Saturday was the Utah Book Bloggers Summer Social. It is the fourth one, but the first that I have been to. My husband stayed home with the kids and I caught a ride with Suey (It's All About Books). Nervous to meet a park full of strangers? Yes.
Reasons to Step Out of Your Bookish Comfort Zone...
- Book Bloggers are really nice and rather sedate.
- Cool new and not-so-new local authors to see.
- Getting to put my name in the new author's ARC so I can be on the blog tour.
- Bringing home 2 new books from the book swap, one from a different new local author.
- Getting out of the house without children. (A phenomenon so exciting is eclipsed the nerves. Mostly.)
- Putting faces with names and sites.
- Actually talking to some of the bloggers, and not just the ones I already knew.
- Having one blogger pause while passing me and my name tag (which we write out blog names on) and exclaim, "Ooh, I love your blog!"
- Not having anyone spoil Mockingjay.
- Listening to the conversations. Yes, listening. For a while I had an author conversation going on one side, and a book conversation going on the other. My attention swiveled from one side to the other.
- Comfy camp chairs and fresh air. (Ha! There was so much wind we almost blew away. I had to shower all the grit off when we got home. But it was fresh!)
- Knowing that the next time I will feel more comfortable and might even speak up a bit. (At least among book people, they don't look at you too strangely for your shyness/anti-social tendencies. They either empathize or are used to it.)
I guess I'm a little slow (based on the date), but this sounds great. I have considered planning a retreat sometime with bloggers I have become friends with. Such a delightful world.
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