RARE23London: My weekend at an author event

RARE23London is a book signing event with over 200 authors in attendance where avid romance readers, like myself, can go and meet some of their favourite authors and get some books signed.

Last weekend, I went to my first-ever book signing event. I'd never actually met any authors in person and so when I saw RARE23London all over my social media, I knew I had to go.

I went to the event with a friend, who I met on Bookstagram, and it was lovely to meet her in person and spend the weekend with her meeting some of our favourite authors.

Now, RARE stands for Romance Author and Reader Event and as I mentioned above there were around 200 authors in attendance. They all write romance but the sub-genres vary from dark romance to small-town romance to rom-coms.

The actual signing day was Saturday and as my friend and I had early entry tickets, we were able to be in the signing room, which was huge, from 9:30 until 5:30 that evening. But on Friday, there was also a Meet and Greet, where a select few authors were signing and everyone could basically enjoy the evening chatting with the authors and fellow readers.

In all honesty, the whole weekend was so good and everybody there was wonderful. I spoke to lots of different authors and I spoke to loads of different people, who I'd never met before. And because everybody who attended had similar interests, RARE had a community feel to it.

If you know me, you know that my dream is to be a published author. So, meeting some of my favourite authors was amazing - I was like a little kid in a sweet shop!

Whilst at RARE, I got to get photos with some of the authors as well as get my scrapbook signed and also my paperbacks. I actually only took nine paperbacks, which were rather heavy, but I came home with 17, which made my suitcase and rucksack even heavier!

And you may be thinking that's a lot, but trust me...it's not. One woman I was speaking to had about 60 pre-orders to collect on the day...60!

Now I'm home and need to find space for all these books, haha! But, first I wanted to share some of what I got up to over the RARE23London weekend.

Meeting my favourite authors

As an aspiring author, there are writers who I look up to and dream of producing work of their calibre. For me, I got to meet a select few of these at RARE and can only hope that one day I can meet my other favourite authors who didn't attend RARE, such as Cressida McLaughlin.

But the authors that I did meet and was so excited to meet (so excited!) were:

• Elsie Silver

• Eliah Greenwood

• Ana Huang

• Somme Sketcher

• Catharina Maura

All these ladies are so lovely and kind. I can't quite believe I got to meet them in person and speak to them!

Their writing is some of the best I've read and I will always go back and reread their books. They all write romance but different kinds of romance books, so if you've never heard of them, I'd recommend giving them a go - you won't regret it.

One thing I learnt from RARE23London

Another thing I did at RARE was not only speak to the authors about their own works but also my dream of writing a novel. In fact, I have professionally made business cards and even plucked up the courage to hand a couple out to people, which was rather nerve-wracking!

But I took the leap.

RARE pushed me out of my comfort zone and I'm so grateful for it because it was a weekend to remember. I embraced everything that happened and took it all in my stride and now, coming home, I feel inspired and energised to continue working towards my goals and dreams in life.

So the one thing I've learnt that everyone can use is:

Take the opportunities that come to you and don't be afraid to do something. Take the leap, take the chance and embrace the moment.

Until next time...