accept any substitutions! Our calorie consumption for the length of the trip had to be some scary number, but in all fairness, we also walked a ton. We spent a whole day in Manhattan, and I marched poor Melissa from Central Park West and 72nd Street (she's a HUGE Beatles fan and got to see Strawberry Fields) down to 42nd Street/Times Square. If you've ever been to NY, city blocks are loooong, so that was some major cardio we did that day. We'd also been to The Cloisters museum, which houses all medieval art, in the morning and walked all over there. We decided to return to Manhattan the night before we left, too, and paid a visit to the campus of my alma mater, New York University, before browsing around the Times Square area again once more.

Our trip went by all too fast; when it was time to pack up, we felt like we had only just arrived. We went a little crazy with the shopping, but most of it was for family. We ended up packing the smaller suitcase with all of the gifts and the larger one with everything else. Fortunately, we were comfortably under the baggage weight limit! We had another early flight back home, 6:30 A.M., and were utterly wiped out by the time we pulled into my driveway. It was all completely worthwhile, though; we regret nothing about the trip, including the money we spent on everything, and would visit there again in a heartbeat.

And now for some photos!

View from up by The Cloisters museum. I really miss seeing the trees change color in the fall.

More fall foliage, with a view of the George Washington Bridge.

The Cloisters

Some buildings around Columbus Circle

View of Manhattan from the Greenpoint, Brooklyn waterfront.

Another waterfront shot, with the Williamsburg Bridge in the background.