Thursday, June 6, 2013

YAGB Baltimore Workshop Recap (and Giveaway!)


Hi everyone! As you may or may not have known, last night, I attended one of the YAGB workshops! The Baltimore workshop was a 30-minute drive for me, which is the closest book event I've ever had the opportunity of attending. 

Anyway! These wonderful ladies - Erin Bowman, Kat Zhang, Susan Dennard, Sarah J. Maas, and guest star, Jodi Meadows, were amazing enough to stop by in Baltimore (instead of Wasington, D.C. Woohoo!). I am honored that they would travels miles and miles to meet and talk to an audience of the ages 13-22 in Cockeysville. An all-girl audience, I might add!

A huge thanks to the four touring ladies - Erin, Kat, Susan, and Sarah. They are AWESOME. And the information we received from the workshop was so helpful - especially, for me, the exercises with the dice! I had so much fun with that. I regret not sharing my two pieces from those exercises, but I think the young ladies who shared their works were amazing.

And shout-out and thanks to Jodi, who is not part of the YAGB tour, but came to the Baltimore workshop because it's close to where she lives. "Close". She's in like, Shenandoah Valley. That's pretty far, everyone! So I'm so glad she could join us and make the Baltimore workshop EXTRA special :D

So! On to my pictures! I think they tell a better story than me ;)



At the beginning of the workshop, the ladies put on nametags. And colored them in. Meanwhile, I end up ripping mine, so instead of "Alyssa", I had "Lyssa". Sigh.



During the workshop, in which Susan was talking, and Erin was refilling everyone's water!



Some awesome girls! The girl with the hat is Kyleigh, who is SO talented, and the girl in the yellow who is on her phone is Zoe, who just graduated from college, and is about to do her board exam for nursing! Good luck, girl! :)



The ladies, quickly signing books! The girl in the hat is Kyleigh again. We were strapped for time, because the library closed at 9:00, and the signing started at 8:30!



Sarah smiled at me while I was taking a candid picture, because she's fantastic! Susan was being awesome, as usual.



Kat and Jodi answering questions and signing! Jodi was showing me "HoHugged", which is found in the ARC of Incarnate (which I had, and brought with me to sign. I never saw that error! HOW?!)



Susan, signing my copy of A Darkness Strange and Lovely. She is so cute! She was telling me that her last name is pronounced "DEH-nerd", not "Deh-NAHRD". Southern Georgia!



The AMAZING Steph from Cuddlebuggery! I might have died when I met her. I didn't recognize her at first! I mean, I did, but I couldn't place where I had seen her face. I turned to her and asked her if she came later, since I hadn't seen her at the workshop. She said she had come for the signing. So then I asked her if she was a blogger. She said yes. I asked her for her blog link. She said, "Cuddlebuggery..." 

I'm pretty sure before she finished "Cuddlebuggery", I looked up in shock and started squealing. GUYS. She's like, the Maryland celebrity blogger! She is so fantastic! When I first started blogging, she was one of the blogs that I followed and basically worship. I might have tackled her! And probably freaked her out for life.



One of Jen's cupcakes! I know, not much of a picture. But the cupcake, a chocolate and Oreo creation, was DIVINE. Check out Jen's blog, people. You won't regret it.



Jodi, Kat, me, Erin, Sarah, and Susan!


By the way, one the of the highlights of this night for me was when Erin came up to me and said "I love your bag. It's one of the Graceling bags, that have the places of Graceling on it. AND THEN, while Jodi was signing my ARC of Incarnate, Erin said to me, "I'm so glad to finally meet you, Alyssa! I know we tweet a lot..." 

GUYS I THINK I ALMOST FELL OVER MYSELF. Erin remembered/recognized me! It made me feel so special and warm and fuzzy inside :D


So that was my night! I have a few more pictures, but I won't bore you all. I had such a fun night and I met so many great ladies (OMG STEPH I STILL CAN'T GET OVER THE FACT THAT I MET YOU!). I sincerely thank you, ladies, and everyone who came, and I hope to see you all again in the future!


Onto the giveaway!



Win some signed (and unsigned) swag! The ladies were so kind enough to let me take a duplicate of everything. 

Rules:

- Open internationally! (YAY, I caved!)
- The giveaway begins on June 6th, at 12:00 am EST, and ends on June 30th, at 11:59 pm EST
- Void where prohibited; no purchase necessary
- The number of eligible entries received determine the odds of winning
- There will be ONE winner
- Winner will be selected via the Rafflecopter
- You must be 18 years old or older, or at least 13 years old with a parent or guardian's permission (I didn't know this, and it makes sense, but it's illegal to take addresses from minors under the age of 13 years old)
- Winner must respond to the email within 48 hours. Failure to do so will result in me choosing another winner
- Please enter via the Rafflecopter widget below


Good luck!


