Breathless Reads Tour

Wednesday night I had the pleasure of journeying to New York City with some of my blogger buddies (Gail of Ticket to Anywhere, Nikki of Wicked Awesome Books, Dani of Overflowing Shelf & Jen of Secret Life of a Bibliophile) to the first stop on the Breathless Reads tour at Books of Wonder.

It was a long day--complete with six hours of driving and 2 hours on a train where we ladies talked loudly and excitedly about books, blogging, authors, music and everything under the sun. It was joyous. We had pizza, met some other bloggers & delivered cookies to our author friends. (Yum.)

The authors: Kirsten Miller, Brenna Yovanoff, Andrea Cremer, Ally Condie & Beth Revis. The first part of the signing was q&a with the authors.

Here are some highlights from that thanks to Jen, who furiously tweeted as many answers as she could. She rocks. :) 

Q: Is there any of you in your character?

Brenna: My crit partners tell me I am the Morrigan. She went on to explain that it's only occasionally. 

Beth: There's a little bit of me in all my characters. Amy embodies the loneliness that she felt and Elder the adventure and desire to know things that she doesn't understand.

Q: What advice to do you have for young writers? 

Brenna Yovanoff

Beth said to find things that you're interested in go do those things instead--you have to experiences to write about and writing can't get in the way of living.

Brenna said to write. She spoke about having a balance between the living and the writing or one wouldn't get done.

Ally said to have a something else happening in your life as well---and to write.

Andrea Cremer

Andrea said that you need to write for yourself, for the story that has to be told--because if you do it any other way then you won't be satisfied.

Kirsten says you have to have a thick skin so you're able to handle the things people say to you. She also said to be able to sit for a long time.

Q: Did you always want to be a writer?

 

Beth said: "I always wanted to be a writer because typing was cool and I was good at it. Then, someone said I should have another plan. I agreed that I wanted to have money--so I became a teacher....I took a creative writing class that wasn't fun." Beth said the teacher wouldn't let her write what she wanted to but eventually she started writing. She talked a lot about blowing stuff up, which all her early stories involved. "I wrote ten really bad novels and then a good one."

Ally and Andrea both taught prior to writing, and both wanted to write. Andrea started because she broke her leg and was in a cast for 12 weeks. So, she used the time to write. Ally started writing because she stayed home with her son and "babies go to bed at like 7." Everyone had great answers! I wish I would've been able to catch them all for you.

Beth shared a story about "Frexing" that was really great. She initially used "Frak" but didn't know about Battlestar. So, she was searching for a term they could use on the ship and she read "Frex" on a blog. She liked it, used it & discovered it meant "For Example." Luckily, it also ended up being an acronym for....well, I won't say. It's in the book. You go search and figure it out!

Q: What's harder to write: the first line or the last?

Kirsten says the first line is the hardest because everything starts there. Andrea says the last because it has to be perfect. Ally said the last as well. Brenna said the first. Beth said both--but even more important is the line in the middle of the book. :)

Q: What was your favorite subject in high school?

Kirsten Miller

Kirsten was good at English and liked English. But--she really loved Chemistry (even though she wasn't good at it.) "We had an expensive, fancy lab and I really wanted to blow things up!"

Andrea said drama and history--which she taught at a college level prior to writing.

Brenna didn't really care about English back then; she loved PE.

Ally said Biology because they didn't have an expensive, fancy Chemistry lab but they did have "lots of dead animals" she could cut up.

Beth said history and science. And typing.

Ally Condie

Q: Can you remember the first story you ever wrote?

Ally's first story? "It was called Unicorn Party. I had plastic unicorn necklace and I dropped in the stable." (It became REAL!) "I had a real unicorn--and it was pregnant. I had pregnant unicorns so naturally, I had a party to celebrate. That was the whole story."

There were many more great questions and answers. It was a fun stop and they are hilarious ladies! If they come anywhere near you make sure you're there!! Check out the rest of the dates here.

Us with Kirsten Miller

Us with Ally Condie

Us with Andrea, Beth and Brenna. :)

What would a signing be without a prize for my lovely followers?

What you can win:

Prize 1: Buttons & an ARC (I have Eternal Ones, Across the Universe and Nightshade to choose from)

Prize 2: SIGNED bookmarks for The Replacements, Nightshade & The Eternal Ones....and an ARC. (Same options as above, minus winner's choice.)

Prize 3: This poster signed by all the authors. 

To win: 
Leave a comment on ANYWHERE ON MY BLOG that includes #breathlesstour in the comment (and your email if you aren't a GFC follower) so I can find you. OR fill out the form. Please do NOT do both.



I'm going to draw three winners based off the comments using random.org (starting with prize #1).  US/Canada only.  The contest will end Thursday, February 17 at midnight.