Last week I went to Atlanta for the Romance Writer’s of America national conference. I’ve gone to RWA for five of the last six years. The first four, I was mostly fan girl with aspirations. Then last year, I’d sold but wasn’t published yet. And this year? This year I’d been a published author for all of two weeks!
Every year RWA holds a huge, open-to-the-public signing that benefits literacy programs. I was so excited to be able to sign there this year. I didn’t have real high hopes for anything other than the absolute joy of being included. It was so super cool to be able to talk to people about Viral Nation though, and I even sold some books. One woman got all excited because she was reading my book right then. So fun!
I also got to sign at the Berkley publisher signing just for attendees. I smiled so hard through that whole experience that my cheeks actually ached. And then I went to dinner with my friends Tracy and Jason. And Jay Asher, Ally Carter, and Carrie Ryan. No really. It was one of the most surreal, awesome evenings of my life so far.
The next day my friend Marni Bates (who wrote the awesome Awkward and Invisible) and I took a cab to Barnes and Nobel and found our books in the wild! I hope that never gets old. It was so crazy to see Viral Nation on the shelf, fitting in and looking like it belonged. Brian’s going to the SCBWI conference in a couple of weeks, and as happy as I am to be home, I’m a little jealous!
