National Book Festival 2017 Recap

Saturday, September 2, was the National Book Festival. It's one of my favorite events all year. I can hear awesome authors speak, get books signed, and check out lots of cool stuff. This year I had one mission in mind. Hear Melissa de la Cruz speak and get my copy of Alex and Eliza signed by her.

Today I'll be giving you a quick recap of the book festival, the panels I saw, and a few things I learned. Plus tell you how my quest to have my book signed went.

Recap

Originally, we weren't planning on heading out until around ten because the panels we wanted to see didn't start until after eleven. However, we realized the author of Captain Underpants was going to be there, so we left earlier so my brothers could see him talk. Apparently, he was quite inspiring.

We got there early, so we headed straight down to the convention floor to glance around and look in the book store. The book store is fun because they basically only sell books from the authors that are at the festival, along with a few others. They also have some awesome book merchandise, like socks, bookmarks, and pins.

Anyway, my sister and I went upstairs to the room where teen authors were talking to see Marie Lu, followed by a panel called "Falling In Love" (which Melissa was part of). By that point it was past lunch time, so we grabbed some (nasty) pretzels and then went to wait in the book signing line for Melissa. It was a really good day.

Marie Lu (Young Elites, Warcross)

Marie Lu

I tried to get into Young Elites, but I didn't like how dark they were. However, I still wanted to hear Marie talk because you never know what you might learn. I was glad I did because her talk was inspiring. Here are some things I learned from what she said.

• She used to work in video games for Disney before becoming a writer. She still loves video games, which is what led her to write Warcross.

• She wrote four novels before she published her first one. Don't get discouraged if it takes a while.

• Marie loves the Redwall series. She also likes the new Star Wars movies and Rey is her favorite characters.

And here are a few excellent things she said during her talk.

"Villains are still human."

"Female characters shouldn't be called strong, they should be called real."

"It's okay to write a bad first draft. You just need to finish it."

"If you write, you're a writer."

Panel: Falling In Love

Melissa de la Cruz (Alex and Eliza, Isle of the Lost), Nicola Yoon (Everything Everything, The Sun is Also a Star), and Sandhya Menon (When Dimple Met Rishi)

From left to right: Melissa de la Cruz, Nicola Yoon, and Sandhya Menon

This panel was also really fun since it was three amazing women authors of all different ethnicities. They were such an inspiration to listen to and I got some useful things from the panel.

"The job of writers is to tell the truth"- Nicola Yoon

• Melissa de la Cruz's favorite Schuyler sister is Eliza (big surprise, right?) She also doesn't think Angelica and Hamilton ever had an affair because she loved her sister too much.

"Everything is about love"- Nicola Yoon

• When asked how you can know if a story idea is a good one, all three said that you can feel it. They also agreed that boys can be hopeless romantics just like girls.

"Princesses can be all colors"- Sandhya Menon (Now I want to write some POC princesses)

• Sandhya also uses Scrivener and loves it. Go Scrivener!

"Career comes from being a good reviser"- Nicola Yoon

• They all agreed that copy and imitating other people's work is okay. That's how you learn what you like and don't like.

Book Signing

And yes, I did get my book signed by Melissa. I waited in line for about half an hour. Melissa was great. She took time to sign your name, personalize it if you wanted that, and take pictures with everyone. That's how I want to be when I become a published author.

Me and Melissa!

I had her sign my book with my name and a quote from Hamilton- "I am not throwing away my shot!". She said that was one of her favorite songs in the musical. I enjoyed meeting her so much.

If you ever have a chance to come to the National Book Festival, I highly suggest it. It's free and right near the heart of DC.

Let's talk! Have you ever met an author? Have you ever gotten a book signed? Tell me in the comments.