A little bit of PAYA and PA

So this past weekend was the 3rd annual PAYA book festival – Bring YA to PA, organized by the multi-talented Skyanne Fisher. What a blast of books, workshops, authors, readers, writers, signing and general awesomeness!

I started the day off with a writing workshop moderated by Tiffany Schmidt, along amazing talented authors like Jackie Morse Kessler, Margie Gelbwasser, Brigid Kemmerer, Charlotte Bennardo, and Victoria Schwab to name a few. After we all presented on different writing tools and techniques (I learned SO much!), we broke out into individual critiquing sessions for attendees to read their works in progress. I really enjoyed that part–there are some seriously talented writers out there.

After the workshop, I had my book signing, sitting between Victoria Schwab and Jackie Morse Kessler. I was happy to hear that Bloodspell sold out! Yay! And I also got to meet some really awesome writers and booklovers, talking books and writing and hot fictional boys. Loved chatting with Carli, Jena, Vi, Nikki and my new little bestie, Alyssa. On top of that, the day just got better, meeting authors like Jeri Smith-Ready (squeal), A.S. King (squeal), and seeing Jennifer Armentrout, who always has a witty comeback to my banter (love her!) and Shannon Delany who rocks my socks off every time I see her.

My wonderful day in PA didn’t end after PAYA since I was staying overnight, so I got to see some of the gorgeous Pennsylvania countryside in the historic Brandywine valley. We stayed on a lovely farm–the Inn at Whitewing Farm–located on 11 lush acres and voted one of the top six romantic places by Glamour Magazine.

The owners, Lance and Sandy Shortt, were super friendly and welcoming. Let me not even start talking about the farm-fresh breakfast … banana surprise, Belgian waffles with fresh fruit, hot coffee and orange juice. Yum. Can you tell that I love food? Like love it more than anything (well except books … if I could eat those, I would). Lance is a chef and owns his own restaurant so his cooking skills are pretty awesome. French toast souffle anyone? My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Our stay at Whitewing Farm was the perfect end to a fabulous book event at PAYA. I will definitely be returning to beautiful PA!

1 Comment on A little bit of PAYA and PA

  1. Vivian
    August 30, 2012 at 11:13 am (12 years ago)

    Awww, thanks for mentioning Alyssa! You’re too awesome! Sent you the pic via email!

    Reply

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