Spring Into the Future Signing (and giveaway) with Tahereh Mafi and Veronica Rossi

This weekend, my hubby and I made the trek down to Miami because I read a bout a super cool tour going on called Spring Into the Future with two of my very favorite authors Tahereh Mafi and Veronica Rossi. I was so stinking stoked for this even because I love both of these books. To get ready, I made a Down the Rabbit Hole t-shirt and I also made bags as presents for the authors.

The bags I made

Me in my Down the Rabbit Hole shirt and my hubby

The events that I've attended at Books & Books in the past have normally been very structured but I liked the laid back atmosphere of this event. The aythors weren't formally introduced, they introduced themselves and they conducting the entire Q & A section.

These two were seriously funny. I'd seen Tahereh Mafi talking about how they were like a married couple on Twitter so it was funny to see them laugh and "argue" with each other about who was going to answer the questions first (Mafi almost always got Rossi to talk first).

So here are some of the cool things we found out during the Q & A from each author that you need to know.

Tahereh Mafi

This photo basically captures who Tahehreh Mafi is

• Warren is not Warren's first name but rather his last. We'll find out his first name in the next books. She chose it because it has the word "war" in it
• Mafi normally names her character with whatever pops into her head but for Shatter Me, she picked out specific names for Adam and Juliette.
• The original title of Shatter Me was Touching Juliette which she gets endless amusement out of (we all did as a matter of fact).
• When Mafi recieved the call that her book sold, she was at a day job and ran out. She says she literally fell over (in high heels) and then had to act like nothing happened. Her mother texted and called her a million times after her intial text that her book sold but she ignored them all because she had to work.
• Mafi had to wait 3 months before she could announce her book sold.
• Her character Adam has a tattoo on his back of a bird. Her brother does also. She said when her brother read the book, he felt scadalized and it's made Thanksgiving dinners awkward.
• A line of dialog that will appear in the book is (and I'm paraphrasing) "I like to hear myself talk. It's the best part." It was originally said by her brother and will be said by Kenji.
• This wasn't confirmed by her but I walked away with the feeling that Kenji might be her favorite character in the book, mostly because he's inapproriate and funny. We do know that there will be more of Kenji in the next two books. Also, Kenji is Japanese for those of you who don't know!
• Mafi's best advice to aspiring writers is to never give up, even when it feels like you are getting nowhere. At the moment when you feel you should just give up is the moment you push yourself and you will have a breakthrough.
• Mafi is a self-proclaimed fashion guru with a special love for shoes, bags, scarves and jackets.

Mafi's awesome bag and shoes

Veronica Rossi

• Under the Never Sky was always called Under The Never Sky. It was taken from a piece of dialog and everyone agreed that it fit. In fact, Rossi has names already picked out for all her novels.
• Rossi intended for Under the Never Sky to be four books but after talking with her agent and editor decided to make it a trilogy.
• Aria was pretty much always named Aria since she was genetically designed to be an opera singer. It was Perry's name that Rossi was unsure of. She wasn't sure if it fit him until she was reading up on the beach she imagined is where Perry's tribe stays and found out it is the nesting ground of the peregrine. It sealed his fate.
• Under the Never Sky was written quickly and needed very little revision. The second book, which Rossi is currently writing, is much more difficult. She said she's rewritten it about five times.
• Rossi's family was in the audience and so darned excited for her. When I was up getting my entire stack of books signed, Rossi's mother kept coming up to see why they were excited.
• Rossi doesn't really care who plays her characters in movies as long as they are able to capture their essence. She says it is particularly important for Perry as she considers him part creature.
• Rossi is a painter and now a writer. She says she often threatens her husband that she is going to start song writing next even though she is in no way musical.
• If Rossi has a super power it would either be the ability to double herself (so she could go on enternal vacation) or to fly.
• Rossi's best piece of advice to aspiring authors is to find some friends. They will pick you up, help you make your manuscript better and encourage you along the way.

The biggest thing I walked away from was how funny, witty, kind and generally thankful these two authors are. I really got the sense that they knew how rare it was for dreams to come true and that they are very lucky. I also thought it was interesting that my friend only bought Under the Never Sky at the beginning because it sounded really good but loved Mafi's personality so much that she purchased Shatter Me at the end. (On a side note, once she read the first page of Shatter Me, she said she was angry I didn't force her to buy both at the beginning)

When I put up my stack of books for them (5 for each) they squealed that I had so many but when I gave them their presents, Mafi said something to the affect of "screw work, we have presents". They both seemed to like their tote bags which is awesome since I spent a long time in the store trying to find the perfect things to attach to them. In fact, they seemed to like them so much that they filled my books with hearts on the inside!

As if I wasn't already the biggest nerd in the place, I also painted my fingernails to match the covers of both books. Check out my Under the Never Sky and Shatter Me inspired nails:



*Photos of the signatures coming soon*

Giveaway time!

I've got a signed copy of SHATTER ME and a signed copy of UNDER THE NEVER SKY to giveaway to 2 lucky readers (1 will get SHATTER ME, the other will get UNDER THE NEVER SKY). So here are the rules:

• US only giveaway (sorry, international guys, I just can't pay for the shipping right now)
• May only enter once
• Must fill out form
• Must be 13 years or older
• Giveaway ends 5/13/12

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Good luck!