As those of you who saw some of my social media posts this past weekend might know, I went to a super awesome author signing on Saturday! Three amazing fantasy YA authors, Tahereh Mafi, Maya Motayne, and Victoria Aveyard, are touring together and (luckily for me and some of my fellow local bloggers) they decided to make a stop in Kitchener (which is closer than Toronto for a bunch of us)! Be sure to read this post to the end for the giveaway announcement and info!

There was definitely a lot less stress involved in getting to this event (when compared to all of the Toronto events I’ve gone to) because it was so close by. I didn’t have to get up very early, and it was just nice not to have to worry about getting stuck in traffic or anything like that. I am sorry that I won’t have any funny stories about the usual on-the-road shenanigans with Milana (A Couple Reads) and Brittany (Brittany Reads Books), but we have some Toronto events coming up so there will be plenty of those!

This time around, Brittany drove to my house and we then drove in my car to the library (reducing that carbon footprint! Haha). We were a little bit worried about how early we should get to the library, just because we heard that people had been lining up for the Toronto event for the same day, scheduled for 7 pm, since early that morning. When we got to the Kitchener library though, we found that the parking lot wasn’t even close to full, and things were quite relaxed! So, we got some coffee, met up with some other local book bloggers (Alanna from One Page At a Time and Shahna from Shahna Reads) before getting in line for the stage and seating area.

Now, just because everything was calm when we got there (and with the line up) doesn’t mean that the event was at all unsuccessful! From what I could see, the theatre was completely full (once the doors opened and we all took our seats), and a number of people bought books on site that they wanted signed too. I purchased a finished copy of Nocturna by Maya Motayne (because I only owned the ARC) and a finished copy of A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi.

Then, before we knew it, Ashley from Frenzy (HarperCollins Canada) took the stage and introduced each author one by one. And it was glorious! The first thing I noticed once all 3 authors were up on stage, was that they had a really interesting chemistry. Each author was unique in their own way, but they were very very funny as a combination. Maya Motayne made me laugh the hardest, but I enjoyed all of the authors’ answers.

I remember that my favourite discussion was when each author explained their outlining and writing process. Mafi and Aveyard have very specific ways in which they plan out and write their books, and it was very interesting to hear about both styles. Motayne, however, explained that she uses a wall calendar and that she would stick a chicken sticker on the calendar any time she hit a word count that she’d set as a goal. I laughed so hard there were tears running down my face! Chicken stickers! I really want to go out and find some chicken stickers now, just because.

Ashley had some interesting questions for the authors which they answered with very compelling (and sometimes funny) answers. Then the floor opened up for questions from the audience, which went about the same way. By that point, a lot of us were getting excited about getting in line for the signing! The line was quite long but moved very quickly, and I was meeting Tahereh Mafi, Maya Motayne, and Victoria Aveyard before I knew it! And I’m glad that I didn’t choke up (as I was 100% sure that I would), so I even had short conversations with the authors while getting my books signed.

And this brings me to the giveaway portion of this post! I brought an ARC along to the signing that I had signed for one lucky winner…

Among the books that I got signed, I brought my ARC of Nocturna by Maya Montayne because…I wanted to do an international signed ARC giveaway for you guys!

(Please be sure to read the rules below before entering!)

This giveaway is international! Also, please be sure to follow the usual rules. Don’t cheat by entering with multiple accounts or email addresses. And don’t follow just to unfollow, because that’s just plain not nice! Rafflecopter picks a winner at random, but I will be sure that whoever is chosen hasn’t cheated and/or has completed the required task. If they have not, I will disqualify them and pick a different winner. Also, please keep an eye on your email inboxes when the giveaway ends, as I will be emailing the winner once everything checks out, and will have to pick a new winner if I don’t hear back within 24 hours! And I think that’s it! Please contact me if you have any questions! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

THANK YOU FOR READING MY POST, AND I HOPE THAT YOU ENJOYED READING IT AS MUCH AS I ENJOYED WRITING IT! HAVE YOU EVER ATTENDED A BOOK SIGNING? ARE YOU ALREADY A VETERAN WHEN IT COMES TO THESE? WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PART ABOUT THEM, OR WHAT IS THE THING YOU WOULD LOOK FORWARD TO MOST ABOUT AN EVENT LIKE THIS IF YOU WERE TO ATTEND ONE? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENTS!