Hello, my blog readers. I have neglected you for far too long, and
for that I am so incredibly sorry. I
have had a rough couple of months. I
mean, I haven’t even had a chance to talk about the awesome time I had at
UtopYA or all the awesome people I met while I was there.
A couple days before we left for
UtopYA, I came down with mono. Some
luck, huh? I was pretty sick and when
the mono started to subside, my doctors realized that I actually had something
else wrong with me besides the mono, but nobody could figure out what it
was. After many scans, blood draws,
x-rays, and tests, nobody can figure out what this mystery illness is or how to
fix it. All I know is, I feel like crud
most of the time. Then, I had a death in
my family and my grandma had a heart attack.
So it’s been a really rough two months.
But I’m ready to put all that behind me and get back to doing what I
enjoy: reading, writing, and blogging.
Before I launch into my posts
about the few books I have read in the last two months, I do want to talk a
little bit about how much fun I had at UtopYA.
If you have never been and you love YA and NA fiction, I really
recommend that you try to make it next year.
This was the first time I had ever been to any form of reader/author con
and I met so many amazing people and I learned a lot of great information that
will help me as I plug away at my own novels.
I really liked that even though my work is not published yet, the people
I met did not treat me as if I were any less of a writer. They encouraged me to keep at it and they
seemed honestly interested in the ideas behind the projects that I am working
on. Confidence is something I lack in
all areas of my life, and talking with these authors and hearing that they
support me and believe in me did wonders for my confidence as I go forward with
my writing projects. I left, sick as I
was, feeling really great about myself and my ideas.
Of course UtopYA wasn’t always
about the business. We had epic fun at karaoke, the awards, and the after party. I had my fangirl
moments. Like on Day One when my friend
and I were waiting for the morning’s keynote speaker to begin and Tiffany King
walked past me. I squealed and almost
passed out. Or how I could barely form a
sentence when I asked Quinn Loftis to sign a book. I got to talk to the absolutely amazing Tammy
Blackwell, who is just as awesome in person as you would imagine she would
be. I discovered that Megan Curd would
be the absolute best zombie apocalypse partner.
Shawn McGuire is so fun and sweet.
And oh my gosh I bought SO. MANY. BOOKS.
I have no idea when I will ever be able to finish reading everything
that I purchased while I was there, or what I am going to do with all the swag
I came home with. I have more rubber
bracelets and bookmarks than I can count.
It was the best time I have had
in a long time. I am not sure if I will
be able to make it back for next year’s festivities, but I will be attending
again and I know that it will just keep getting bigger and better. To all my new UtopYA friends, I miss you and
can’t wait to see you again soon!
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