The time it was about YallWest {2}

Posted May 1, 2016 by Stacee in Signings | 8 Comments

Michelle and I went to YallWest last year and we knew it was going to be a sure thing this year too. We ended up getting a hotel and going up with Keiko and another friend.

Because there were so many authors attending this year {170 in comparison to 60 last year}, we decided to each make a top 5 must-see list. That way it sort of helped with how many books we took {it didn’t} and regulated where we were going to be for the day. Thankfully, we mostly had the same people to see.

1

Saturday

Keiko picked us up at 5:45 and we headed up to LA. We had to pick up her friend at the airport first. We made a stop at Starbucks and got going. By the time we made it to the high school, the line to get in was all down the street and around the corner. Thankfully we were told that if we weren’t waiting for a keynote, we didn’t have to wait in line.

welcome

Our first stop was Random House. If you signed up for the First in Line email, you got to pick an arc. AND THEY HAD GEMINA. I was also able to get Nicola Yoon’s new book because I had a special email.  I’ll be honest: after that, I considered the entire thing a success and was ready to quit.

3

We walked over to Fierce Reads to see about getting the relationship shirt or Heartless arcs, but ultimately decided that we didn’t want to wait for either. People were already milling around to pre-line, so we gave up before we started.

Griffin Teen was right next to Macmillan and I lost my mind all over the girl working the booth when I saw the art card for The Star Touched Queen. We started talking about how amazing it is and then I saw the promo for The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You and started gushing. {If you guys haven’t read that book, you need to.}

Our first signing was at 11 and so we headed over to the signing area to see how it was set up. On our way up, we stopped at Scholastic. If you took a photo with their thought bubbles, you could take any book on their table.

2

The line up was waaaaaay more organized this time. They had a general line up and then as it got crowded, would pull for different authors and put them in new lines.

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We got in line for Renée Ahdieh and waited. They let us in right at 11 and only 6 people at a time could go. When I got up to her, she came around the table and we hugged. She started signing my pile of books and then a volunteer came over and asked about putting a cap on the line or limit to books. Renée said that she would sign quickly and not put any extras. We chatted for a few minutes while she signed before hugging again and leaving the line.

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We did a car dump after that because I had 7 books for Renée and didn’t want to carry them. We swapped for things and headed back to the signing area.

I had a book for Jessica Khoury. When we got to her table, there was one girl standing there, talking to her. So I stopped and waited. I told her my Twitter name and we talked about her dog and how cute she is. And then talked about the baby too.

As she was signing my book, a whole line of people came up. I started laughing and said that I must have jumped the line without realizing it. Jessica laughed and said she didn’t have a line and I pointed behind me. After she saw the line, she laughed again and I thanked her before running away.

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From there, we happened to find Jessica Spotswood. She was one of my top 5 to see and I was so excited. She didn’t know where her table was, so she found that and we followed her. I got up to her and we chatted for a minute. I asked her how her trip was going and she told me about her panel and how she was going to be attending as a reader on Sunday.

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Amie and Jay were at 1, so we stayed in the area and eventually just got in the general line. Eventually we were moved over to a separate line. Once they took us to the actual line, I saw Gretchen McNeil standing across the way, so I went to say hi. We chatted about her fabulous dress and shoes and glasses {while Amie shouted hello to me}. I was with Gretchen for a few minutes before I ran back to line.

When I was one person away from Jay, he waved to me and told me to come over. I had talked to Jay previously about his being a Slayer fan, so I was able to surprise him with signed Kerry King stuff. He was really excited and got up to hug me and say thanks. Then Amie asked what it was and after he showed her, she was like, “Here.” and held her hand out to take it and put it in her purse for him.

I handed Jay my arc of Gemina and he told us that it was the first time that they had seen the arcs. And when I went to Amie, we talked about them touring again for Gemina and I told her that as long as they got within 500 miles, we would be there. She laughed and said she knew that, because we had already proven it by going to Vegas.

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We had some time to kill before trying to see Leigh, so we decided to do a book drop. We stopped at the grilled cheese truck to order some lunch before heading back to the car to switch things out.

truck car

Turned out that the line for Leigh was insane and all I needed was to see her for one of the SoC tattoos for my appointment. We headed over to her table and I actually just went and sat down next to her. After about 30 seconds of her fully focused on signing, I tapped her on the shoulder. She laughed and said hi and handed it to me. I told her I would see her at Fierce Reads and left.

We got back in the general line for Heather Demetrios. She was also one of my must-sees. We ended up being first in line and when I got up to her, I told her my Twitter name. She got up to hug me and we both said how nice it was to finally meet. We chatted about her writing 5 books at once and book pirating and our mutual love for Patrick. Annnnnd I finally have him in writing.

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I stood with her for a bit longer than I should have, but I’ve been a fan for so long, I couldn’t tear myself away from her.

The last person on our schedule for the day was Nina LaCour. After I was done with Heather, I went back to get in line for Nina while Keiko and Michelle got something else signed. The line moved quickly and it wasn’t long before I was in front of her.

