Wordstock Weekend: Day 1

Hello all!

I am currently writing to you from the lovely comfort of my hotel room in good old Portland.  This can only mean one thing.  And boy, do I love it.

It's Wordstock time!

I have decided that I will do quick little update blog posts this weekend as I enjoy everything bookish.  I am taking photos on my camera, but for the ease of this weekend I will only be adding my few Instagram pics to these posts and call it good.

Ready?

Last night I headed out on the ferry to meet up with the awesome Keary Taylor.  After enjoying some food in the car, we caught another ferry and hit the road to Oregon.  I brought my paper edit along and was supposed to work on that during the ride.  But truth be told, I didn't.  We talked.  The entire time.  Oh yes.

A little after one in the morning we rolled into our hotel room for the night.  After checking in, giggling at the squeakiness of Keary's bed, and of course brushing our teeth from the fine layer of soda pop we had downed, we passed out.

This morning we woke up mostly ready for the day.  I am not a morning person.  At all.  

After lugging our bags down the stairs (this hotel had no elevator, and I have a big bag of junk.  I always overpack for any trip.  I will not mention how many shirts I have packed...) we headed off to the first event of the day.

Powells.  Such a beautiful place.  Keary had never been, so I of course had to show her the wonders there.  We saw a book in the Rare Books Room worth $12,500.  Yes.  That much.  I can't remember its publishing date, but it was made roughly 80 years before Shakespeare was born, years before America was discovered, and sometime during the Spanish Inquisition.

Books do last forever.

Just two book obsessed ladies, loving Powells

Now then, I don't know if you have ever been to Powells in Portland.  But if you have, you know of their parking garage.  It is... scary.  Very long story short: Our car nearly got stuck as we tried to leave.  We almost died.  No kidding.  Okay, maybe a little kidding.  But still, it was epic and scary and I like to assume the universe's sign that we were never meant to leave Powells.

Onto the next event of the day.

Keary is one of the authors at Wordstock this year (Go Keary!) and she had the chance to talk at Ulysses Grant High School with six other awesome authors.  It was a hilarious visit, filled with random questions and even more random answers.  (Laser beams coming from the belly button, fluffy unicorns, killer unicorns, the parking lot at Powells, video gaming and crazy high school mascots...)  It was awesome.

After that, we headed to our hotel.  Now then.  This hotel.  Keary's sister-in-law and I have nicely nicknamed it Le Sketch.  The hallways are low.  I felt like a giant.  The door to our room.. it is hidden in the corner literally right next to another door.  We thought the hallway had ended, only to find our door literally hiding there.  We can hear the people next to us, the door doesn't fully meet the ground, the sliding glass door is fused shut, there was a half empty hotel shampoo bottle.  Half.  Empy.  Let's just say for the price we have paid, they have made bank.  Still, it is a room.  It is an adventure.  And yes, it is Le Sketch. 

The doors were hiding...

And that is where I am right now, sitting on the bed writing this post with Red Vines and my paper edit waiting its turn for my attention.  I will update more tomorrow night.  Make sure to check out my Twitter or Tumblr feed, where pics of my day will also be appearing.  

And if you are Wordstock, find me and say hi!  I have bookmarks. You want bookmarks.  We are a match made in heaven.

Now then, paper edit, here I come.