1. I met so many amazing women…I laughed so much at our table at the Random House dinner that my face hurt. Librarians are incredible. And sexy. Single men, get thee to a library conference.
With the lovely Kelly, Random House publicist extraordinaire
2. Dinner with Nancy Werlin the first night. We talked about books and writing and love…she’s an incredible person. It was one of those dinners where time seems to stop, and afterward you feel renewed and happy.
3. Wings & Waffles at the Breakfast Klub. Yes, I ate fried chicken for breakfast, and it was FANTASTIC.
4. Meeting the fabulous Readergirlz— Dia Calhoun, Lorie Ann Grover, and Justina Chen Headley—the same day they recommended my book. I’ve always loved their site and it was a pleasure to meet them in person.
5. Our panel about women in YA was so much fun. We spoke about (among other subjects): the unique nature of the YA genre, the differences between YA and adult lit, and the importance of writing about the inner lives of girls and women.
Cool signing poster
6. Drinking champagne and toasting Cassandra Clare’s debut on the NYT bestseller list!
7. Crazily fun late night talks in the hotel bar about very non-PG-rated subjects with Justine Larbalestier, Scott Westerfeld, John Green, Cassie Clare, Varian Johnson, Jenny Ziegler, Chris Barton, and Margaret Miller. (Non-PG-rated talk may have been enhanced by champagne.)
8. After watching me ogle the fashion book Born-Again Vintage, the very sweet Dave on the Random House adult side gave me a copy the last day. Thank you, Dave! I’m kind of obsessed with the re-created vintage clothes in this book. I just need to learn how to sew now…
9. I MET MEG CABOT. And she was incredibly nice and wore a gorgeous green dress and shoes. I kept thinking: I am talking to Meg Cabot about zappos and net-a-porter and I think I love her.
10. Room service breakfast! Two cups of coffee…one for me and one for John Green. Just kidding. The second cup belonged to Jenny Ziegler, who was lots of fun to room with. Jenny and I stayed up till all hours talking about books, love, books, boys, books, motherhood, and more books… (John Green was such a lazybones, he didn’t even wake up for the room service breakfast. I guess the night with me and Jenny knocked him out. Understandably…)