Hello, everyone! This week’s post is a bit different from what I normally write about. Today, I bring you an interview with author Vali Benson, who published her first novel Blood and Silver last year. Hope you guys enjoy the very first author interview on this blog! ❤
While I was on break, I was nominated for the Sunshine Blogger Award by the lovely Hundreds & Thousands of Books! Thank you for nominating me, and sorry it took me so long to get to it. 😓
the rules
Hello, world! I’m finally out of my cave after holing myself up to study for the midterm season! Although I’m not entirely done with testing just yet, I’ve decided to rejoin the land of the living to bring you this recap of one of my favorite events of the whole entire year: the North Texas Teen Book Festival!
In the past, I lived within relative driving distance to the convention center it is always held at, but now that I’ve moved, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to attend this year. When I saw that John Green was attending as one of the authors, I couldn’t say no. I’ve been a fan of his for years. First, it was discovering his YouTube channel that he hosts with his brother, Hank. Then, I fell in love with his books (I didn’t even know he was an author when I first stumbled across Vlogbrothers). Then I respected the heck out of him because he is one of the sole reasons I survived my high school classes with Crash Course. And more recently, I’ve been falling in love with the podcast that he does called Dear Hank & John. Basically, I appreciate all the work he has done and continues do to. I booked a bus ticket to visit my parents back home and that was that.
Happy April, everyone! A week or so ago I went to NTTBF for the third year in a row. The last two years I focused on the panels. This year, I decided to expand my horizons and see what other events were happening outside the panels. Turns out, there’s a lot that goes on.
Also, if you’re expecting a lot of pictures, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. I sort of got swept up from the excitement and forgot to take pictures. Sorry.
I like books. I like owning physical books, but because my wallet hates me when I splurge on books, I try to be very selective of which books I buy. But when certain authors release a new book, I’m like:
I have no self-control. I hope I’m not the only one who does this.
When I went to my first book festival, there were a couple things I wished I knew before I went. I was really glad I had my friend with me because she knew what she was doing and I didn’t. I just followed her around. I didn’t even know about the panels at that festival. That’s how clueless I was.
^^ me when my friend suggested we go to a panel at my first book festival
Anyway, I compiled a couple tips and things I’ve learned from the two book festivals I’ve attended. I am by no means an expert, but I hope this can help at least one person.
Recently I watched a Vlogbrother video (go Nerdfighteria!) that the Hank half of the Green brothers made. It’s called Things That You Just Might Love. He talked about how people who have attention and money use that attention and money to gain more attention and money (he explains it better than I do), and how he wanted to divert some of that attention to the things he loves.
And I wanted to do the same.
By no means am I famous or making money off of this blog, but I did want to share some of the things I loved because why not?
Also, I haven’t been posting that frequently on this blog because school (and writer’s block >.< ) are taking up a lot of my time. I wanted to use some of your extra attention and put them to places and things that I love.
The Awkward Book Blogger 