#tt4l

A little MondayMotivation! Kudos to these ladies on their amazing (present and future) accomplishments ✊🏿. — “3 future doctors, 3 future lawyers, 3 engineers, 3 business professionals, an entrepreneur... and all about to get an Ivy League degree. Things we did? That. #TT4L #BlackGirlMagic” - @queen_of_anglin

So I spent the past few days at TLA in Austin, Texas. And it's basically this big conference for librarians. A bunch of authors go and there are tons of free books and galleys. hinatahyuga18 and I did a panel on fanfiction, and I'll give you the rundown on my writing blog, and that's the reason we were up there. We showed up at the Hilton in Austin on Wednesday. There were author signings going on (Kiera Cass, David Levithan, Kathi Appelt), but we showed up too late to go to anything. We went to an event called TEA. This is basically speed dating with authors. You sit at a table with a 5-6 other people and two authors and you just talk to the authors. I got to meet: • David Arnold (Mosquitoland) • Emmy Laybourne (Monument 14 series) • Mary Pearson (The Kiss of Deception and the Adoration of Jenna Fox) • Joy Preble (Finding Paris) • Renee Ahdieh (The Wrath and the Dawn) • Kiera Cass (The Selection series) • Lindsey Lane (Evidence of Things Unseen) • Ashley Hope Pérez (Out of Darkness) • Debra L. Winegarten (Oveta Culp Hobby) • Aisha Saeed (Written in Our Stars) • Jennifer Latham (Scarlett Undercover) and a few other authors I've forgotten. The next day, we went to this thing called TT4L (Texas Teens 4 Literature) at the Hilton in Austin. I got to go to a meet and greet with authors Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Summer of the Mariposas) and Micol Ostow (Amity). I also got a few free books. I then went over to the Austin Convention Center to set up for our panel on fanfiction. We had a great turnout. Again, my writing blog will have the actual content we covered. After that we got to go to the author's signing area where we got at least twenty signed free books. Next day we got more signed books, all free. I got about 40 free books on this trip and I only paid for two that cost $2. I guess I just wanted to enlighten you. All you Texas librarians, this event was truly amazing for me, and if you can introduce other students to it, I strongly suggest you do.

FRIDAY APRIL 17TH. 10 O’CLOCK $10

There was a reason I always wanted us to go to France. Besides the beauty of the country and it's history haha. :P I wanted to take you somewhere that's as beautiful as you are. Cheesy right but I mean that shit. You're the most beautiful girl in the world and everyay I miss you more. I can't stand the fact that you're not mine anymore. I guess I have to learn to live with that. I just really wish I knew the real reason you left. If what you say is true then I just can't understand why we can't try this again. I miss you so much and I just want to tell you I love you, with all the breath in my lungs. I miss you and I just want to make you happy again. I hate looking in your eyes and knowing I'll never kiss you overlooking nighttime Paris. I hate the fact you have to suffer because of me. I hate that we're still in love but your pride won't forgive me. I hate my life without you. I hate my life without your love...

I had a great time and now I have even more books to read.... oh jeez...