Last Saturday (August 21st) I attended the first annual (I'm hoping this is annual?) PAYA Festival! Also known as... Bringing More YA to PA! This awesome event was the creation of mastermind Harmony from Harmony Book Reviews. Did I mention that Harmony started and organized this whole event and that she's just a mere 15 years old! What were you doing at 15? I know I never did something this cool!
I wouldn't have attended the event had I not been invited to go by Chelsea. One of my dear friends from the blogosphere. Not only is Chelsea an awesome blogger (The Page Flipper) but she is also the author of Rae
! I drove three and a half hours to Chelsea's house Thursday night and we were up early Friday morning to make the seven hour trek down to West Chester, Pennsylvania. We were going to meet Harmony for dinner that night, but the combination of staying up late the night before and the long car ride on the way down, left us exhausted... okay it mostly left me exhausted. I'm pulling the old lady card out. But we we showed up early to help Harmony out... although I'm not sure how much help we actually were!
The PAYA event was to raise money for Pennsylvania libraries. There was a bake sale, a used book sale, several book raffles & writing workshops. Children's Book World was there to sell books and they donated 20% of all sales to the event! Which is how I justified spending so much money! I mean how can you not help out a good cause!
There were 18 authors that attended the event! Which is AWESOME! It was so crazy! I didn't even get to meet all of them! I wish I could have bought everyone's books too, because it was just such a great cause... but you all know how that goes. Fortunately I was able to buy some fantastic books and get them all signed! Plus... I love stalking getting to see Stephanie Kuehnert! (I swear I always run into her at events... totally not on purpose.. *winkwink*)
Authors in attendance:
Cyn Balog (Fairy Tale
, Sleepless
)
Holly Nicole Hoxter (The Snowball Effect
)
Andrew Auseon (Freak Magnet
)
Josh Berk (The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin
)
Amy Brecount White (Forget-Her-Nots
)
Stephanie Kuehnert (I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone
, Ballads of Suburbia
)
Jon Skovron (Struts and Frets
)
Shannon Delany (13 to Life
)
Jeri Smith-Ready (Shade
, WVMP series
, Aspect of the Crow trilogy
)
Meg Medina (Milagros: Girl from Away
)
Chelsea Swiggett (Rae
)
Kieryn Nicolas (Rain
)
Dianne Salerni (We Hear the Dead
)
Jennifer Hubbard (The Secret Year
)
Christine Marciniak (When Mike Kissed Emma
)
Jennifer Murgia (Angel Star
)
Shelena Shorts (The Pace series
)
Ellen Jensen Abbott (Watersmeet
)
So... since Chelsea was being all authorly.. directing a Teen Author Workshop (with fellow teen author Kieryn Nicolas) and singing her book Rae. ( I mean look at these two! The other teen author in the picture is Kieryn Nicolas... how awesome are these gals! They make me feel incredibly unaccomplished!) I spent most of my time with James. One of my favorite bloggers and people in general! James blogs over at Book Chic. We went into the crazy author signing room together and got our books signed. It was so hot in there... I know that I must have looked ridiculous all ruddy-cheeked... I mean I could feel the perspiration on my shirt when we finally made it out of there... how EMBARRASSING! But James didn't seem to mind... well at least I think he didn't because he was still hanging out with me after. While we were waiting for the second group of authors to sign, James and I mingled... met some other bloggers... talked about how cute Jon Skovron is... got our pictures with some AWESOME authors and BLOGGERS!! And the highlight of the event: I TOUCHED JOSH BERK'S HAIR!!
I once told Josh on twitter (@joshberkbooks) that I had the urge to run my fingers through his hair. To the average person that might seem very strange and perhaps a little perverse... but there is a story behind it... I promise I'm not that weird. And here is the proof that I did indeed touch Josh Berk's hair:
I'm touching Josh Berk's hair! Be jealous.
Did you like how I totally skipped over the story there... like I said there is a story behind it and then I didn't tell you what it was. And I'm not going to either! Muhahahaha... but perhaps this YouTube Video will explain it better than my words ever would.
It was difficult to top the awesomeness of getting to touch Josh Berk's hair. So I don't actually remember much of what happened after that... it's a good thing I have some pictures to refresh my memory.
I had met a majority of the authors at PAYA, but there were a few authors that I was meeting for the first time! I'd say meeting authors the first or the fiftieth time is equally as exciting! Here are just a few author pictures I was able to get someone to snap for me... I wish I would have remembered I had my camera... it's so easy to get distracted...
Harmony, James, Jon Skovron & ME!
James, Cyn Balog, ME & Harmony!
Chelsea & Rae
Some of the authors that signed at PAYA!
And of course one of the things I enjoy the most when going to events is meeting some fellow bloggers! There were a ton of bloggers in attendance and it was so nice to meet them and put a face with a blog! And it's just refreshing to talk to other bloggers and realize that just because you read an insane amount of books... it doesn't mean that you are alone in your freak-dom... there are other people out there just like you!
I was so excited to see Steph Su again! I met her earlier this spring at BEA... I absolutely love her blog, she is so talented and smart! I always feel rather inadequate in her presence! She is AWESOME! I ran into Caitlin of Scarrlet Reader... it was too funny.. "You're The Story!!" ... why yes, I am! She was buying some books to get signed. In between signings James, Steph and I talked to the mom of soon to be teen blogger, Anne of Potter, Percy, And I! Such a small world, she was originally from the same area I'm from and actually new the towns I work and live in! And once Anne was done with the writing workshop I was able to meet her as well... what an inspiration that girl is! Also had a lovely conversation with Jamie of The Perpetual Page-Turner and Christina of Confessions of a Book Addict... proving that not only teens love YA! Plus I met; Katelyn of The Bookshelf Sophisticate, Jen of Book Crazy and her too freaggin' cute daughter and Jenn & Rebecca from Fallen Archangel the Official Hush, Hush Fansite! (Sorry if I missed anyone... I blame it on Josh's hair.)
Jamie, Steph, James, Anne, Jenn, Me and Christina
Me and Caitlin
Harmony, Me & James
Chelsea, Steph, Me, Harmony & James
Overall, I would say that the event was a success. I'm not sure exactly how many people where there. But it seemed like a lot... I know they sold out of several books there were selling, which is always a good thing. Thanks so much Harmony for planning such an awesome event! And thanks my dear Chelsea for inviting me on another adventure with you!