Baltimore Book Festival 2013 Recap

Baltimore Book Festival 2013 Recap

I went to the Baltimore Book Festival this weekend and had a blast! 
I want to give a HUGE shout out to the organizers, workers and all of the authors I met, you all rocked!
 
Thank you also to Lea Nolan and the Maryland Romance Writers for inviting me to take part in this years Blogger Panel! 

(See Lea, I'm still using the "!")

I showed up on Friday with my eight dozen cupcakes and was handed a fancy badge enabling me to be treated like the writing royalty I am not. (Bonus: Not having to use the port-a-potty.)

 I had the chance to spend a lot of time with one of my favorite authors (and all around cool person) Jennifer L. Armentrout who also writes as J. Lynn.

All of the YA panels were filled with amazing authors who shared their books and doled out priceless tidbits of writing advice.

L-R Alethea Kontis, Dawn Rae Miller, Lea Nolan, Diana Peterfreund, Brigid Kemmerer and Jennifer L. Armentrout

Alethea Kontis offered the most entertaining writing advice,
"Sit your butt in the chair and write the book!"

L-R Diana Peterfreund, Brigid Kemmerer and Jennifer L. Armentrout

I got to hang out with local bloggers. These are my people!

Liza from Reading With ABC

Hannah from The Irish Banana

Steph Sinclair from Cuddlebuggery & YABC, and Hannah

Joy from Joyfully Reviewed

 I also lived up to my reputation of, "If I am there, awkward is not far behind." when I met Em Garner while waiting in line for the restroom.

Em Garner: There's only one so I'll guard the door for you. 

Me: Or we could go into together and hold hands like in elementary school. (O.M.G. that just came out of my mouth...) 

Em: Oh, wow. We just met.  

Thankfully, Em doesn't scare easily. In fact, she's pretty cool and I enjoyed meeting her!

Saturday brought the Blogger Panel and I was so nervous about speaking in front of people, I was afraid I might puke. Or worse, fall off the platform like a few authors did. 
 But it was all good. It helped to be surrounded by some awesome people like fellow bloggers, Joy, Jill, Steph, Hannah, and Stacey.  Author Lea Nolan did a great job moderating too!

I was also able to give away lots of free books and cupcakes, so yay for that!

 

There were a lot of pictures taken this weekend (and subsequently posted all over the interwebz) and many of them have made me laugh out loud. Like this one...

BBF2013 Cell Phone Con

And this...which I call my Kanye moment. 
"Ima let you finish in a minute, but there are cupcakes right here."

Actually, I was pointing out the "Cam Hamilton" cupcake, inspired by "Trust In Me" by J. Lynn.

Filmed by: L.H. Nicole

On Saturday evening, I watched a guy cram six cupcakes into his mouth while dancing to the beat of his own drum. I thought he was just enjoying the cupcakes. Later l discovered he was actually high as a kite, had a hole in the front of his pants and had been tormenting the poor girl charged with manning the bookstore at the back of the MRW tent. 

The cops showed up to escort him away and the rest of the cupcakes had to be pitched because he wasn't following the rule of, "You touch it. You eat it." (He had been too busy touching other things BEFORE touching the cupcakes, apparently. *shudders*) 

There was more hangout time which if I'm being honest is the real reason I come to these events. Being able to get to know these bookish people is such a blessing to me!

L-R Em Garner's friend, Em Garner, Cheryl Klam, Lea Nolan, Stacey O'Neale

L-R Jennifer L. Armentrout, Hannah McBride, and Steph Sinclair

It's always a little sad when it's time to say goodbye, but I did go home with a pretty sweet gift!

 

I had a GREAT time and I hope to see YOU at the Baltimore Book Festival next year!