Hello all! I hope most of you are surviving this brutal winter. I'm writing to you all from a very sunny and warm San Francisco (don't hate me). I've been having a blast hitting the road for Prom and Prejudice and wanted to share some photos and stories from the road. First off, I can not tell you how honored I am that anybody shows up to my events at all. But to have so many enthusiastic people is beyond humbling. One of the highlights from these past few events is the number of book bloggers I've met. I love book bloggers. Anybody who loves books and wants to spread that love is #1 in my book!
After my insane pub party at Books of Wonder (see post below), I headed to Chicago to speak at a few schools in the area. I almost drove off the road when I saw this:
But the biggest surprise that day was at my evening event at Anderson's Bookstore in Downers Grove. I noticed a familiar face smiling at me from the audience, but I just couldn't place it until he asked me: "Did playing basketball in grade school influence your books?" I about died. It was my grade school basketball coach Mr. Roets who now lives nearby Anderson's. AND he brought photos (and no, I will not be posting those).
I also got to meet Stacey from PageTurners blog and Melissa from Twitter. It's so much fun to put faces to names and Tweets! Melissa won the special prize I was giving out (at my solo events, I give out a special DARCY necklace to the first person to ask a question). Not only did Melissa show up the next night at my B&N event in Skokie wearing her necklace, she made me a t-shirt! It was the first fan-made thing I've ever gotten and I LOVE it!
I was super excited for the next event because I was doing it with two other authors, Kristina Springer (My Fake Boyfriend is Better than Yours) and Kristin Walker (Made in High School). We had a BLAST! One of the best parts about being an author is getting to meet other authors. I really enjoyed doing a panel with them and I learned a lot. And laughed. And ended up leaving with an arm full of their books!
After a week "off" (I'm in the middle of editing my third book), I headed to San Francisco to be part of Books Inc.'s Not Your Mother's Book Club. As a publicist, I've had the privilege of going to NYMBC events with the authors I worked with and I always secretly wished I could one day attended as an author. So when I found out that they'd have me, I pretty much jumped on a plane! I got to meet two incredible authors as part of the panel last night as well, Suzanne Selfors (Mad Love) and Cathleen Daly (Flirt Club).
I have to say that this was one of the best events I've ever attended. Not only were Cathleen and Suzanne loads of fun, the crowd was made of awesome. The lovely ladies of Eve's Fan Garden met up with me beforehand to hang out AND they brought us cupcakes (click here to see their post on the event, including a video of me reading!). And the way to my heart is with food, especially if it is in the shape of one of my books.
I also got to meet Jessica from ChickLitTeens who missed half a day of school to come to the event (her mom was there, so it was approved! I don't want to be responsible for people skipping school).
I've got a few other events coming up over the next two months: Princeton, NJ, Philadelphia area with Jen Calonita and Sara Shepard, and I'll be at the LA Times Book Festival in April (check out my EVENTS section on the site, LA schedule to come). I hope to see you out there!
XOXO, Elizabeth