I’m happy to report that last night Ottawa FINALLY had an author event! We seem to get skipped over more often than not. Weird seeing how O-town is the capital of Canada. Maybe the marketing peeps assume that feds don’t read fiction? *shrugs*
The Smart Chicks Kick It! tour made it’s way to our fair city yesterday and boy what a night! We got to listen to Kelley Armstrong, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Melissa Marr, Margaret Stohl, Melissa de la Cruz and Charles de Lint answer questions, play games and reveal some (I’m sworn to secrecy, sorry!) bookish news.
I met up with Meaghan (Feeling a Little Bookish), Emilie (Emilie’s Book World), Chrystal (Snowdrop Dreams of Books) and Katherine (The Lady Critic’s Library) for dinner before the event. I had a blast with these gals! There was definitely no shortage of conversation topics!
We couldn’t have planned our evening any better if we’d tried. We got to the event 10 minutes before it started, three of us bought a copy of the Enthralled anthology in the lobby, we got great seats and only minutes after we sat down the authors strolled in. After the first hour was up, the mad dash began to line-up to get our goodies signed. We lucked out yet again by being on the side of the room where the starting point was. I felt sorry for those that were at the end of the line because it literally went around the whole room!
I was surprised by the diversity of the crowd. I expected to feel a little awkward in a room full of sixteen year olds but that didn’t end up being the case. Overall the event was really well organized and I left feeling giddy. I even caught one of the swag bracelets that were thrown into the crowd! On the drive home I talked my boyfriend’s ear off. He was happy to hear that his battle against the 5 o’clock rush hour traffic hadn’t been in vain. I hope that the success of this event will convince more authors that Ottawa is a worthwhile stop on their tours.
For those of you not fortunate enough to have a stop in your hometown I took some pics. Feel free to live vicariously through me! 😉 Enjoy!
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| Standing room only! |
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| The author panel |
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| Margaret Stohl is one hyper lady! |
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| The never-ending line-up! |
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| My newly signed copy of Enthralled |
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| The reason why I went: I met Kelley Armstrong! Woot! |
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| The Ottawa blogging crew |
About the Blogger
I review Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance books with a focus all things werewolf. Based out of Ottawa, Canada
Owner, designer and main blogger behind Rabid Reads. Avid book reader, snowboard bunny, video gamer and Supernatural fan. I love all things paranormal, werewolves especially. Oh, and I’m Canadian, eh!
Nice post! I’m stealing the group shot! 🙂 LOL and linking back to your post. 🙂 Nice meeting yoU!
Look at your smiles! I does look like you had a great time. Too bad I missed it. Oh the joys of living just outside of town and of having young kids… *sigh* Hopefully next time. But at least there’s gonna be Linda’s event! 🙂
So sad that I didn’t get to meet up with you guys. The event was awesome and I hope more come to Ottawa.
@Chrystal – That’s why I e-mailed you the pics. 😛
@Julie – I can’t wait for Linda’s! I’m hoping it’ll be a bit more intimate and that we’ll get to chat with her a bit.
@Kathy – Ooh well! I’m sure that there will be other opportunities. Glad you had fun! 🙂
Carmel it sounds like you guys had an amazing time. Its too bad that the Montreal group couldn’t make it up. Perhaps the next time.
It seems like all these awesome events never make it here either but i am happy you got to go. I just discovered some more great Canadian bloggers.
I can’t believe I missed this.I knew it was coming up then forgot about it.
Looks like you had a great time though.
@Cindy – Author events are definitely rare. There’s two in Ottawa this month so I’m taking full advantage!
@elaing8 – Maybe next year! It was a blast though.