YAK Fest 2013 Recap

I went with my friend Gabi to the Young Adult Keller (YAK) Festival this past Saturday and had a blast meeting authors and book lovers. My friend Stacy helped plan and run the festival and she and the other YAK fest planners and volunteers did an awesome job!

Now for the fun stuff:

The festival started off with the authors being introduced with a Battle of Wits quiz. Each author had to choose between two characters they thought would win a battle of wits. Hardest questions: Sherlock or James Bond and Gandolf or Merlin. I think I have decided Sherlock and Gandolf.

Look at all the tiny authors 

Then the lovely Simone Elkeles gave a hilarious keynote speech that included a Perfect Chemistry rap, hot Latino guys, and funny fanmail. There was also a yak lounging during her speech.

That's a sleeping yak during Simone's keynote speech

Gabi and I ended up being (un)official YAK fest photographers so we got to see bits and pieces of all the panels and fully through two panels: This Is Not Normal (moderated by the awesome Jenny Martin, whose book, Tracked, will be coming out next year, with authors Rosemary Clement-Moore, Cory Oakes, Victoria Scott, and Mary Lindsey) and Keeping It Real (moderated by the hilarious Julie Murphy, whose book, Side Effects May Vary, will be coming out next year, with authors Jessica Anderson, Charles Benoit, Chris Crutcher, Simone Elkeles, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, Jessica Warman, Lori Aurelia Williams, and Shannon Greenland).

I loved listening to the authors discuss their books, writing styles, world-building and more.

For example, Mary Lindsey on how she comes up with new writing ideas: "[Writers] take it to the next What If and then another What If."

And Cory Oakes on realistic yet creative world-building: "There is a huge difference between the world in your head and the world that ends up on the page." Because authors will have books worth of world-builing material that will never make it on the page.

And some great advice from Rosemary Clement-Moore: "Sometimes you have to take the time for ice cream or you won't have any friends when you're done with your book."

But one of my favorite quotes from the day has to be: "They took a lot of details of the penetration out." From the lovely Simone Elkeles on the editing of Perfect Chemistry. Ahem.

I brought two books with me to have signed: Ruin series by Simone Elkeles bind-up and Glass Houses by Rachel Caine. I also got a poster of the Fuentes brothers in the Perfect Chemistry trilogy by Simone Elkeles.

Apparently my phone's camera quality stinks. But look! Cute boys!

YAK Fest was a lot of fun. The panels were interesting, the authors were friendly and funny, and I got to spend the day with great friends. I can't wait to see what authors will be at next year's! To learn more about YAK Fest, you can HERE.