Paula McLain & Elizabeth Hay Blogger Reception | Event Recap

Elizabeth Hay's His Whole Life and Paula McLain's Circling the Sun

Hi everyone! A couple of days ago I had the opportunity to meet two wonderful authors, Paula McLain and Elizabeth Hay.

Some wonderful bloggers and I attended the Blogger Reception at Oliver & Bonacini's, where we chatted over pizza and wine (which I was quite busy eating, and so forgot to take a picture, whoops!).

Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife, talked about how she loves to delve into the personal lives of different historical figures - in her upcoming book Circling the Sun (review coming soon!), she tells Beryl Markham's story.

Seating in Oliver & Bonacini's

Elizabeth Hay, author of A Student of Weather, discussed how she first began to think of His Whole Life (review also coming soon), a story about relationships, friendships, people and how these things sometimes fall apart - with the image of the boy, Jim, in the back seat of a car.

Both ladies were so kind and interesting to listen to. It was a fun night (we even ended up talking about lipstick at one point) and I'm so grateful I got to spend time talking to two wonderful authors, the awesome Random House ladies and other great bloggers.

You can read my review of Circling the Sun here!

Neil Smith's "Boo" Book Launch at Type Books | Event Recap

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the book launch for Neil Smith's wonderful new book, Boo.

Type Books' storefront

It was hosted by Type Books, which is a lovely book shop in downtown Toronto.

The crowd

 The event drew a large crowd and everyone got very well acquainted with each other.

"Liquefied Ghost"

We had Boo-inspired drinks, lovingly named Liquefied Ghost, which was a cool touch (no pun intended)!

Neil Smith reads from "Boo"

Neil Smith did a great dramatic reading of the first chapter of Boo, which he followed with a signing!

Moira Young Signing!

Moira Young and I

I had a wonderful time at Moira Young's Brampton book signing today.

She began the event by telling us the process of writing the first novel in The Dustlands Trilogy, Blood Red Road. She explained that the process was a gruelling one that involved three and a half years of writing and then realizing the story was not what she wanted it to be. After seeking help from a friend, she was told: now you're ready to tell the story. This resounded with me because it's so interesting and so realistic - after so much trial and error, and writing a story that doesn't turn out the way you want it, you start to realize what you do want in your story. I imagine it would have been a frustrating thing to hear, that you would have to start all over again after so much time and effort - but ultimately that's a really important piece of advice to receive.

Moira also emphasized the importance of giving your characters obstacles and making sure the stakes are high for them. If your characters don't have something at stake, then your interest in the story will fade - this applies to you, the writer, as well as readers. This emphasis on high stakes is something you'd think would be obvious, but there are a surprising amount of novels out there that don't adhere to this principle.

I'm so happy I went to the signing, because Moira was so lovely. While she was signing Blood Red Road for me, we had a more in-depth discussion on the importance of obstacles to character development, and it was really helpful. All the stories she told and advice she gave made me want to write.

Marissa Meyer Book Signing!

Marissa Meyer did a book signing at a local mall today.

Personally, I haven't read any of her Lunar Chronicles series yet, but my sister loves it so I though it'd be fun to take her. We met Christine there, who's also read the series (and is actually the one who let me know about the event!).

While we were in line a few hours before the signing, Marissa came around and gave everyone pins related to the series, which I thought was a really nice gesture!

I quite enjoyed the talk she gave before the signing, where she explained NaNoWriMo's (National Novel Writing Month, for those who are wondering) role in the creation of "Cinder" and its successors. She also did a dramatic retelling of the Grimm Brothers' "Rapunzel," which was quite fitting as her most recent release, "Cress," is an adaptation of the classic fairytale.

I had a lot of fun at the signing and it just made me more excited to get started on reading Marissa's Lunar Chronicles series!

Have you ever been to a book signing? What book/author was it for?