Have you heard of TXLA? It’s amazing! Librarians from all over Texas (and other places) meet up with authors and publishers to do my very favorite thing: talk about books! It was my first official conference as an author and it was an incredible experience. I might have had a few fangirling moments. (Justine Larbalestier is the kindest human being of all time. Ally Carter is all sorts of sweet southerness! She gave me some awesome pro tips. Daniel Nayeri is an incredible story teller and he wears flip flops made of duct tape. Cinda Chima [who blurbed my book!] stopped in the middle of her signing line and took a picture with me! Laurie Halse Anderson is so wise. I wish I could sit at her feet and listen to her talk all day)
I didn’t say all that to name drop, but because I’m amazed how down-to-earth and real and wonderful all these people are. It was an awesome experience, and I really, really hope I get to do it again!
Now for pictures!!
From L to R: Chandler Baker (ALIVE out 6/15!!), Lydia Kang (CONTROL & CATALYST…also a doctor and mother of three…whuuuut?), Me, and Aisha Saeed (WRITTEN IN THE STARS out now!)There are a few incredible programs that TXLA runs during their conference specifically focused on teens: Texas Tea, TT4L, and the Meet and Greet. All of these teens left with a tote full of free books, autographs, swag, and also has a chance to have face-to-face discussions with some amazing authors!This is the lovely Jennifer Haight of Houston. She’s a librarian, blogger, and mother extraordinaire. I was so happy to see her face in the crowd!!That’s the very talented Justin Chanda, publisher at S&S. He ran crowd control for me while I signed. I felt pretty awesome. 🙂This is one of the groups of teens that stopped by my table for the Meet & Greet. They were AMAZING. I’m so impressed with the smart, insightful questions that I got to answer from these young people. My favorite part of the conference, for sure!
One Comment
William Kendall
It seems you enjoyed yourself!