Last Monday I mentioned I’d be at the SoKY Bookfest this past Friday and Saturday as a reader. It’s always one of my favorite weekends of the year – kind of feels like I’m surrounded by my tribe. I only bought two books – cue the gasps of disbelief. But I tried to buy more, I swear. One of the authors sold out of the book I wanted – yay for him. Another author was unable to come, and I’d read several of the others featured. So I did my best.
I watched several young adult panels filled with some of my favorite authors. Those always inspire me, and I never tire of hearing writers talk about their books, origin stories, what they’re working on, etc. Over eight hundred students from grade school through high school attended on Friday – I love to see kids with books. They also attended the panels and asked some of the standard questions – where do you get your ideas, are any of your characters based on you, what’s your favorite color – but some of the questions were impressive. Do you read negative feedback about your books and if so, how do you deal with it? What’s your method for creating characters? Maybe the teachers supplied them ahead of time, who knows. One of the author’s books was set during WWII and several kids had questions about it. They had a genuine interest in that time period and it showed.
Has anyone watched The Company You Keep on ABC? I’ll watch anything featuring Milo Ventimiglia (Jack from This Is Us), but even hubby likes it (and you know how difficult he is with shows). The cast also includes Sarah Wayne Callies (The Walking Dead) and William Fichtner (he’s good in everything). Here’s the description: A night of passion leads to love between con man Charlie and undercover CIA officer Emma, who are unknowingly on a collision course professionally. While Charlie ramps up the family business with sights set on getting out for good, Emma works to close in on the vengeful criminal who holds Charlie’s family debts in hand — forcing them to reckon with the lies they’ve told so they can save themselves and their families from disastrous consequences. The series is based on the Korean Broadcasting System series entitled “My Fellow Citizens.”
Have a great week!