Goodbye Portland, Hello Austin!

I now say a fond farewell to the peoples of the Pacific North West. Goodbye Seattle and Portland! What gorgeous cities you are. My timing was perfect: all the leaves were gold, red, maroon, pink, orange and brown. Spectacularly gorgeous. Also mostly the weather was crisp and clear. Only two raining days. Well done, Pacific North West.

My favourite part was getting to meet so many of the people who comment on this blog such as Pixelfish, Saints and Spinners, AndrewN, and the people I met last night whose names I’ve forgotten because my brain is fried. So sorry! And meeting Lizzy-wa and Captain Cockatiel again after two years.

The most amazing thing happened last night at the Clackamas Town Ctr Mall Barnes & Noble. One girl in the audience, Michelle, was asking me lots and lots of questions. She’d read the first 20 pages of Liar and was really into it. She stayed behind to ask more questions. It emerged that she could not afford a copy of her own. I suggested borrowing it from the library and others there were able to name good ones nearby, which is when Adrienne, another lovely person who came to the event, stepped in and bought Michelle a copy.

Can you believe it? Michelle was stunned. So was I, frankly. I declare Adrienne the World’s Best Book Fairy. Thank you, Adrienne!

Shortly I head to the airport to get on the plane to Austin where tomorrow I will be part of the very first Austin Teen Book Festival:

Saturday, 24 October, 10:00 am -5:00 pm
Austin Teen Book Festival
Westlake High School
4100 Westbank Drive
Austin, TX

I’m dead honoured to have been asked to be part of it. Go check out the stellar lineup. Why, yes, that is Libba Bray, the world’s funniest human being doing the keynote address. I can’t wait.

Later!

P.S. The rumour that I do impersonations of my husband during my events is completely not true.

12 comments

  1. Lizzy-wa on #

    hehehehehe you make me laugh Justine-la. and i was mentioned! such fun

    my blog with the (delayed) post should be hyperlinked to my name if you want to read it

    and i must say that Adrienne deserves the next Nobel Peace Prize hehe

    -Lizzy-wa OUT! 🙂

  2. Emilee on #

    Hooray! You’re coming to Austin tomorrow! See you there!

  3. Rachel on #

    So if I say “I’m Rachel who comments on your blog” will you say “Oh, I remember you”? Well I don’t comment *that* often so probably not. But I’m going to try now, b/c my sister told me that you would say you remembered me from this, and I was all “ha ha, this is the real world” and it would make both our days if you did.

    Can’t wait to actually meet you!

    By the way just wanted to give a spoiler-free comment on the first 190 pgs of Liar- when I actually read this I didn’t think it was messing w/ my head all that much… I basically was like “hmm, interesting, but not that mesmerizing”. But then three hours later I started wondering what the heck was going on and I’ve been thinking about for a full day now. So it’s delayed-action but strong, I guess.

  4. Rachel on #

    Oh, and I was wondering if this time you could tell us what really happens at the end of The Giver. Just to mix it up.

  5. Liviania on #

    I loved your panel! Good luck writing a book in *every* genre.

  6. Jacob on #

    ATBF was loads of fun, just as I was expecting it to be (I got to get Liar!). I was the guy who asked you how long it took you to write HTDYF during the book signing. I don’t know why. Probably because I was this close to saying something like, “OMFG I LOVE YOUR BOOKS MARRY ME” or something. Seriously. I freeze up when I meet new people. It’s pretty pathetic.

  7. Jacob on #

    Libba’s keynote speech was possibly the funniest speech I’ve ever heard. “Single most life-changing event ever” or whatever it was she was she said. Hilarious.

  8. Justine on #

    Lizzy-wa: Your post was lovely. Thank you. Was fabulous to see you again.

    Emilee: Did you make it the festival?

    Rachel: Lovely to meet you.

    Liviani: Wasn’t it a wonderful festival? I just wish I’d been able to see the other panels.

    Jacob: Was lovely to meet you also. Delighted you love my books. Asking how long a book takes to write is a perfectly good question. I often wonder the same thing about other people’s books since mine take such a random amount of time. I didn’t think you were even remotely pathetic.

    Libba’s speech was AMAZING. Changed my life also. (I admit that I teared up.)

  9. Lizzy-wa on #

    anytime anytime 🙂

    ive already managed to convince two of my friends to start LIAR. the others need to find a way to get it hehe

    -Lizzy-wa 😀

  10. AndrewN on #

    Lorraine and I really enjoyed listening to your talk in Lynnwood B&N. My niece is so jealous that we met you. Thanks for coming here. BTW the boots are wonderful.

  11. Kaethe on #

    Clearly, Adrienne is deserving of the highest accolades. I’ll try to emulate her example.

  12. PixelFish on #

    I’m glad our weather waited until you left to throw its seasonal tantrums. (It’s been raining solidly all this morning, living up to the Seattle mythos.)

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