Wednesday, February 22, 2012

DARK DAYS tour recap: AKA How I learned to stop worrying and love the Crawtators

Hey Y'all! 


So, I'm back from my DARK DAYS tour, and already I'm missing all the people I met, especially the other authors I toured with:


Cynthia Hand (the Unearthly series)
Courtney Allison Moulton (the Angelfire series)
Jodi Meadows (the INCARNATE series)


I'll give a quick recap, borrowing liberally from other people's pictures of the events. 


Here's me standing by the poster:


Here are all the authors together:
(top row: me, Jodi Meadows. Bottom row: Courtney Allison Moulton and Cynthia Hand)
Here are some interesting tidbits about the other authors:


Jodi Meadows: She makes her own yarn and knits. Constantly.
Cynthia Hand: She smells like citrus.
Courtney Allison Moulton: Things like to fall on her head.


Here are some donuts somebody brought us:
They were delicious
Nuggets:

Strangest Echo Sensation: While speaking to the crowd, my phone would buzz with tweets about the things I was saying. Like when I said, "I imagine brains would taste like tofu"

And then my phone buzzed and showed the tweet: "@brodiashton says brains taste like tofu!"

Or the time someone asked when I first started writing, and I answered something like, "Well, I hated writing in high school. I was more into math and science. It wasn't until I was older that I really got into it."

and then my phone would buzz:

"@brodiashton hated writing! It made her puke!"

Okay, it wasn't quite like that. But I was suddenly very careful of the things I was saying. 

Strangest question from the audience: "If you could eat any other author's brains, whose would it be, and what would they taste like?"

(Hence the 'brains taste like tofu' remark). For the first time all night, I had to raise my hands in a helpless manner, and say, "I got nothin'." 

Strangest out-of-context comment during a car ride with four authors: "Ferrets are good for cleansing the palate."

Awesomest media escort: So, there were these media escorts who would take us around to all the places and get us water and stuff like that. Our media escort in Austin showered us with animal crackers, Diet Coke, and our new favorite snack, the "Crawtators". 


Best Part: The enthusiastic crowds!

Another best part: Kayla brought me Diet Coke and my mocha-honey!
That was a good day, when Rafa gave me his soul. 
Here are some other tidbits:

Courtney Allison Moulton: She loves horses, and she gets locked out of hotel rooms easily.
Jodi Meadows: She owns ferrets, and she loves to take long showers in hotel rooms. 
Cynthia Hand: Her friends in high school wanted her to date a guy with the last name "Foot".

Courtney did a little video montage of the behind the scenes images. All I can say is... do I really look like that from behind? 

More interesting nuggets:

*Two authors write about angels, one writes about reincarnation, and yet during an interview for Voices of America, I'm the only one who got asked about "religion" in my book. Go figure. 

*When asking the audience whether they were Team Jack or Team Cole, they were about evenly divided. 

*If you sign your name enough times, eventually it doesn't look right. And then you forget how to get from the "r" to the "o", and you end up messing up on that part fifty times in a row. And then you look stupid because, duh, it's your name, and you should be able to spell it without hesitating in the middle. 

Okay, that's all for today. I have a deadline on Monday (again) and so I'll see all y'all later!

17 comments:

  1. What the heck donuts are those and where do I get some??

    Ahem.

    I can totally see myself forgetting how to sign my own name, seeing as the problems I already have with leaving letters out when I sign it now. Which is only one signature at a time, not 50 or hundreds. Something to look forward to if I ever get to do a signing. Or if I ever decide to doodle my name again like I used to in high school. Do you remember doing that? Trying out different celebs' last names with yours? No? Maybe that was just me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome post! It all looks like so much fun, I wish I was able to be there (:

    As long as you don't write down "Bordi Ahston", I think you will be fine :D.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks and sounds like you had a awesome time. Go Brodi you ROCK!

    ReplyDelete
  4. So fun! Come back to Austin SOON!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks like so much fun! How exciting. And funny about the tweets coming through while you were talking! That's so cool!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Book signing is one part of my future fantasy author life I've already mastered: I sign so many oh-so-important legal docs, my signature looks like a "P" with a line and a "U" with a line. Don't fight it. Signatures just have to be distinctive, not legible.

    Glad you had fun before all the grueling editing! (Or are you already facing draft deadlines for EVERNEATHIEST?)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those Donuts look ridiculous! I must have one. It looks like a blast. I totally understand the forgetting the name thing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I was going to say the same thing about those donuts as Sara...they look INSANELY good!

    Glad you had an awesome tour!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ha ha, I always wondered if I was the only one who couldn't sign my name over and over. I have to do art signings sometimes and I'm always afraid that I'm going to mess up and ruin someone's print. Did you mess up and ruin any books?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm so glad Texas gave you a good party! I'm totally wishing I was there for the entire thing though, sounds like you had some crazy intriguing questions. ;)
    And I gotta give it up to my girl Kayla for bringing you a little mocha honey. What a smart lady she is. Just makes my day seeing you two together! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Seriously? Evenly divided for Team Cole? What's wrong with these people?

    Was it really so cold you had to wear Bob Cratchit gloves?

    Loved the video.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mmmm... I love Zapps! My favorite are the Cajun Dill Gator-tators! I love how my eyes look like creepy black holes of doom in that photo. Kind of like the freaky kid in the first X-files movie! It was tons of fun coming and seeing you and the other ladies!

    ReplyDelete
  13. So I have to ask, was there ever a point where things just seemed too surreal, like you knew you were doing these things, going to these events and slipping into name-spaz moments, but did it feel really real or like outside of yourself?

    Then again, if you answer, "It felt like I was outside of myself" then someone will tweet "@brodiashton has out-of-body experience."

    ReplyDelete
  14. Loved the video. sound u all had fun

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm so glad you had a great time. I love all the interesting tidbits. I have to say I'm a little disappointed you couldn't come up with an author who you'd want to eat their brain. If anyone could answer that, I was sure you could! *sigh*

    I'm glad you got to meet Kayla and that she bribed you into being her favorite fan. Just don't forget about the rest of us. ;) Ha! Just kidding. Kayla's awesome and she'd be a great favorite fan.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yay! Glad you had fun!

    Hilarious about Cynthia's friends wanting her to date a guy with the last name "foot"! :D

    ReplyDelete
  17. That sounds like an awesome time! And those donuts...wow. They look so decadent. :) Also, I find the religion question hilarious.

    ReplyDelete