43 comments:

  1. I've actually read all of their published books, except for A Dawn Most Wicked. I especially love Throne of Glass and Something Strange and Deadly. Thanks for the giveaway :)

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  2. No, I haven't! But I do own Incarnate by Jodi Meadows.

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  3. wow, so cool! The workshop idea sounds fantastic :) The only book I have read in Throne of Glass which I loved!

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  4. This workshop looks amazing! I would love to attend one sometime if they are ever in my area (florida). I have not read any of the books on the tours but I have them all sitting on my TBR list. I have been dying to get into all of them! Thanks for the swag giveaway! I have a swag obsession lol

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  5. I haven't read any of them yet, but I've been hearing some great buzz on Taken and Asunder!

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  6. I've read Jodi Meadows' and Kat Zhang's books. I loved Incarnate the most

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  7. No I haven't but I have Taken on hold for me :)

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  8. I've read Something Strange and Deadly and loved it!

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  9. Thats so cool! The workshop idea sounds awesome :) I haven't read any yet but they r on my to read list!

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  10. YAY! I'm so glad you had fun, Alyssa! And Jen's cupcakes are ah-may-zing! That girl can bake. And Steph is one of my favorite people. She's so awesome to hang out with!

    So glad you had fun!

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  11. I have only read Taken..I thought that book was alright-it kind of dragged it the middle.. I have been wanting to read books by the other authors too.. thanks for the giveaway!!

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  12. I've read Throne of Glass and Somethjng Strange and Deadly! And they were amazing! Can't wait to read both sequels :)

    Thanks for the giveaway!

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  13. I read Taken and thought it was alright BUT I am so excited for A Darkness Strange and Lovely! I am dying to read that book! Something Strange and Deadly was fantastical!

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  14. Wow-lucky you!
    I've read Throne of Glass and heard of the rest of them, but unfortunately havent been able to read them yet :(
    Oh well.
    Thanks for the awesomeondo giveaway!

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  15. I've read Throne of Glass & it was really good =)

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  16. No, I haven't! But I've been eyeing a few of them. :)

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  17. Hey, I'm Kaitlyn from the workshop! Not sure if you remember me, lol, but we were talking with Steph some near the end of the signing. Thanks for giving me your blog link, you have an awesome blog!! :) Great recap post.

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  18. That's so cool! Looks like you had an AMAZING time!! I don't believe I ve read any of their books-- well have to remedy that asap! ;)

    Dee @ Dee's Reads

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  19. I have read Throne of Glass but have yet to read any of the others. I really enjoyed Throne of Glass, I'm excited for the next book in the series to come out!

    Thanks for the giveaway!

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  20. I have read Throne of Glass and Incarnate, I don't think I have anything else by the other authors

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  21. It's so great you got to go to their tour stop! I just went to their stop in Pittsburgh PA today and it was great.

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  22. Contests Hun! I signed up for this event and forgot all about it. Glad to see you had fun!

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  23. WOAH, so luckyyy :D gahhh totally need to go to one of these events.. when I go to the US lol :P Thanks for the amazing giveaway! I have read Taken and Something Strange and Deadly and both were sooo good!! :)

    Rabiah

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  24. I haven't yet, but I would love to!

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  25. Absolutely love to see this kind of community building for writers. We have a very small group where I live but younger writers don't seem to join in enough. Keep up the good work!

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  26. I haven't yet but I've got a couple of them and all the others are on my wishlist!! Thanks for the awesome giveaway!!

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  27. I've been dying to read all these books!:)

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  28. Unfortunately I haven't, but I really want to. :D

    Thanks for the giveaway!!!!!!!!!!

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  29. I haven't but I would like to!

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  30. So jealous that you got to meet all of those amazing authors! :D Thanks for the giveaway!

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  31. I haven't read any of them! D: I can't wait until I do though!!

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  32. Unfortunately i haven't read these books.

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  33. I have not read any of these wonderful young women's books yet. I started book reviewing last November and am so far behind that my head is spinning, lol. Glad you had fun at the workshop!!!

    Cindi
    Mommasez...blog
    ccclubbs.com

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  34. I've read all of their books except for Throne of Glass, which I think is a huge mistake on my part.

    -Tiffany@readbreatheread
    http://readbreatheread.com

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  35. its sounds like you had a wonderful time! I read Throne of Glass, and i can't wait for Crown of Midnight!

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  36. I haven't read any of their books yet, but I look forward to it!

    Thanks for the chance to win :)

    -Amber Terry-

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  37. I haven't but I have an eye for Taken. ;) Thanks for the awesome giveaway! :D

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  38. No, sadly I haven't read any of their books :(

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  39. I've read quite a few of these authors :D

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  40. Sadly, I haven't read yet any of the books written by the authors who attended the workshop. :(

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  41. I have not yet, but I do own a few books/ebooks (like Incarnate).

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