YALC - the Highlights!

So it's already been a whole week since YALC and yet again I've not found time to write a post about it until now. So I hope you are all still interested! I'll try to keep this short. Also, yet again, I managed to not think about taking any pictures for this post, so I'll have to make do with what I've got. 

Everyone was so nice. I don't think I stopped talking the entire time. There were just so many awesome people. I feel like I always say the same things about the UKYA community, but it really is just an accepting place. Everyone is so enthusiastic and friendly and completely okay with someone just sitting down next to them and starting to chat. I made so many friends! 

One thing I did notice was how much this blog has grown since last year. A lot of people said that my blog looked familiar or that they recognised the name. It was so much different from last year when not so many people knew who I am. 

The convention itself was much better than last year in terms of space. For most of the time we could actually walk around and breathe! It got a bit crowded on the Saturday, but for the most part it was pretty good. 

So on to highlights! 

Friday

Me modelling my thrown together Ravenclaw
uniform and wand

Friday was quiet as it was only a half day, though I was lucky enough to get invited to a Bloggers Brunch at Chicken House in the morning. It was awesome, if a bit crowded because the place we were in was a little too small for us all. I met lots of great bloggers and authors got a lovely Chicken House tote bag. 

In the afternoon, I think one of main highlights was the Cosplay panel by the ever wonderful Lucy Saxon, author of Take Back the Skies and The Almost King and amazing cosplayer. The panel really made me feel more confident about the idea that I could actually cosplay, which I tried for the first time this year. The panelists gave me enough confidence to wear a wig on the third day! 

The evening was the amazing Harry Potter Mugglenet Party, which was really fun. The quiz was as hard as they advertised it. It was fun trying to find the horcruxes, even if I didn't find many and I got some house points! And my Hufflepuff friends won the house cup so I was really happy for them. 

Hayley Atwell being blessed by the gods for
 being wonderful 

Saturday

Saturday was the biggest day for crowds. I went around and got a lot books signed. I think the thing I enjoyed most on Saturday was just hanging out, enjoying the bookish atmosphere and catching up with friends I knew from the UKYA community. I saw quite a few authors I'd met in previous years too, so it was cool to be recognised. 

I also got a chance to look around the main convention, which is always fun, if a bit of a money drain!

The biggest highlight of Saturday though was when an artist came up to me randomly and casually asked if he could give me a picture. And it turned out to be Chris Riddell. The Children's Laureate Chris Riddell. That was a bit of a shock. 

Me as Chisaki from the anime Nagi No Asukara
complete with blue wig

Sunday 

Sunday was the biggest, most awesome day. I had a lot of books to get signed, two panels to go to and a workshop.  I'm going to bullet point this because otherwise it is going to get too long. 

My best bits were: 

-The Mental Health and Bringing Sexy Back panels in the morning (can do a blog post on either of these if anyone wants to know what were said) 

- The Blogging workshop from Jim Dean, Lucy Powrie and Vivienne Dacosta where I learnt a lot of useful stuff which will hopefully help me improve this blog. 

- James Dawson's modesty dragon. 

- Getting to meet Annabel Pitcher and getting myself a proof of Silence is Goldfish, which I've been wanting for a while! 

-Not a book thing, but I also met the beautiful, wonderful actress Hayley Atwell. 

- Meeting Nina from Death, Books and Tea in the line for the Liz Kessler signing. 

 I also got to try out a couple of cosplays, which is a hobby I've been really wanting to take up since I was about sixteen. It was everything I thought it would be so expect bigger better cosplays from me in the next few years. 

If anyone else has any great stories from YALC or LFCC please feel free to share them in the comments.