HELLO EVERYONE!

How are all of you on this fine weekend? I hope fantastic! What are you all reading right now? I’m currently re-reading The Fiery Heart, in the hopes that I’ll finish it before Tuesday when Silver Shadows comes out.

Today was a super fun and crazy day! Last week, my good friend Cassandra and I drove down to San Diego (roughly about a two hour drive) to pick up wristbands for a book signing event that would be taking place at the local Barnes and Noble for Comic Con weekend. James Dashner would be there, promoting the movie tie-in edition of The Maze Runner. I met James back in April at WonderCon but was totally looking forward to seeing him again!

Who knew it was going to be such a crazy day!

I picked up Cassandra and we began the fun task of driving all the way over there. We were only roughly about 30 minutes away when my car started shaking uncontrollably and I smelled smoke. Obviously not a good sign. I started to slow down, in order to pull over, and BAM! My tire on my car literally EXPLODED! It was one of the craziest feelings ever!

So, of course, I call AAA. Well apparently they cancelled my membership or something. DRAMA. So then I dialed 511 to see if I could get free roadside assistance. No free roadside assistance in the middle of nowhere area I was in. (Fun Fact, I ended up in the town of Rainbow. No lie) DRAMA. I called my dad but he was a good 1.5 hours away. DRAMA.

But the clouds opened and the sun shined down on us! An AAA guy stopped and asked if I called him. I didn’t, and he was actually looking for another car but he stopped and helped me replace my tire anyway. We were back on the road! Yay!

We made it to the Barnes and Noble and discovered that we were basically the first people there. We bought our books, grabbed some iced teas and sandwiches from the cafe and then proceeded to wait until they set up the area for us. Suddenly, people started lining up behind us, as they tend to do and we ended up in the front row! Yay!

Do we look tired? We were kind of tired haha! We also met up with the darling Sama (aka bookautopia from instagram) and she was a total sweetheart.

Then it was time for James Dashner!

He talked about The Maze Runner trilogy, the upcoming adaptation and his newer book, The Eye of Minds. Yesterday was the first official screening of the finished movie so he talked about that a bit. It was really cool because when he first came out, and was looking around at the crowd, he spotted me and went “I’ve met you somewhere before, right?” and I laughed, because I had just met him back in April at WonderCon and I was wearing the same shirt (my BRIGHT pink What A Nerd Girl Says shirt). That was pretty cool.

After talking for a bit, he took some fan questions. I was too busy listening to him that I just forgot to record any of it like a doofus but I did get this little bit. Someone asked him who he thought would survive in the maze, as far as the cast goes. Its a short video, so check it out!

After the Q & A, they set up for signings. We were given two options: get one book personalized OR get all of your books signed. As much as I love having my books personalized, I got my Maze Runner personalized back in April and I just wanted the rest of them signed, so I opted for that.

I got up in line, and he asked me where we had seen each other and I told him WonderCon and he remembered. We talked a little bit about the book and movie and especially about writing, and that was awesome.

Here’s a flashback when I met James back in April:

Because I already had a copy of Maze Runner, I got my hands on a second copy (thanks Cass!) and got it signed!

This, along with some of the cool swag I grabbed (see below), will make for an awesome giveaway. Keep an eye out for it, but don’t get too excited. It probably won’t be until September, around when the movie is released!

The pins are mine :) But I have a couple bookmarks and an extra “Shuck It” sticker that’ll be up for grabs in that September giveaway! Keep an eye out.

After the signing, we went to a nearby tire place, took care of my tire issues. The guy working there really took care of my Elphie (oh yes, I named my car after Elphaba in Wicked) and even threw in a free tire. Meanwhile, Cass and I enjoyed some sushi and ice cream. Yum!

After that, we made the long drive home. We decided to stop by Best Buy. If you went by Best Buy, you could watch the newly released Mockingjay Part 1 trailer and get your hands on a ticket to see the movie, a Mockingjay pin and a poster. Unfortunately by the time we got there all they had were posters but that’s okay because I love posters! And the trailer was AWESOME. I can’t wait for this movie to come out!

All in all, it was a super fun day, even with all the crazy car drama! I’m glad to have my entire TMR trilogy signed and I’ll be having an epic giveaway come September!

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