Happy Friday Everyone!
This past Wednesday I had the pleasure of being the live blogger for the Dayton, Ohio stop of HarperTeen's Dark Days tour featuring Kimberly Derting, Dan Wells, and Jill Hathaway, and it was an absolute blast! I took a ridiculous number of pictures at the event, but before I post those, I thought I would share with you all a bit of my experience because I tend to be rather special in social situations, and Wednesday was really no exception.
To help cover the event, I thought I would try and tweet fun tidbits as they were taking place and brought my Kindle Fire along to aid me in my tweeting endeavor. Confession: I'm extraordinarily technologically challenged. I know my computer design programs like the back of my hand, but anything else is completely lost on me, so I was a little nervous about getting the bookstore's WiFi working with my Kindle and figuring the whole mobile Twitter thing out. While I'm sitting in the audience waiting for the event to start and trying desperately to make my Kindle magically take me to Twitter, Kimberly Derting looks out at everyone gathered and says "Is Jenny here?"
Cue mild panic attack and deer-in-headlights look.
At her question, I'm pretty sure my hand shot straight up in the air with scary enthusiasm (a la Hermione Granger in the first Harry Potter movie when she knows every single answer to Snape's questions). Like I was the teacher's pet being called on in class. My hand remained in the air as though I had no control over it until the silence became a tad prolonged and Kimberly ever-so-politely said hello and asked what I was doing (probably because one of my hands was swaying in the air while the other was holding a black leather-covered device 3 inches from my face trying to see my teeny tiny tweets).
Me: Um. Trying to tweet?
Brilliant conversationalist, thy name is Jenny.
When it was clear that those four words were all that were going escape my lips, she tried to draw a few more out by asking me about the "trying" part of my stunningly articulate statement, then sweetly sympathized with me about my general failure at all things technological when I explained the situation to her.
I am quite possibly the most amazing social butterfly who has ever lived.
After my unforgettable introduction, Kimberly, Jill, and an injured Dan took turns discussing their books and spent a great deal of time answering questions. A huge thank you to all three of them for being so gracious, and to HarperTeen for allowing me to be a part of their Dark Days tour! Below are the pictures I snapped at the event:
Books & Co in Dayton
Me & Kimberly
Kimberly had very special Last Echo nail polish to give away.
My nails are now a lovely shade of lavender.
Dan was incredibly personable and very funny, but how awkward am I in this picture? I got all flustered because I didn't know what to do with my hands. I was all "would touching him be weird? Probably. Try not to be weird Jenny." I put my arm around both Kimberly and Jill, but I didn't want to make Dan uncomfortable so I just sort of edged close to him and stood there like a champ. Well done me.
I asked Dan to please sign my mother-in-law's book with a flourish for the camera. That wonky line at the bottom there is his flourish. It's really more of a squiggle than a flourish, but he was a good sport about my photo direction ;-)
Me and Jill. I had to check with my mother-in-law after she took this picture to make sure I wasn't inappropriately close to Jill. When taking pictures with authors, I have a tendency to all but crawl in their laps, something I don't realize I've done until after I see the picture and notice my stalker-like nearness.
Signing books.
So there you have my Dark Days tour experience! If you haven't had a chance yet, don't forget to enter to win copies of The Last Echo, Partials, and Slide HERE, and stay up to date on all things Dark Days by visiting their Facebook page!
Also, if you're not aware of some the fabulous things HarperTeen has going on in April, I thought I'd share some info with all of you:
1. Epic Reads Grab bags - Throughout the Month of April enter to win 5 mystery titles. Winners are picked and announced every Friday!
2. Browse inside titles made of win:
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
