Well, for the first time in the four and a half years I’ve been doing 15 Minute Tweet Tales, I missed posting a blog about it last week. There were a lot of things contributing to this guilt-inducing lapse, but the biggest was that I was out of town. But I was out of town for a super cool reason.
Last Saturday (8/6), Greenville, SC, hosted its first ReadUp Festival, a fabulous event dedicated to YA/MG books and authors. Since my sister lives in Greenville, I had a place to stay, so I decided to drive up there to attend the festival and then spend a few days hanging out with her. So fun!
In my book-ish dress, ready for a book-ish day!
The festival was amazing! If I hadn’t known, I never would have guessed it was the first year. They had an incredible lineup of authors, with headliners like Jay Asher, Maggie Stiefvater, and Stephanie Perkins. There were lively panels on a variety of interesting topics, and everything seemed to run so, so smoothly. They even had free ice cream in all kinds of flavors when the day got especially hot and sticky!
Since it was the first year, the crowd was smaller than something like YALLFest (which I love!), but that actually made it feel more intimate. YALLFest is now like a rock concert in a sold out mega-stadium, whereas ReadUp felt more like a band playing at a coffee house. And guess how super-introverted me prefers to listen to live music? The vibe at the panels felt like you were hanging out with the authors, which I think was a cool experience for everyone in the audience.
Just "hanging out" with Maggie Stiefvater
The smaller feel also let me catch up with authors I’ve met over the years without feeling like too much of a stalker. Because of events through SCBWI-Carolinas, I’ve gotten to know Megan Miranda, Beth Revis, and Carrie Ryan, and I’m sure it makes me sound like a dork, but I totally feel like part of the cool-people writing club getting hugs from those immensely talented ladies. I also got to see and/or chat with a bunch of the awesome authors I interviewed at YALLFest for MTV, like Susane Colasanti, Brendan Reichs, Ryan Graudin, and Renee Ahdieh.
My two favorite panels at the ReadUp Festival
But as cool as all of that was, by far the coolest part of the day was meeting Facebook friend Emily Colin in person. We “met” a few months ago when Emily wrote a blog post about Rebecca Petruck forcing her critique group (i.e. ME!) to eat bugs, and like all people I meet via Rebecca, Emily is awesome. While we were chatting, we first discovered we both went to Duke. Then we discovered we graduated the same year. THEN we figured out we lived in the same freshman dorm. AND we had the same major!!! The similarities we kept uncovering almost became creepy. But with so many ways we should have run into each other, neither of us remembers ever seeing the other. It's almost like we went out of our way to never meet at Duke to then meet each other mumble-ty something years later at a YA book festival. Go Blue Devils!
Emily and Jocelyn: Duke twins who never actually met
Kudos to everyone involved with bringing the ReadUp Festival to life! As a reader and a writer, I had a fantastic day immersing myself in the world of YA and MG books and chatting with old and new friends.
And now it’s time for 15 Minute Tweet Tales. Since I was such a slacker last week, I’ll do two for this week to make up for it.
Last week:
lethologica – the inability to remember a word or put your finger on the right word.
8/9 – It started as forgetting a name now and then, but once lethologica dominated most conversations, her son sadly took her to the doctor.
This week:
guttitim – drop by drop.
8/16 – The coffee falls guttitim,
but it's not enough to save him.
He demands his eggs sunny-side up;
she smashes his head w/ her empty cup.
Play along and write a tweet tale for the above word. If you’re willing to share, post it on twitter with the hashtag #15tt or add it below in the comments because I’d love to read your tales. Any thoughts about this week's tweet tale or #15tt word?
Well, for the first time in the four and a half years I’ve been doing 15 Minute Tweet Tales, I missed posting a blog about it last week. There were a lot of things contributing to this guilt-inducing lapse, but the biggest was that I was out of town. But I was out of town for a super cool reason.
Last Saturday (8/6), Greenville, SC, hosted its first ReadUp Festival, a fabulous event dedicated to YA/MG books and authors. Since my sister lives in Greenville, I had a place to stay, so I decided to drive up there to attend the festival and then spend a few days hanging out with her. So fun!
In my book-ish dress, ready for a book-ish day!
The festival was amazing! If I hadn’t known, I never would have guessed it was the first year. They had an incredible lineup of authors, with headliners like Jay Asher, Maggie Stiefvater, and Stephanie Perkins. There were lively panels on a variety of interesting topics, and everything seemed to run so, so smoothly. They even had free ice cream in all kinds of flavors when the day got especially hot and sticky!
Since it was the first year, the crowd was smaller than something like YALLFest (which I love!), but that actually made it feel more intimate. YALLFest is now like a rock concert in a sold out mega-stadium, whereas ReadUp felt more like a band playing at a coffee house. And guess how super-introverted me prefers to listen to live music? The vibe at the panels felt like you were hanging out with the authors, which I think was a cool experience for everyone in the audience.
Just "hanging out" with Maggie Stiefvater
The smaller feel also let me catch up with authors I’ve met over the years without feeling like too much of a stalker. Because of events through SCBWI-Carolinas, I’ve gotten to know Megan Miranda, Beth Revis, and Carrie Ryan, and I’m sure it makes me sound like a dork, but I totally feel like part of the cool-people writing club getting hugs from those immensely talented ladies. I also got to see and/or chat with a bunch of the awesome authors I interviewed at YALLFest for MTV, like Susane Colasanti, Brendan Reichs, Ryan Graudin, and Renee Ahdieh.
My two favorite panels at the ReadUp Festival
But as cool as all of that was, by far the coolest part of the day was meeting Facebook friend Emily Colin in person. We “met” a few months ago when Emily wrote a blog post about Rebecca Petruck forcing her critique group (i.e. ME!) to eat bugs, and like all people I meet via Rebecca, Emily is awesome. While we were chatting, we first discovered we both went to Duke. Then we discovered we graduated the same year. THEN we figured out we lived in the same freshman dorm. AND we had the same major!!! The similarities we kept uncovering almost became creepy. But with so many ways we should have run into each other, neither of us remembers ever seeing the other. It's almost like we went out of our way to never meet at Duke to then meet each other mumble-ty something years later at a YA book festival. Go Blue Devils!
Emily and Jocelyn: Duke twins who never actually met
Kudos to everyone involved with bringing the ReadUp Festival to life! As a reader and a writer, I had a fantastic day immersing myself in the world of YA and MG books and chatting with old and new friends.
And now it’s time for 15 Minute Tweet Tales. Since I was such a slacker last week, I’ll do two for this week to make up for it.
Last week:
lethologica – the inability to remember a word or put your finger on the right word.
8/9 – It started as forgetting a name now and then, but once lethologica dominated most conversations, her son sadly took her to the doctor.
This week:
guttitim – drop by drop.
8/16 – The coffee falls guttitim,
but it's not enough to save him.
He demands his eggs sunny-side up;
she smashes his head w/ her empty cup.
Play along and write a tweet tale for the above word. If you’re willing to share, post it on twitter with the hashtag #15tt or add it below in the comments because I’d love to read your tales. Any thoughts about this week's tweet tale or #15tt word?
