This past week was my first time attending the RT Booklovers Convention–this year held in Las Vegas, NV. I’d heard that the convention was a great place to meet writers and readers–and that proved to be true. What no one warned me about was how overwhelming a big con can be for introverts! I’m not sure if it was the Vegas setting or the con itself, but everything–from the parties to the giant book signing–was huge!
Luckily, it was also a lot of fun. By far the best part was getting to meet online writing friends in person, like my roommate Mara Rutherford and fellow debut author Elly Blake (Frostblood, 2017). I got to meet some of my Pitch Wars friends (Kelly Siskind, Brenda Drake, Erika Chapman, Sonya Hartl, Sharon Johnston, Stephanie Scott, and lots of others I’m doubtless forgetting), Sweet Sixteen debuts K.C. Held, Darcy Woods, Natalie Blitt and Swanky Seventeen debut authors Ashley Woodfolk and Sarah Lemmon.
And while I did get to meet a few teen readers (and I LOVED the enthusiasm they had for books and meeting their favorite authors), I loved getting to meet some of my author heroes. These are only a few of them (i.e., the ones I remembered to get pictures with): Marie Rutkowski, Victoria Aveyard, Julie Murphy, and the queen of YA fantasy, Tamora Pierce. (I got to manage her line at the giant book signing Saturday and it was so inspiring to see how many authors *loved* her. The first woman in line was so thrilled to meet Ms Pierce that she was a bit incoherent. I loved it.
