Our Victoria Aveyard's Book Signing Experience: #VictoriaAveyardinPH

Hello there, Lovies!

Well, first of all, I am sorry for not blogged since last week. I have been caught up with office work like our month end reports, the arrival of my CEO from New York and the 18th birthday of my eldest -- Gabie. In my planner, I did swear that I am going to blog on these happenings, unfortunately, I got sick during the end of the week and my brain cells are not really cooperating in finding the words to write a blog. Oh well, these are all under the bridge now and I am starting this week with positive vibes! So, to start with, allow me to share to all of you our book signing experience yesterday.

March 6, 2016. This was long marked on our calendar by Mika, who is an avid fan of Victoria Aveyard, author to Red Queen and Glass Sword books. I personally have not read her books but I am reading good reviews of her and she was in the New York Times Best Selling Author for weeks! So this is enough to say that she is very good. 

Registration

This was our very first experience attending a book signing event. Although I have an idea that you have to be there very (very) early in order to line up, register and get a number, the feeling of actually meeting your favorite author was surreal!

Shot from the 2nd floor.These people have already registered and has occupied the first seats.
We are still waiting for our turn.

We left our house at 8:30 in the morning. When we arrived in Glorietta, the actual line was already in the entrance of Glorietta 4 (the event is to be held at National Bookstore Glorietta 1). We waited for an hour then the line started to move. When we arrived at the entrance of NBS, we were shocked with the number of people (YA mostly) already seated and some are still making a beeline towards the registration table (that includes us). Since the line was very long we were told to go up till the 2nd floor and then go down again (more like the snake game in the Nokia phone) until we reached the registration table. When Mika finally arrived at the registration table, the staff checked her two books if they were indeed purchased at NBS (this is the criteria) to be included in the roster for book signing. She is number 573.

Fresh pa kami!

Yey! Almost there!

At the registration table.

We are no. 573!

The Waiting Game

Bought this book to keep me company.

Now that we have our number, we decided to grab a quick bite and just go back to NBS before 2 PM. We knew that the author has arrived because a chorus of shouting and fans yelling rocked the whole store. The program started on time with a short interview of the author. After the 30 minutes interview, she began to sign books. The emcee called the numbers by 20 and it took us ate least 3 hours of waiting before our number was called. It was already 6 PM when we finally finished. But I guess, the long wait is all worth it for Mika, She was truly happy and fulfilled (and starstruck) to meet and talk to her favorite author.

We wait..and wait...and wait...and losing our sanity. 

Tired and sleepy.

Caught a picture of Victoria while she passed by at our post after having her 30 minutes break.

It's her turn for book signing!

The you're-so-near-yet-so-far drama.

Up close and personal with Victoria Aveyard.

Victoria gladly answered Mika's questions: What's your favorite Hamilton song? and...

Who is your favorite Star Wars character?

She finally did it!

After the book signing....

...teary-eyed Mika.

Tips in Attending a Book Signing Event

As I have mentioned, this was our first book signing experience and I have gained some insights on this that I would like to share with you:

1. Be there early. Some even slept on the site just to keep their line and of course be the very first to get a fresh autograph of the author.
2. Bring food and water. This is self-explanatory -- feed yourself! Don't get too overwhelmed that you will neglect eating. And because you might lose the line when you leave to buy food (especially if you are doing this alone), it s better that you have something to munch and drink while waiting in line.
3. Don't forget to use the loo. I have to remind Mika if she needs to go to the ladies room, she said no. Until I have to literally prod her to go. The dangers of not urinating for a longer period of time can predispose you to have urinary tract infection (UTI).
4. Buy and bring books only from the required bookstore. I have noticed that some brought books that were not even bought from NBS. I know that it is very important to you that your books get signed by your favorite author, but please understand that due to profit and business goals please buy and bring books only to be signed from the store that organized the event.
5. Bring BOOKS not a digital copy (so your ipad or Kindle or Kobo does not count). Should I say more????

Lastly, I would like to commend NBS for a very well organized event. Although, I would have preferred a much larger venue to accommodate all the fans (and their guardians). The crowd was very behaved (maybe because there were also parents attending), but with the usual cheering and shouting, the young readers were pretty much in control.

So, there you go! I hope you enjoyed reading this post. See y'all next time!