Wordstock 2013

Saturday, October 5^th, 2013

 

I’ve been meaning to write this blog post for over a week now, but due to finals and me catching the plague, it is a bit late.  I apologize for that!

 

 

Now then!  Wordstock!  How had I never been to this before?  How had I never heard of this before?  This year, I only found out about it via one of my favorite authors, Maggie Stiefvater, whom I got to meet at the fair.  But more on that later.

 

 

This annual book fair (the tickets were $7 for a student and $11 for an adult; children were free), is held in Portland at the Oregon Convention Center, which is in itself an incredible thing.  Take a look at these pics of the interior.

 

Books, books, books!  Books everywhere!  Publishing representatives everywhere!  Famous authors everywhere!  At first, I was quite overwhelmed.  But everyone was super friendly, and I gained a ton of useful information on publishing and “getting my name out there.”  I purchased three books at the fair: a used copy of The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (this has insanely awesome illustrations), The Enchanter Heir by Cinda Williams Chima, and The Dream Thieves by Maggie.  I also acquired a Wordstock tote and a few buttons.

 

 

After wandering about for an hour, Katie, Rach and I decided to grab coffee.  And who did we run into at the coffee shop?  Oh, an old friend.

 

…Cinda Williams Chima!

 

Rach invited Cinda to sit with us, which she did!  Katie and I could barely contain our excitement as we were granted this amazing opportunity to ask her questions about being a writer.  It was a memorable time.  And after Cinda left, Katie and I were totally fangirling.

 

 

Coffee was followed by more wandering (a video game convention was also happening at the convention center on this day…we sat for a bit and people watched…so many Pikachu cosplayers...ha ha ha) and then lunch.  Nothing beats a good burger!

 

 

 

Finally, it was time for the YA book signing to commence.  I got my copies of The Enchanter Heir and The Dream Thieves signed.  It was AWESOME to finally meet Maggie, one of the primary authors who inspired me to write my YA novels.  In fact, I started writing my first book, The Otherkind, after reading Shiver.  And take my word for it…she is just as awesome in real life as she is on her social networks!

 

...Anyway!  Wordstock was an eye-opening experience for me as a writer.  Next year, I intend to stay the night in Portland and attend Sunday's workshops and other events, too.  Hopefully by then, I'll have a book or two to publicize!

 

I have some fun (non-event-related. Ha ha) blog posts coming up...stay tuned!  Thanks for reading. ♥