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. ♥

 

 

 

 

Random Randomness 2/18/12

Hey ya'll. Again, my apologies for my long absence of posting. I've become so lazy, it's unbelievable. XD From now on, I'm going to try to post every week. Emphasis on try. You know what they say...you try, you fail; you try, you fail, but the only true failure is when you stop trying!
Alright, let's get this show on the road. As of late, I have been feeding my inner nerd to the point of near gluttony. Hyrule Royal Family crest zip-up jacket? Check. Hours of video games when I get home from work? Check. Watching The Big Bang Theory on Hulu? Check.

OFCOURSEIDOI'MAPRINCESSANDTHISISMYTIARA!!!

Bahahahaaa. One of my favorite scenes from TBBT. Folks, this show may have some serious stupid, but it also has some serious funny as well. I'm not addicted to it by any means, but it has occupied a lot of my time this past week. I'm definitely gunna buy a Bazinga! t-shirt or a button at some point.

And Skyward Sword. I feel like I should write a review or something about it, but right now I just can't think of anything fitting to say. I will say this, however: this game is BEAUTIFUL. If true beauty can be captured in a video game, it is captured in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. I do believe that this game rivals Ocarina of Time. It's pure fun. Every aspect of it is perfect. I hadn't had so much fun playing a video game since I played OoT as a 7 year old, in fact. Skyward Sword brought back many wonderful memories for me. Feeling like a kid again is one of the reasons why video games like this are so loved. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Zelda forever!


Glee. Yup. I don't like Glee, I think there are a lot of moral issues in it, but yesterday I happened to watch Amber Riley (Mercedes)'s cover of Whitney Houston's I Will Always Love You, and I was impressed.

Beautiful. Whitney would be proud!

...So let's see, what else do I have for today...AH. I'm very happy to announce that I have been rather productive. Work has been going very well, and I've been drawing and writing regularly. I'll have new art in my deviantART gallery and poems at Writer's Cafe next week. Not only that, but I've been reading too. I just recently finished Maggie Stiefvater's Forever (absolutely shameful, considering I started it last year). Amazing book. Now I'm reading Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races. It's great so far. You can keep up with my reading at my Goodreads (see "Links" at the bottom of the page).

Finally, I joined Pinterest, if anyone's interested in following my boards. I just pin randomness. Quotes, art, stuff. Find me here: Aianarie @Pinterest

And that's all for this week. Hope you enjoyed. :-) Laters!