Books by the Banks was Awesome!

I am back from Books by the Banks. Steven and I had an adventure of a time! Sadly, his wife and son did not go with us and I spent most of the time trying not to have a panic attack.

We walked around the author room twice, seeing people that Steven has met over the years in various instances. He lived in the same apartment complex as one of the ladies. He worked with one of the men. He knew various people from Facebook. It was very nice to meet them all.

The folks with the DIY home blog were serious hits and apparently the biggest name at the festival. They had a line that wrapped around the room! Their panel session was packed and people lined the back of the room. We didn't go to that session.

We went to the publishing session with Chuck Sambuchino. It was not as well attended as the DIY craft session, but it was very informative regardless. Steven and I sat at the back of the room and listened while various people moved around the room (a pair of ladies frequently left the room and returned a few minutes later- very distracting!). Steven asked a few questions and I tried to absorb as much of Chuck's information as possible. I tried to warn Chuck about an impostor here on Blogger that I thought was someone using his name/info and it turned out it was him! I was slightly embarrassed and quickly scampered away with the excuse that Steven left my purse sitting unattended. When we got back, I finally thought of a question to ask: When asked for the first X number pages by an agent or publisher, does that include the prologue or not?

We contemplated staying for the children's lit session but eventually decided against it and headed back. Steven was hurting a bit, my stomach was growling very loudly, I needed a cigarette break, and I had forgotten my phone at his house. I am not one that has to be glued to their phone 24/7 but I do not like not knowing where it is and I get very panic-y when I don't have a constant way of knowing the time. Weird, I know, but still- I have to know what time it is or I get a headache, I sweat a lot, my pulse races, and I generally feel like something bad is going to happen.

So we headed out and stopped by the Ohio Bookstore, a 5 story book store in downtown Cincinnati. They have a book bindery in the basement. It was really cool. We couldn't stay long though because the meter where we parked only gave us 3 minutes for 10 cents and I only had 50 cents on me. Ugh. The whole store was neat though. Wall to wall books! Heaven.

The entire event was a great way to spend an afternoon. Tons of kids in attendance and the kid room was busier than the authors' floor. A few mascots wandering around reminded me of my college days as Curious George. Chuck Sambuchino was an excellent speaker and gave off a Ryan Reynolds's Mr. D (School of Life) vibe. Yay conferences! Maybe next year or the year after, I will be one of the authors on the floor rather than walking around starry eyed and suddenly introverted.

Love is love, no matter the back story. <3 DS