Photos and a brief recap of the LIVE THROUGH THIS launch party!

On Saturday, October 13, 2012, this happened at Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle:

(photo by Arin Berthiaume)

Which means that there was lots of these things to go around, of course:

             (Photos by Sarah S. Moon)     

Hooray!

I did a short talk about what I'd hoped to accomplish in writing Live Through This. Then I read a short excerpt (pages 54, 55, and the first few lines of 56, in case you wondered), in which Coley and Reece flirt using song lyrics--like they often do.

 

(Photo by William McCain)

That was the perfect segue for my husband, Dwayne, to appear from behind the curtain to introduce members of Alabaster (himself, Joe, Laura, Marlon, and Shaina) and Peace Mercutio (Andy and Taylor), who joined forces to play as "Writer's Block." As a surprise for me, they'd all changed their clothes to dress like the writer they know best in hoodies, T-shirts, and pajamas.

(Photo by Sarah S. Moon)

Writer's Block played six songs that are related to the book, and they took turns singing the lead vocals: Laura on "Asking for It" by Hole,  Shaina on "Missing" by Everything But the Girl, Taylor on "Creep" by Radiohead, followed by Shaina on Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry." The most recognizable song of all was sung by Andy: "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison. Then I came over and surprised everyone (except the band members and, like, three other people who knew in advance) by singing "See You Again" by Miley Cyrus with Shaina's assistance on the choruses.

 

         (Photos by Arin Berthiaume) 

After the music, I went back to the podium for a Q&A, and then it was time for the signing and reception.

There was some of this:

(Photo by William McCain)  

  
And a WHOLE BUNCH of this:

 (Photo by Sarah S. Moon)

And the people who weren't me got to do this for a while:

(Photo by Arin Berthiaume)

The bookstore was very professional, organized, and had plenty of books to go around! Casey O., the host, made me feel welcomed and at ease. In all, it was a very fun day for me, and I got a number of emails afterward from attendees who said that they'd enjoyed themselves as well! There were some who'd traveled from British Columbia, Oregon, California, and Colorado, which really meant a lot to me and made the day extra special. Thank you all so much!

   
(Photos by Leeann Ward and Lindsey Schoenberger)

 
(Photos by Lindsey Schoenberger)

(Photo by . . . Linsey or Sandra? :-D)

(If you attended the event and have photos that you'd like to share with me, I'd love to see them! My email is mindirochelle AT gmail DOT com, if you wanna send them.)

On the blog: Denise Jaden's NEVER ENOUGH book launch.

On Saturday, July 14th, Dwayne and I ventured up to Mission, British Columbia for the book launch of Denise Jaden's second novel, Never Enough. 

Wait! Quick side note: Last week, Denise did a short interview for me at Michelle's and my blog, WE HAVE WORDS. If you click on this link and leave a comment at the end of that interview, you will be automatically entered to win books galore from a contest Denise is running!

Okay, back to the event! So it was on Saturday and took place at Black Bond Books. Simon & Schuster provided beverages and snacks (including a platter of yummy desserts!). Denise signed books, talked about her inspiration for writing this book and what the process had been like to do so, and read a short except for her crowd of fans. 

Here are a just a couple of pictures that we got:

Denise, reading a first-chapter excerpt. (And apparently, using zoom on my phone's camera makes the pictures smaller?)

Denise and me! (You can't tell, but we're totally both wearing white capri pants in this picture. Because that's how we roll.)

Oh, funny story: One of the employees came up to me and said, "You're Mindi Scott?" She went on to mention that she was familiar with my first book, Freefall, and it was her understanding that I have a second book coming out in October. We chatted for several minutes about books, in general, and the fact that Dwayne and I had met while we both worked at a bookstore ourselves. 

After she walked away, I was in awe and said, "Wow! I can't believe she recognized me like that!"

Dwayne admitted then that it was he who had told her who I was, which made me laugh. I'm still not famous, just as I'd suspected all along. ;-)

Anyway, it was wonderful to see Denise again and great to see her celebrating a book that she worked so hard on. (Which I finished reading this morning, by the way, and LOVED.)

It was also a nice day to take a 5-hour round-trip drive. Dwayne and I had a fun time traveling together through the farm lands, freaking out from all the border patrol on H Street (the longest street IN THE WORLD), and stopping for ice cream and pizza (yes, in that order) on the way home. Hooray for fun times!

On my blog: The Seattle Stop in the #YAorBust Tour!

Last night, Dwayne (my husband) and I ventured out to Roosevelt High School in Seattle where Stephanie Perkins, Gayle Forman, and Nina LaCour had a fabulous joint author event!

For me, this was an author event like none other because I'd already read (and loved, loved, loved) at least one book by each of the authors. As if I could have not attended, right?

[Quick backstory: Stephanie and I first met at a writer's conference here in Seattle several years ago. It was before either of us had book deals or agents, but we both had books in progress. (Hers became Anna and the French Kiss and mine became Freefall.) Later, Steph and I ended up accepting agent offers on the same day, and got book deals within weeks of each other. Our debut novels came out two months apart. Add to all of this the fact that we both have drummer husbands and a bazillion things in common, and you can probably guess why I was super excited to get to see her in person again for the first time since that conference.]  

