diversity in new york, new york…
with high kicks!
lovely readers, it's difficult for me to believe that
nearly an entire month has passed since the diversity
panels in new york city.
malinda and i took a very early train from boston to new
york city. i was able to grab a dunkin' donuts coffee and
chocolate donut (yes, this needs to be noted) before the
trip and napped almost the entire way. it was friday the 13th,
and we had a crazy full day in front of us, including checking
into our hotel, a two hour radio interview, then the diversity
panel at the LGBT center.
it was an unusually warm day and we braved the subway
during friday rush hour and managed to get to the panel
before it started at 6.30pm.
*malinda, cris beam, jacqueline woodson, david levithan and me!
i was the moderator for the panel and i think we had some great
discussion and questions from the audience. i especially enjoyed
(or was tortured by =) the "lightning round" at the end in which
every panelist took about thirty seconds before asking deep questions
such as "favorite drink while writing". haha
sturday started with a fantastic brunch with ello and jj
at a greasy spoon diner which really hit the spot (both malinda
and i had the biscuits with gravy and grits!) then we headed
to our Books of Wonder panel. we probably had about sixty
people in attendance, and it was fantastic to see many of my
friends in the audience as well!
*the rad display of all the diversity authors' books right
at the front of the store! i signed TONS of copies of Silver
Phoenix in hardcover, paper back as well as Fury of the Phoenix
hardcovers.
*alison is a super duper teen fan! and i was so excited that
she could come from NJ to attend our panel. it was lovely to
finally meet her. click here to read her post on the signing.
*it was also a pleasure to meet steph for the first time,
who is a recent college graduate (congrats!) and runs a
great blog. she also came in from out of state for the event.
as with all book signings (which are much like weddings)
i didn't get to talk to everyone like i wanted to. boo.
*my first time meeting jenn and shveta. even tho i had a grand
time with the panelists after the signing, i was sad i couldn't join
jen and shveta for lunch!
*neesha, david, and me! david has been a long time online
friend (he was around when i blogged, hey, i'm going try and
follow a dream of mine and Write A Novel! he is a great spec
fic writer himself. and neesha and i have been friends since we
became debs in 2009! i met both of them at my Silver Phoenix
gathering in nyc in 9/2009!
*so the funniest thing happened. the audience was pretty big
and many kept trickling in during the event. i noticed a tall
gorgeous brunette in the back of the room that looked EXACTLY
like lindsey leavitt (Princess for Hire series, Sean Griswold's Head)
but it couldn't have been lindsey, because there was no reason for
lindsey to be in nyc. she lived very far away! but lo, it WAS lindsey!
she was in town for a romantic getaway with hub for their anniversary
and had the chance to pop in to the signing. it was such a nice
surprise and totally random and funny.
*we didn't get a full group foto, alas, but here are some of
us at the nyc panel, moderated by the fantastic cheryl klein!
neesha, malinda, me, cheryl, kekla, gbemi. i look forward to
reading the books by my fellow panelists!
tomorrow is sweet pea and munchkin's last day of school!
the school year went by so fast! so i'll be escaping to LA to see
my family for a few days and hope to squeeze in some research
reading too as i need to start writing another novel this summer!
congrats to JESSIE who won the arcs for Imaginary Girls and
Daughter of Smoke and Bone! thanks to everyone who participated.
