The Musings of ALMYBNENR, INCARNATE Launch Party & Signing!

INCARNATE Launch Party & Signing!

Oooh, pretty!

As some of you may know, I traveled to Harrisonburg, Virginia on Saturday, February 4, with Jessica from Fictional Distraction and her friend Joy (I first met them back in July 2011 at Maggie Stiefvater’s Forever tour stop at Tysons Corner). It felt like we made the trip in no time with how much fun we were having in the car.

Look who joined Jodi: Sam, Ana, and a dragon!

We arrived with no problem at all. We walked into the store, gazed lovingly at the table of Incarnate books and then decided to use the facilities. While waiting, Jodi walked right by me and once she was past me, I recognized her from her pictures before she disappeared into the employees only area. After we were all done, Jodi came back out and we talked to her for a little while before going back to grab our copies. The Books-A-Million was set within a little local mall, so we grabbed our copies of Incarnate off of that front table and then wandered around the store. The bargain books section drew us in and I ended up picking up an extra book I’ve been wanting and Jessica picked up a whole bunch! We had to keep telling ourselves no many times. After making our purchases, we looked around the mall before coming back to BAM to wait for the festivities to begin.

Here we go!

There was a great turnout for the signing and a lot of copies of Incarnate were sold. Jodi actually signed the remaining stock at the end of the event, so if you’re in Harrisonburg and you know that Books-A-Million, you might want to check it out!

While we were milling around Jodi’s table waiting for things to get started, I suddenly saw a flash of purple and yelled, “ANGELA!” It was Angela from Reading Angel…you know, the mom who used to have pink hair, who now has purple? :) So I finally got to meet Angela in person and she was funny and nice. I couldn’t get enough of her accent, but she’ll tell you she doesn’t have one. ;) I also met Joli from Actin’ Up With Books!

Jodi began with reading from Incarnate, the part after Ana has burned her hands and Sam is patching her up. She did a great job and it is just really cool to hear an author read from her own book, especially when it is her first. I was so excited for her. Then she opened the floor for questions. The first person to ask a question received one of Jodi’s little butterfly knits, which was really cool. It was not me. I would have loved to be the first to ask, but I was shy and/or nervous. Yes, that is me in real life with people I do not know! But, I was able to get over it later.

A little girl (I think the same one who won the butterfly) told Jodi she’s a writer and she wanted to know how to get through writer’s block. It was very cute. Jessica asked Jodi if she has ideas for other stories and she does. She’s hoping to turn her foremost idea into a duology in the future. Angela asked if there would be a butterfly on the second book’s cover in the Incarnate series and Jodi told us no. Also don’t expect there to be any short stories to tide us over between each book any time soon. Jessica asked about that and Jodi said she’s not much of a short story writer, but she does have more diary entries like the one Incarnate begins with and maybe she would put those together in the future.

Jodi talked about how she loves to write about first kisses and in her free reading time, she loves to read fantasy. She was also asked when we will know the title of the second book (I really feel like I asked that question, but I really can’t remember and I didn’t make a note of it!). Her agent, Lauren MacLeod, answered soon, so that’s good news! Jodi added that the next title starts with a vowel, has three syllables, and is an adjective. Do with that what you will! I definitely did ask if she has ever thought of opening an Etsy store for her knits, but she said she has thought of it, but won’t do it because it takes her so long to make them that they would be outrageously expensive. She started the knits she created for the treasure hunt back in April 2011.

After the question & answer portion, it was time for signing books! I milled around talking to Angela and then Jessica and I got in line towards the end so there wouldn’t be as much of a rush. We got our books signed by Jodi and pictures with her as well. She is so soft-spoken and being that way myself when I don’t know someone well, I really admired her for getting up there and being able to read from her book and meet all of her excited fans. As we stepped away, Jodi’s friends and agent encouraged people to eat some cookies (they made 200!) and take cupcakes because they had plenty. The cupcakes were all Incarnate-y and pretty and of course I wanted those plastic butterfly rings. What I didn’t want was orange or bluish teeth so I actually held onto mine all the way home and shared with the family lol!

After the signing, since Angela and her husband had a 3+ hour trip back to West Virginia and Jessica, Joy, and I had a 3+ hour trip back to Baltimore, we decided to extend the party and go out to dinner. We went to an Outback not far from the store and had a grand old time, especially since our waitress was so fun. Her name was Kara but we call her Hufflepuffer…long story short, Jessica has a Slytherin hoodie on and Kara said she’s a Hufflepuffer, so it stuck and it lives on in Joy’s new Twitter name. :)

Then we all headed our separate ways. It was actually snowing on our way home, but it didn’t deter us. I had a great time and I can’t wait to do it again!