GLIBA Coverage!

This past weekend, I took myself down to Dearborn, MI (which is really close to Detroit, which is, in case you didn't know, the most dangerous city in the country, except the only thing scary about it was this one time when I had to cross like four lanes of traffic, but this is irrelevant) for the Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association's annual trade show!

I met up with Shanyn of chickloveslit.com, and we hung out and talked books for hours the night before, and then we hit the exhibitions on Saturday morning. It was my first time attending any sort of conference or convention, but Shanyn has been to BEA, so I just followed her around because she seemed to know what she was doing! We got our badges, walked around, talked with a lot of great publicists and sales people, grabbed lots and lots of books (and lots and lots of totes and swag!) and made many trips to the car to dump out stuff so our arms wouldn't fall off.

For lunch, we met up with Courtney Allison Moulton, whose book is Angelfire, and comes out next year! That was loads of fun, and then we were back to the trade show and introduced Courtney to the lovely people who gave her books. She dubbed it "books-mas", which was pretty accurate. She was also signing that night, which she was pretty excited about:

After the exhibition closed, we had a lovely light dinner with some book industry people (some dinner topics: upcoming books, Flowers in the Attic, blog tours, surgeries, and nachos), and then it was signing time!

Unfortunately, when I read all about the trade show and the authors that would be present, I didn't understand at the time that only certain authors would be there to sign books on Saturday night. So, I missed Siobhan Vivian, Jennifer L. Holm, and Andrea Cremer (though Shanyn and I spotted her getting into a cab and debated about running across the parking lot to get her to sign our books...okay, maybe that was just me). However, we still met a lot of great people! Like Erin McCahon!

Yay! She is the author of I Now Pronounce You Someone Else, which is excellent. Plus, I have a soft spot for it because it takes place really close to my hometown!

And here is a group shot:

Fun times!

And of course, now I have plenty to read, so don't tempt me, Amazon.com.

And because I really love you all (like, really!), I also got some stuff for a contest!

Up for grabs is a signed copy of Erin's book, a signed copy of The Everafter by Amy Huntley, a hardcover of Stranded by J.T. Dutton, a Jane chapter sampler, and (not pictured) TONS of swag!

Enter away!