Decatur Book Festival Recap Part 1

There are so many amazing things I could say about the Decatur Book Festival but I can sum it up in only one word for you.

Amazing.

It was amazing and it surpassed my expectations.

I had been planning to go to the Festival for a few months now and Saturday morning, at 5 it finally happened. We left at 5 in order to make it to the blogger/author breakfast at J.Christophers and when I arrived there I was greeted with a massive table. It was a bit weird at first because I only recognized a couple people, Lori from Pure Imagination, and Kelsey from Just Blinded Book Reviews but about ten minutes after I arrived guess who comes walking up to our table?

Carrie Ryan and Jackson Pearce.

I almost spazzed out. I didn't actually think there were going to be any authors there so when they walked up it was the equivalent of having Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, he's my R. Pat) show up at my house.

Carrie Ryan and Jackson Pearce then sat down, Carrie Ryan sitting next to me (remember I'm already freaking out guys) and so I did the hug, OMG thing and then retained my cool.

There were so many amazing authors and bloggers at the breakfast. The authors included: Nancy Werlin, Jackson Pearce, Carrie Ryan, Mari Mancusi, Christina Gonzalez, Jennifer Jabaley, Liz Maverick, and new upcoming author, Michelle Hodkin.

Some of the bloggers that were in attendance were: Vania, Lori (book signing buddy/neighbor!), Kelsey, Jeremy & Jeffrey, JP, and Shalonda. I think that's everyone, if I'm missing you please let me know!

Here's some breakfast pictures!

Do you see that?! That's Carrie Ryan beside me! Me = green shirt

The breakfast table!

The authors!

Carrie Ryan and myself after breakfast! I look goofy... but it's Carrie Ryan!

Breakfast was awesome and it involved a lot of talking, laughing and bookmarks.

The first panel was David Levithan and Terra McVoy so after breakfast Kelsey and I went to go look around and prepare for the panel.

Davith Levithan is so funny and I definitely agree with Lori that it may have been my favorite panel. After David's reading from Will Grayson, Will Grayson, I was in awe of the writing and now find it to be one of my life goals to read that book.

Favorite David Levithan quote during the panel, about getting material:

"Remember to always take the Taylor Swift approach, for each ex boyfriend you have get at least five songs out of it."

The next panel was the fantasy panel with Saundra Mitchell, Jessica Verday, Cinda Williams Chima, and Kathleen Duey! I love fantasy and I was really looking forward to this panel and actually finding out what goes into the creating of entire worlds. Also, I was happy to hear the issue of maps come up during the panel as I have always heard the mark of a true fantasy is if it contains a map!

Saundra Mitchell!

The next panel was Carrie Ryan and Alyxandra Harvey's Vampires vs. Zombies panel and sadly we were late getting to it because the signing ran over. :(

What we did see was awesome though, especially Carrie discussing her research being playing Zombie video games and watching Dawn of the Dead! (I think it was Dawn of the Dead...)

The next and final panel of the day was the Real Issues in an Unreal World panel with Rachel Hawkins and Nancy Werlin! After this panel I really want to read Rachel Hawkins' book Hex Hall, if only to find out how to write a fan fic about the cat on the cover.

After that panel I was thoroughly exhausted and it was time for me to head back to the hotel and await the next day!

Part two of the Decatur Book Festival awesomeness will be up tomorrow and among tomorrow's authors are Kirsten Miller, and Cassandra Clare!