Monkey Madness Monday: Book Signing on the Base

On Saturday I was hosted by the Joint Bases of Lewis McChord for a book signing. It was at the PX, and this was my first in-store signing. My dad went with me for moral support, and it helped me calm my nerves a bit.

They are very no nonsense. You come in, sit at a table, sign books. An hour later you sign all the books you didn't sell, and you're on your way.

They supplied me with an escort, her name was Dawn, and she was very sweet, and it gave me someone to talk to during lulls.

It was a very surreal experience. They had three giant posters on the walls with my big giant face and book cover. They had me sign one before I left, and gave me one to take home.

People wanted to get their picture taken with me which I found to be very sweet and a little crazy, because in my mind, I am a nobody. I felt a little like a rock star.

I met some very interesting people. A wedding singer, teacher, a book blogger, an author with three books under his belt. Unfortunately, I also met a man who's son disappeared in Afghanistan. One thing I didn't think about when taking a signing on base was meeting people who had experienced real loss.

The base really knows how to treat their guests. They have both me and my father swag bags. There was some really cool stuff in there, and army t-shirt and hat, a reebok water bottle, a cosmetic bag full of samples, and I'm talking good samples: Prada, Versace, Jessica McClintock, Vera Wang.

They were very kind and appreciative, which I found funny. I was the one that should have been appreciative and I definitely was. They were awesome.

They had purchased 50 books. They sold a few before the signing, we sold 17 in the hour I was there, and Dawn assured me that they would sell the rest in probably the next few days.

I would definitely do another signing on base and highly recommend it to other authors in the area.

Oh, let's not forget our monkey. I got this picture courtesy of Heather at Starting on the Write Page...

F³A: Visitors and party!!

Release party number two takes place tomorrow, and my friends Gae and Annmarie are flying in from NY to celebrate with me!!!!

I'm cool and collected for this one. This one is a private party for close friends and family. We'll be eating, drinking, I'm going to play a couple videos. I did a montage of all my Chronicles that shows my journey from beginning to end.

And cookies. Lots of cookies.

This is where I'm doing my raffle to benefit Mary Bridge Children's hospital. I've got donations form me, of course, from my dad's law firm, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, T-Town Apparel, and my family's wine shop, Vino Aquino. I'm going to let my guests drink a little bit first so they spend lots of money. Don't tell them I said that.

I'll do a reading from the book, then sell and sign books. It's going to be fun and relaxed, and a party I'm not going to freak out about.

I'm going to wear a shiny silver shirt. :)

Mostly, I'm excited for Gae and Annmarie to get here. They should be on their plane as we speak, getting ready for take-off.

I almost forgot the Friday Scribbles!!!

I just realized I have no idea where my iPod is, so I'll just have to go with my iTunes for my random song.

Oooh, the random song is very apropos because I wanted to use some of the lyrics on my novel. Sometime Around Midnight by The Airborne Toxic Event (I really wish Blogger would still let us use youtube videos on here without having to do code)


Book of the Week: I am reading a friends YA manuscript tentatively titled The Mark, and I'm liking it a lot. Hopefully this will be the one to get her published.

Netflix of the Week: Gray's Anatomy Season 5. OMG!!!

Quote of the Week: "If it were not for guests all houses would be graves." ~Kahlil Gibran

Release Party!!

So, some crazy things happened. Things that were out of my control.

Snow. Yes we got snow, it was clearing, but then the forecast was for a huge snow storm, the biggest we'd had in a long time. It was supposed to hit Tuesday night, just in time for my release party. Luckily, it held off.


Two days before the party the guy from the library told me he'd talked to the bookseller and that he was out of town. We had apparently had a miscommunication about who was setting this up. I thought it was him, he thought it was me. Oops. He was able to get the sellers cashbox and credit card supplies, but we didn't have anyone to sell the books. My mom, cousin, and a friend stepped up.


Because of the snow, half the books didn't show up. I had to bring two boxes of my own books to sell at the party. We still ran out and a few people were left disappointed (which I'll hopefully be able to make up for soon)

Also because of the impending storm, we moved the book talk and signing up about an hour as we knew people would leave early to avoid icy roads. Unfortunately, this angered a few people, but I would have rather had people leave earlier then get into accidents on their way home.










That said, the party was awesome. We had a great turnout despite the weather. It was amazing to see my family and friends, and TOTAL STRANGERS there to buy my books and get them signed.

We had yummy food and cookies. Food was by Viafore's Deli and cookies by Corina Bakery.

We had actors set to do a reading from my book. The boy actor fell through because of the weather, but the library guy, Dave, stepped in and did the part. After all he was a teacher at School of the Arts and an actor himself. I think they did a great job.



I think most everyone had a good time. I know I did! And here's what I woke up to this morning.

Cinder Release Party

Last night was Marissa Meyer's release party for her sci-fi twisted retelling of Cinderella, Cinder. If you've not heard of it, um, you may want to come out from under your rock. Marissa is from MY home town which makes her extra cool to me. She's also an Apocalypsie, so I got to meet her prior to her release (there are about six Apocalypsies in this area alone which is very cool and we try to meet once a month).

She had a grassroots campaign for the ladies to sport red heels (or other red shoes, I wore wedges, my friend Kristin wore red tennis shoes). Many came out to support her and her book, including my publicist (which was awesome) J Anderson Coats (The Wicked and the Just, April 2012, Harcourt Children's Books), Jennifer Wolf (Breaking Beautiful, April 2012, Walker Books for Young Readers), and Danny Marks (Velveteen, Fall 2012, Delacorte).

Marissa's Publicist from NY came all the way for the party!!

Marissa talked a little about her journey (she gave my release party a shout out which was SO sweet of her), had a friend do a reading from the book, then did a signing (the line was soooo long Danny went through three pieces of cake, I had to take off my death shoes, and we were all delirious by the time we reached the head of the line, but it was well worth the wait).

And, um, they gave away wicked swag.

And today? Marissa is on a nationwide tour to promote her book!!!! Here are the dates. If you're in these areas you should check it out.

January 4: Cincinnati, OH
Joseph-Beth Booksellers
7:00 p.m.

January 6: Chapel Hill, NC
Flyleaf Books
7:00 p.m.

January 8: Lynnwood, WA
Barnes & Noble
2:00 p.m.

January 9: Twitter and Facebook!!
Virtual Cinder Launch Party, being hosted with Figment Fiction
More info to come.

January 11: Salt Lake City, UT
The King's English Bookshop
7:00 p.m.

January 12: Provo, UT
Provo City Library
7:00 p.m.

January 23: Naperville, IL
Anderson's Bookshop
7:00 p.m.
Note: Megan Miranda, author of FRACTURE, will also be at this event!

January 24: Petaluma, CA
Copperfield's Books
3:00 p.m.

January 26: San Francisco, cA
Books Inc. “Not Your Mother’s Book Club” at Opera Plaza
7:00 p.m.
Note: Megan Miranda (FRACTURE) and Daisy Whitney (THE RIVALS) will also be at this event!

January 27: Portland, OR
Powell's Books
7:00 p.m.
Note: Megan Miranda, author of FRACTURE, will also be at this event!

February 10-14: Vancouver and Victoria, BC, Canada
Details TBD

February 25: Long Beach, CA
Passion and Prose Convention
http://www.passionandprose.org/


April 14: Houston, TX
TeenBookCon
http://www.teenbookcon.org
(Other Texas events TBD)

I want to congratulate Marissa who's awesome and sweet and adorable. If you missed her release party and would like to meet her, you may catch a glimpse of her at my party January 17 at the Tacoma Library Wheelock branch.