Malinda Lo

Last month was full of Adaptation events for me. First up, I joined several other YA authors for the TeenQuake Olympics, wherein we formed two teams and competed against each other in writing flash fiction. I was on Team Geek:

L to R: Corrine Jackson, Cynthia Omololu, and me in our Team Geek apparel at TeenQuake

And we won! Plus now I have that awesome Star Wars T-shirt, so I won twice.

Next, I went to Portland, Oregon, for the Sirens Conference, which was so much fun. (And I highly recommend going! Check out the amazing guests of honor for 2013 here.) On the drive from the Portland Airport to Skamania Lodge, where the conference takes place, we stopped to gawk at Multnomah Falls, which are amazing.

Look, I was at Multnomah Falls!

Skamania Lodge itself ain’t too shabby either when it comes to views. Here’s the view from my hotel room window:

Practically the definition of “scenic.”

Though it was sunny when we arrived, it was rainy and misty for the rest of the weekend, which honestly wasn’t too bad, because then you got to see amazing skies like this:

Beautiful stormy skies!

Sirens wasn’t all about nature-gazing though. I was also on panels and gave speeches since I was a guest of honor (and I felt very honored). Here’s a photo I stole from Cindy Pon‘s blog of a panel I was on about the male gaze:

L to R: Sarah Rees Brennan, Nalo Hopkinson (another guest of honor), me, and Kate Elliott

And then there was the midnight ball on Saturday night, wherein many folks dressed up in fantastical costumes … and I convinced Cindy Pon and Jenn Reese to help me enact Little Red Riding Hood.

L to R: Jenn Reese as the woods(wo)man, Cindy Pon as Red Riding Hood, and ME as the wolf in grandma’s clothing! Hahah!

The wolf mask obscures my face, but I swear it was me! That’s why Cindy doesn’t look very scared. I’m going to have to explain “acting” to her sometime.

After Sirens, we drove across the Bridge of the Gods on our way back to Portland. Look at the incredible drop:

Crossing the Bridge of the Gods. Where are the trolls?

Then, many of us paused briefly in Portland to do a bookstore event at Powell’s. Yes, Powell’s, aka Book lovers’ paradise! Here we are all lined up:

L to R: Sarah Rees Brennan, Mette Ivie Harrison, me, Cindy Pon, and Janni Lee Simner

The day after I got back from Sirens, I drove down to Palo Alto for a Not Your Mother’s Book Club event with authors Libba Bray and Rachel Cohn:

L to R: Libba Bray, Rachel Cohn, and me at Books Inc Palo Alto

Four days later, I flew across the country to attend the James River Writers Conference in Richmond, Virginia, where I met up with the fabulous Gigi Amateau and Meg Medina:

L to R: Meg Medina, me, and Gigi Amateau

While in Richmond, I visited the Fountain Bookstore, which is such a beautiful little gem of a store. Here’s their awesome YA display:

This is what all YA displays should look like!

At Fountain, it was great to meet up with several book bloggers, including Susan from Wastepaper Prose and Jess and Kat from Books and Sensibility:

Then it was off to the airport to head home. After writing Adaptation, which begins in an airport, I’ve become quite fascinated by airports. It’s not that I love being in them, but every time I’m in an airport, I now think about all sorts of things that could happen there. And … this is going to sound crazy, but sometimes I think the view out the window at the tarmac is quite beautiful. Inside, the airport is full of busybusybusy, people rushing to and fro, strange smells from bad fast food joints — but outside it’s so calm, so ordered. Here’s the Chicago O’Hare tarmac after the rain:

Chicago O’Hare on a rainy day

It was, of course, wonderful to get home after so much traveling. I’ve been taking it easy since I returned from Virginia, but I did make time to construct a Halloween costume. It was Amy’s idea, and we executed it together:

My Halloween costume, 2012!

For more binders full of women, go here.

And now it’s November! This month I’m going to Las Vegas for ALAN, but before that, I’m going to vote. If you’re a U.S. citizen who is eligible to vote, don’t forget to make your voice heard in this election. Spoiler: I’m voting for this guy.

More soon!