She got up and hugged me, saying it was nice to see me again. We talked about how things were going, her new book with David Levithan, and how I was excited to read it.  {I love that the hat covers her entire head in the photo}

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Annnnd with that concluded our first day. We all grouped back together and headed out. On or way out, we stopped to talk to Felicity, who was one of the ladies running the lines. She told us how she had worked for Penguin Australia and was now freelance. She was one of the most delightful people at the event and wanted to make sure she knew how awesome it was.

Sunday

Sunday had us sleeping in, slowly getting ready, and reading in bed. We got out of the hotel and made a necessary trip to Starbucks before heading to the high school.

feet starbucks

The event opened at 10, but they came through and said that things were running late and it would be 15-20 minutes after that. We headed right to Random House and got totes and then Nicola Yoon showed up, so we were able to get her to sign our arcs.

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From there we split up: Michelle and Keiko went to the arc drop for My Lady Jane and I went to see Jennifer Niven. I stopped to ask Felicity {she was seriously the best} where the line went as it had already been taken down. And then I just settled in to wait.

When I got up to Jennifer, she told me that she had something for me and she pulled out 2 foreign copies of ATBP. After I lost my mind, I asked her to sign them. As she was signing, she told me that her copy of ATBP was new and I should start claiming my Finch chapters.

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I was able to get several of them, but decided to stop holding up the line. Jennifer told me that I could just stand off to the side and continue if I wanted. When I looked back at the line, I said no, that I would see her again. Plus, other people needed to sign it. She promised not to give Finch to anyone else, so I didn’t need to worry. We hugged and her fiancé told me it was nice to see me again.

I left to find Michelle and Keiko. They had each gotten one of the 50 tickets to go to Random House’s cupcake social and get a signed book from one of the authors. I ended up getting my tote signed by everyone who was there. {I forgot to take any photos from this entire thing, so look at the RH banner}

cupcake

After I got my hand stamped to be one of the 200 people for arcs, I ran back to the signing line to go see Tamara Ireland Stone. I skipped the line and went over to sit next to her, like I did with Leigh. She laughed and said hi and hugged me. I apologized to the fan who was getting her book signed and Tamara laughed again, saying that she almost signed the girl’s book to me.

After a few minutes with Tamara, I ran back to Michelle and Keiko and we got in line for the arc drop of This Savage Song.

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Our last planned event was to see Jodi, Brodi, and Cynthia. We were able to see Felicity again and she pointed us in the right direction for the line. I got up to Brodi first and she said hi and asked if we had met a million times before. I said yes and as she passed the book to Cynthia, we all chatted about the festival and what we had been doing.

brodi cynthia jodi

And then, just like that, we were done. We hugged Felicity and said goodbye to her. Keiko wanted to get a chance to see Tamara and I wanted to see Robin Benway, so we grabbed a seat and people watched for a bit.

At Festival of Books, Robin had told me that she had a German copy of Emmy & Oliver for me and we had missed each other at the Epic Reads booth on Saturday. Keiko had seen her while I was gone and Robin gave her the book. It just so happened that Tamara and Robin were walking together to Robin’s signing, so I asked her to sign it and we chatted for a minute before she had to go. Isn’t that cover gorgeous?

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Tamara stayed with us for a few minutes and it was lovely to catch up with her since I only see her maybe once a year. There were talks of foreign covers, kissing in books, Almost Famous, and pass pages. We were planning to take a selfie, but Jessica Spotswood happened to walk by and offered to take a photo for us.

And then we were officially done… YallWest last year was fun, but this year was amazing. It was more organized and we were able to see more people because of it.  I am seriously impressed at the level of awesome and the amount of work that has to go into it.  I can’t wait to see what next year looks like.

Oh, and Michelle and I had a bet. She won

arm

PS: If you’re reading this before 5/17/16, click here to go to the giveaway on Instagram that includes some of the pretties I picked up at YallWest.

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8 responses to “The time it was about YallWest {2}

  1. Ahh so Jealous. I will get to an American book event one day.
    Felicity is amazing isn’t she? I know her being at Penguin here is Australia and she was so good at running events, plus she is amazing to fangirl with.

    Thanks for the post.

    • Stacee

      Felicity was one of the best parts of the entire thing! She was absolutely amazing.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

  2. Tammy V.

    I would love to go to this. Just seeing all those pretty books would drive me nuts and I’d have to get all of them. I’m going to my first YA author fest in June. It is close to me but will be small. I only knew a couple names on the list but I still think it will be fun.

    • Stacee

      It’s pretty fun. Chaotic, but fun. And yay for author events!! I hope you have fun.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

  3. Gaaaah, you had such an amazing time Stacee :D SO jealous of you. <3 Yet so happy for you too, hih :) Gah. Gemina :( And siiigned. Sobs. And This Savage Song. GAH. I am so jealous, hah :D So many awesome books and authors. <3 Yay for getting lots of book signed :D You are awesome. Thank you for sharing about all that you did :)

    • Stacee

      YallWest was so much fun and I almost died when I saw RH handing out arcs. It was the first thing we did and I was ready to go home after that.

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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