For the event, Sarah and Sandra from Clear Hearts Full Shelves made the drive up from Portland, and it was lovely to get to hang out with both of them. (And, Sarah, we AGAIN forgot to take pictures together! What's up with that?) I also got to talk with a few other readers and book bloggers, whom I often see around on Twitter and Facebook, so that was very fun!

For the panel itself, Stephanie, Gayle, and Nina were all lovely and it was such a pleasure to get to hear them talk about why they write what they write. I also enjoyed learning their (short) answers to the question "Which is your favorite scene from each of your own books?" (I would tell you what they said, but after I smiled in recognition for most of them, my mind kind of erased the information. Damnit!) They each read short excerpts (from page 69, dude) and shared how they worked to establish their characters in each of these scenes.  

[Sidenote: Dwayne is in the middle of reading Gayle's book, If I Stay right now, and I'm going to start Where She Went very soon, so we both plugged our ears a few times while Gayle was talking to make sure we didn't get spoiled. Because you just never know!]

At one point during their talk, Nina pointed out her critique partner in the crowd (Carly, I think she said), who has a book coming out in 2013 (yay!!!). Steph then announced that Carly and I need to meet since we are both Simon Pulse authors in the Seattle area. (We absolutely do! Unfortunately, I missed getting to talk with her after the event. Email me, Carly! I Googled, but I can't seem to find you. Maybe I misheard your name.)

Steph then told the audience that my editor had given her an early read of Live Through This, and that she highly recommends it!!!!!!! She had so much enthusiasm and said such complimentary things about my books that I had to dab my teary eyes on Dwayne's sleeve. Ahhh, that Stephanie! ♥

Here's a picture of me with Steph during the signing portion of the event:

Despite the fact that Dwayne had to get up early today, he was happy to wait with me until the very end so that we could chat with Stephanie for while afterward. So we did that, and it was lovely, and then I snuck into this picture with all three of the featured authors:

In all, it was a fun night for me, and I'm so glad that these amazing authors all made the trek to Seattle! 

Blog: Photos and more of Five Tenners on October 30th!

On the day before Halloween, Chelsea Campbell (THE RISE OF RENEGADE X), Denise Jaden (LOSING FAITH), Karen Kincy (OTHER), me, and Kimberly Derting (THE BODY FINDER) all got together to talk about writing and books at Uppercase Books in Snohomish, Washington. 

Look!  Here's proof!

It was fun to get to see all of these ladies again! We first met up almost a year ago for lunch in Bellingham (along with Caitlin Kittredge and Phoebe Kitanidis). At that time, we were a month from the start of our debut year.  Since then, I feel like we've all bonded a lot.  Some of us have been able to make it out for each other launch parties and we've had endless contact online through the Tenners.  Denise and I, especially, have had a lot to talk about in the past year since we're both Pulse authors with the same publicist and release dates that happened to be only one month apart! 

Karen set this event up for us, and I am very appreciative!  We each spoke a little about our books, and then the rest of the time was spent taking LOTS of great questions from the audience.  We kind of got a rhythm going where we'd start at one end and then work out way across so that everyone could hear from each of us on the topics at hand.  I, personally, found it really interesting getting to hear about the similarities and differences in each of the publication journeys and creative processes. I think we probably gave the audience a pretty good variety of answers to mull over.

Since it was the day before Halloween, we all decided to be a little bit festive and decorate our heads.  Here's a more close-up group picture so you can see:

Chelsea is wearing a pumpkin hat that she knitted (or crocheted?),  Karen has a witch hat, Denise has a fluffy halo, I'm in black cat ears, and Kim has little bats above her head!

Thank you again, to Karen, for organizing and to Uppercase Books for having us!  And thank you to the people who came to see us and chat with us.   I hope we can all do it again soon!

Blog: Holly Cupala & Conrad Wesselhoeft book event photos!

I've been remiss in updating my entries requiring photos.  I couldn't find my camera charger after I got back from NYC.  Turns out, it was in my suitcase all along!  Excuses, excuses, I know.

A couple of weeks ago, I went out to see Holly Cupala and Conrad Wesselhoeft give a presentation together at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park.  Part of what they talked about in time they were allotted was what inspired them to write these stories and also some similarities between their books.  For example, Holly's book, TELL ME A SECRET, is about a girl who is an artist (painting and drawing) whose sibling (sister) passed away while Conrad's books, ADIOS, NIRVANA, is about a boy who is an artist (guitarist and poet) whose sibling (twin brother) passed away.  Both stories are set in Seattle, Washington. Very interesting!

Dwayne tells me that there is a (positive) Goodreads review in which a reader indicates that FREEFALL reminds her of a combination of these two books.  Which, I suppose makes sense since it is set (in a fictional town) near Seattle, and my character is a bassist whose best friend passed away. 

After the presentation, I had them each sign a copy of their books for me and I took a cookie!  I also posed for a picture with them, but my photographer (Dwayne) didn't let on that it was an extremely unflattering pose for me.  And, yes, I am exactly the right amount of vain to not show it on the internet.  You'll have to trust me that I was actually there.  Or you can ask these authors to confirm it!  ;-)

Here is a lovely picture of the two of them (along with Random Bookstore Bystander):

It was fun to see Holly again and great to meet Conrad.  I've heard awesome things about these books and am very much looking forward to reading them!