My Adventure at the Breathless Reads Tour

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Speed of Sound by Coldplay.



Curse you smart people! You guessed it, on the first try, and even guessed the name of the city! Good gracious. Well, you rock, and that's that. And yes, it was indeed the Breathless Reads tour in Salt Lake City (so excited for those of you who get to see them in Raleigh! You are in for a serious treat).






This signing was held in the downtown city library, and I have to say, I am absolutely in love with this building. Not only is there a garden on the rooftop and a bridge/causeway that circles from the roof to halfway around the building, it's got shops inside that sell Edgar Allen Poe and Shakespeare action figures (and art, and a cafe, and a comic book shop...). There's a glass elevator, an outdoor amphitheater, and the teen room has a freaking plasma screen tv and a fireplace! How much cooler can you get?! :D

(it's won some architectural awards too, I think).

So the signing took place in the auditorium and there was much screaming and cheering to be had. :) These ladies are awesome. You really should get to know all of them better. For example: Brenna Yovanoff. She wrote The Replacement, which is dark and gritty (gritty is a very good word for it) but then here she comes on stage, looking bright and chipper and like the sweetest, happiest person on the planet! And by the way, she is a serious fashionista. I could not stop looking at her clothes. Her entire ensemble was amazing! Her socks had studs in them! Yeah, she was gorgeous. But then I didn't expect Ally Condie or Andrea Cremer to be so funny! (when I told Ally I was still on the waiting list for Matched at my library and told her how excited I was that I finally dipped below the 200 mark, she looked at me as if I were crazy. And then I said non-nonchalantly "Oh yes, there is at least 450 still." And then she said "Are you serious?" in the most incredulous voice I'd ever heard. I was wrong. It was actually 502). And I thought I was completely over the werewolf phase, but just meeting Andrea made me want to read her story. Kirsten Miller is so personable and knowledgeable (her story is about reincarnation!), and Beth Revis is just Beth, amazing and as wonderful as ever. There aren't enough things I could say about Beth.


The question and answer session was fantastic (another reason why you should grab any chance you have to see an author on tour). We discussed everything from the genesis of their stories (Ally's was a prom and a question from her husband, Beth's was the twist that worked itself backward, Andrea's... oh no! I can't remember! I'm sorry Andrea! Kirsten's was the idea of reincarnation, and Brenna, who said she usually gets ideas of characters first, knew she wanted to write a changeling story set in modern times. And I have to say, I *loved* it about her story that the main character, her changeling was actually loved by his family, really and truly loved. So fantastic and not a view that is ever really told).


We also got on the subject of titles, which was both fascinating and hilarious.





And the difficulties of publishing







I could go on and on and on. These ladies were so fantastic. It was such an honor and a delight to be in their presence. Best way to spend a Saturday afternoon? Oh yeah. :)