Chapter One Young Writers Conference Recap

Photo credit: moiSo last weekend I did a thing! As I mentioned briefly earlier, I had the super awesome opportunity of going to Chicago and speaking to a bunch of young writers between the ages of 12-22—and it was amazing. So amazing.

I won’t lie, the day I was preparing to get on the train to go, I was massively anxious. Like, verge-of-an-anxiety-attack anxious. And it sucked, but once I got to the train station things calmed down a little and soon I felt better.

Then Chicago! Well not really. First a bunch of delays on my train, and a several hour ride, and then Chicago! The lovely lady who picked me up from the train station was also kind enough to give me a driving tour of the city at night, which was super cool, and then I kind of stumbled half-deliriously to the hotel where I met some super awesome people, and then I crashed.

The next day was when the conference actually started, and it honestly could not have gone better. I did my presentation (which was 45 minutes in front of an audience—eep!), listened to other super awesome speakers like Karen Bao, Kaye, Taryn Albright, and Kat Zhang, met some lovely readers, and then…

So delighted @booksquirt snapped this pic! Me at my very first (swag) signing today. So surreal and wonderful and amazing. #Ch1Con #booknerdigans #writerlife #writingA photo posted by Ava Jae (@ava_jae) on Aug 8, 2015 at 2:13pm PDT

Yes. That’s me. Doing my very first signing. :D

I was basically on cloud nine all day. Everyone was so awesome, meeting people and chatting about writing and publishing all day was bliss. And as a nice bonus, I won an ARC of George by Alex Gino. (Be jealous.)

Look what I won! :D #GEORGE #ARC #booknerdigans #bookstagram #Ch1ConA photo posted by Ava Jae (@ava_jae) on Aug 8, 2015 at 1:22pm PDT 

I wrote a post last week about how things were starting to feel real—things have never felt more real than sitting at that table, signing swag for Beyond the Red. And walking around with a snazzy badge that said “Speaker” on it. And being a conference as a real life author.

It was absolutely incredible and I can’t wait until my next event. I’ve never felt more confident, accepted and absolutely happy. :)

Photo credit: Julia Byers
Now to make the most of my last month of summer before school starts…

Twitter-sized bite:

.@Ava_Jae recaps attending her very first conference as an author. #Ch1Con (Click to tweet)