Carrie's Bookshelf: Wild & Windy in the City 2022 (LOTS of pictures!)

Woohoo!

I have missed this signing so much!

I love the hotel, the set up, the organizers, the authors, the vendors, the fellow readers, the panels, the meet & greets, the signing itself - LITERALLY everything about this signing makes my heart happy.

We had to take 2 years off - the last WWITC was 2019.

Then the world shut down & tough decisions were made.

But they were absolutely the right decisions, because when we all got back together, it was an amazing weekend!

Mr Bear was also excited to be back on the road trip game, too! ; )

Friday night there were panels for co-authoring, rom-coms, bad boys, and audio books. I missed the first panel bc I was hanging out w/ friends, but made it to the last 3 & everyone did GREAT!

There were also vendors selling their wares - book sleeves, cheesecakes, jewelry & artwork.

I picked up a couple notebooks from JodiLynnPaintings & Amy saw the post card & ended up getting a print of it because it reminded her of her daughter's eyes! :D

Oh, and Susan & I ended up being twins Friday, which was super cool!

Saturday, even though I had the best of intentions, I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to. Part of the reason for that is because their tables were always SUPER BUSY & I didn't want to take away from someone else getting to see them. I've been VERY blessed to meet & spend time with these ppl over the past decade, and for some, this was the first time they got to meet the authors. <3

Natasha Madison - check out her dress! Gorgeous!

She writes some amazing family-saga hockey stories.

LOVE!

My friend, Susan Stoker!

I didn't even buy any books because I pre-order all of her paperbacks through her store already.

She has several shelves in my house. :D

LOL

She did give me an awesome silicone cup, tho!

Which I don't have a picture of, oops.

OMH! CE Johnson story - first of all, her name is Carrie, too!

Secondly, a month or so ago, Susan read her book, Watch Me Drown, and loved it so much she mentioned it in her reader group. I immediately got the book (bc she never steers me wrong) & fell SO IN LOVE w/ CE's writing style & story that I bought the rest of the series. And then her backlist. And then her new release. Muhahahaa! THEN I shared on IG & she & Susan became friend-friends, AND THEN we all discovered we'd be at this signing, and... HAPPY HAPPINESS!!!

Meghan Quinn - excellent story teller, and also I highly enjoy her IG stories. She & her wife & kiddos are awesomesauce!

Mignon Mykel makes me smile, always!

She's so effervescent!

THE Harloe Rae!

I just adore her & she's another joyful soul who makes me happiest!

LB Dunbar is another friend I made in line at one of my very first signings. She & I were both there as readers, in line for Mia Sheridan, and I had to compliment her hair because her hair is FABULOUS!

And then, it turns out, she's a fabulous story teller, as well!

I mean, seriously, if silver foxes aren't already on your radar, they should be, and you should check out her stories! ; )

I picked up pre-orders & stopped by tables & met some new-to-me authors. Gail Haris even traveled w/ Henry Cavill! Oooh!

The signing went until 4, and by 2 I was tuckered out, but still wanted to be part of the fun & hang out in the signing room. Thankfully, my friend Rochelle had an extra chair at her table that was perfect for me! Chatting w/ her & her assistant, Yvonne (I hope I spelled that right!) was so fun! And Susan came over to visit us as well (I'd hung out at her table for a while earlier, too).

I also got to hang out w/ reader friends Karen & Zoey (Karen is also an editor/proofer & Zoey is also a fantastic author, Zoey Drake).

I LOVE MY PEEPS!

By the time it was time to break everything down, we were ALL ready for dinner & naps! I quite happily found a Starbucks nearby (there's a Starbucks in the Westin, but they close at 2 right now) & they had various protein boxes, so I grabbed one of those for dinner (and another one Sunday for breakfast before heading home).

All in all, it was an amazing and blessed weekend, and my book haul was toned down from previous years, but still made me super happy!

One of my best memories of Saturday was learning from Piper that her husband, Jack, loves my email address name. That gave me a happy heart, and even better was the look on his face when she told him who I was. Piper & Jack are two of my favorite authors, and just ppl in general, and to be able to give THEM a little bit of happy? Well, yeah, I might've cried a little.