Where I've Been: RT

With almost no time to recover from TeenBookCon and TLA, I turned back around and headed to Kansas City for the RT Booklovers Convention. This trip made me think of this song:

The convention was held at the Sheraton Kansas City, which had this super cool sculptural thingy hanging above the lobby.

I was only in at RT for two days--in and out--but the very first thing I did was find my banner in the hall. So much Venom-y goodness.

While there, I got some fabulous prezzies from the darling Suzanne Lazear and her daughter.

I went to lunch with a bunch of amazing YA authors. (Colleen Houck, Colleen's sister, Cole Gibsen, Zoraida Cordova, and Justina Ireland are nearest me at the table.)

At the Avon Red Slipper Lounge, I signed a fortress of books...

...hung out with fab authors Karina Cooper and Teri Brown...

...and of course got some quality time with Sophie Jordan in our almost-matching dresses.

On Saturday, I survived an early breakfast (with Karina Cooper, *mwuah*), an almost-four-hour book signing, two back-to-back panels, and the awesome-but-exhausting Teen Day party! And guess what I got at the party? More ARCs! (I also got some actual real signed books from Josie Angelini, Amy Plum, and Jen Lynn Barnes.) So look forward to those giveaways.

While waiting in the lobby for my airport shuttle, one of the cover models gave me this CD of his music. Um...

Now I'm back home with no more writing-related travel for a while. Until July anyway. I think...

TLA Addendum (aka TLC is a Stalker)

In my main post about my trip to TLA in Fort Worth, I totally forgot to mention the Most Important Thing I did! If you've followed my blog... or met me... or seen me on Twitter or Facebook... you should know that my favorite YA author is Jaclyn Moriarty.

Now, I've met a lot of YA authors over the years, but Jaclyn lives in Australia. AUSTRALIA! So I've never had the chance to be in even the same hemisphere as her.

Until TLA!

I arranged my travel so I could stay late enough on Friday to attend her official signing at 2:00pm. By 11:00am I had staked out my spot at a table within sight of her signing aisle.

I was first in line.

They only had two of her books available, but I bought them both. (And, yes, I got an extra one to giveaway here on the blog.)

Finally, after many long years of obsessing admiration, I got to meet Jaclyn Moriarty.

I don't think I made TOO MUCH of an idiot of myself. *fangirl squeal*

Where I've Been: TLA

After TeenBookCon, I got to head home for two whole days before turning back around for another trip to Texas for the Texas Library Association annual conference in Fort Worth. I stayed at the beautiful Worthington Renaissance hotel with the rest of the HarperCollins team.

We walked from the hotel to the convention center, through the adorably historic and vibrant downtown Fort Worth. I was definitely impressed with the area. It was a fun place to hang out for a couple days.

The downtown area and the convention center had many art displays, including this gigantic star made entirely of cowboy hats (including a pink one).

I spoke on the Lone Star panel (which was in a gigantic room) along with amazing authors Marie Lu, Kiersten White, Ally Carter, and Mary Pearson. We were a hoot, I'm pretty sure.

No event is complete without food, and while at TLA I headed to the Cupcakery with Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Ally Carter, and Mari Mancusi. I indulged in this gorgeous cupcake...

...and a Texas-sized onion ring at the Harper family dinner.

I picked up SO MANY amazing ARCs from the publisher booths, including the absolutely amazing Premeditated by the supremely talented Josin McQuein.

You know ARCs for me mean giveaways for you, so expect lots of great books up for grabs in the near future.

Where I've Been: TeenBookCon

If you follow me on Twitter, you know I've been on the road a lot lately. A lot. I had three back-to-back weeks of events and all that wild travel was pretty exhausting. (Especially since it included two red eye flights in the mix. Ugh, never again.)

The first of the three trips sent me back to my adopted hometown of Houston, Texas, for TeenBookCon. If you live in or around Houston (or can get yourself there without too much trouble) you should try to get to there for TeenBookCon next year. It was amazing!

There were dozens of fabulous authors (some of whom I've been dying to meet for a long time, like Kate Brian, Justina Chen, and Claudia Gray). We started out the day on stage, while hundreds of teens watched from the auditorium.

Then, after Chris Crutcher's keynote speech, we headed to our panels. I was on the Take Me Away panel with Lenore Applehans, AG Howard, Sophie Jordan, Stacey Kade, and Shannen Messenger.

We repeated our panel four times, which you might think would get boring but since the audience questions changed every time, it was always different. (Although I think we were all a little loopy by the end of the day.)

I also got to spend some--but not enough--time with some of my favorite people.

It's so hard to say goodbye.

But the great thing about author events is that there is always another one just down the road. Luckily I got to see many of these awesome author peeps at my next two events. Stay tuned for recaps on both of those.

News (Yes, News!) of the Very Exciting Variety

Wow, I haven't posted anything but giveaways in a while! (But that's good for you guys, right? Lots of free books. And after TeenBookCon, TLA, and RT events the last few weeks I have a ton more to give away. Stay tuned!)

But today, finally, I have real and excitingly awesome news. For real!

You might have noticed that HarperTeen has started doing digital first projects for their Impulse line. They have already published a bunch of awesome short stories and novellas from great authors like Aprilynne Pike, Amy Plum, and Sophie Jordan. And, coming soon... ME!

source: roxinovak

Here are the details so far:

1. I will be writing TWO (2) Impulse novellas.
2. One will be another story in the Fins world.
3. The other will be... Goddess in Time, aka Nicole's story, aka FINALLY ANOTHER STORY IN THE OH. MY. GODS. WORLD!

That's all I know for sure right now. Goddess in Time will probably be out this year, sometime after the release of Sweet Legacy this fall. The Fins story will be out next year, maybe early early next year.

I don't even know who the Fins story will be about yet. More about Lily? Quince? The rest of Peri's story from Pretty in Pearls? Someone else entirely?

What do you think? Whose story would you most like to read?