Short little preface before I get into the signing recap – this week has been one giant crazy ball of everything. ALA wiped me out (that haul is coming potentially next week) and then driving 5 hours (there and back) to Philly for a singing, wiped me out, and then flying to Texas on no sleep, also wiped me out. My schedule for my blog kind of went out the window, so two posts will be going up today, and one on Friday to catch up. Since I’m so behind, these might be kind of on the shorter side length-wise.

Anyways!

Call It What You Want – Brigid Kemmerer’s tenth book hit shelves on Tuesday and I and a friend decided to make the drive up to Neshaminy Mall in PA to attend the joint singing for Brigid’s book and Anna Bright’s debut – The Beholder. I loved both of these books, and definitely recommend them. You can check out my reviews here and here – respectively.

Now you might be wondering why I’d choose to drive 2.5 hours each way to attend this singing, friends, I would have gone to the local one if I could! But I knew I wouldn’t be in state, and really wanted to attend one of the signings with both, Brigid and Anna.

They have really great chemistry together and listening to them talk about their books and their writing processes was fun. There was a lot of laughing and great comments made. Anna came prepared with hard hitting questions for Brigid and established that while The Beholder was inspired by The Odyssey – there are no sea monsters in it.

Having been a longtime fan of Brigid’s most of what her writing process is, isn’t news to me, but I love listening to her talk about what inspires her and how her stories come to her. As for Anna, I only knew a little bit about where her inspiration for her book came from, so listening to her go a little more in-depth was interesting. I’m absolutely in love with Torden from her book, and I cannot wait for book 2 – The Boundless coming out next year…and speaking of future books, it was announced on Tuesday that Brigid has two new books scheduled for release in 2021 – a third Cursebreaker book and a whole new fantasy – Defy the Night. I’m so excited for both of these books and I cannot wait to dive into my copy of A Heart So Fierce and Broken out January 7, 2020!

I was able to get my books signed (I forgot to take photos before I left on vacation) and then hang out and chat for a little bit with Anna and Brigid before settling in for the long drive back to MD. We ate cake and the frosting died Anna’s teeth blue for a few pictures. We all cracked up. It was an awesome night.

I love going to these kinds of events, and I love going to support friends. They’ve worked so incredibly hard to get to this point and besides reading their books and supporting them, showing up in person to celebrate the accomplishments, is just a small thing that I can do. I’m so grateful to be able to call Brigid a friend and hopefully I can consider Anna one as well.

If you have the chance, the opportunity, the means, and your favorite author is having a signing, go! If I hadn’t gone to Brigid’s first launch for Storm back in 2012, I know I wouldn’t be as far as I am in my own writing as I am now. She’s offered me some valuable insight into the publishing world, I don’t know if she’d be a friend, and I don’t know if I would know (and love) the awesomeness that is her writing and her books.

So, congrats to Brigid and Anna for their new books and I will definitely be reading everything and anything you publish in the future!