Y’all, cool things are happening. Very cool things.
Remember when a bunch of author friends were book exhibitors at a convention and I did two huge fun-filled posts about it: prep and recap? That was pretty awesome.
Well, the convention is coming up again!!! 4 weeks, guys! 0_0
What is prep looking like right now?
Book finishing up and releasing has been happening, for one.

Kate’s sequel to The Twin Arrows is groaning under her perfectionista’s attention; like, she’s at her desk working on it as I type this! (can you believe i haven’t read it yet i feel like such a bad citizen. i need to read it now.)
Tanner’s superhero sequel is now available in paperback! (it’s wonderfully fat.)
Malachi’s mystery is out on Kindle and will soon be available as a little book! (i seriously can’t wait to see it!)
And who knows what other amazing works will get their debut on the table this year!!




Lots and lots of talking has been happening, for two.
Even while I was in Idaho I’d need to jump on my phone to catch up on the current conversation or question.
We’ve been discussing the possible future goal of expanding our group, figuring out how the group works in the nitty-gritty, designing a new website YAY, welcoming our 12th member πππ, getting organized and ready for the upcoming crazy weekend…
aaand last night we had our first Board Meeting!!

During the hilarious never-ending jokes and fantastic comradery, we actually got a lot of useful stuff done and voted upon! π
And coffee and singing and pizza and bookstore roaming has been happening, for three.
Yes, you read that right. XD



We started out at the Enroute coffee shop (my sibs and I got there right before it closed. OOPS.) then half of us crammed into Paul’s car and the other half jumped into Tanner’s minivan…
aand we got kinda lost in a random parking lot and sang songs and laughed until we couldn’t breathe and called Tanner’s contingent to come find us, and then all walked into Panera Bread for the rest of our rowdy meeting. lol (I think we’d had too much coffee maybe.)
Meeting locations that were kicked around:
- A tailgate party, a little too warm and dark out
- Olive Garden, buy water and leave a tip π
- Goodwill, nice assortment of couches


Two hours later we adjourned the meeting, and those of us who could still hang out moved on to old movies, feminism, and pizza plans.
So then pizza. Yum.



After that, we crossed the parking lot to Barnes & Nobles on a whim and had way too much fun wandering around in there for the bit of time before they closed!!! Also “If You Give A Moose A Muffin” can be such a scary kids book if you read it right.
It was a really super evening with really super people. β€ I can’t wait to have a meeting with ALL the members once it gets closer to the convention and ultimately hang out with everyone AT the convention!!
This bunch of people, guys, is irreplaceable. And stronger together. And going places.
Here’s to another great year of Generation Rising!!
~Anna
Looks like you guys had fun Anna! π
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Yaas, where there is pizza there is great fun. π
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Anna…one time I blew on my ice cream because I mistook it for soup…………I don’t think they looked anything alikeπ
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Bwahaha That is so great!! XD You should write a poem about it… idk it just sounds profound and meaningful. “I blew on my ice cream for I thought it was what it was not, my brain knew the truth but my muscles forgot” lol lol wow i should sleep more *hides*
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You’re a poet Anna…and you didn’t even know it! That is super profound……….must find a way to incorporate that in a blog post! πππ
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lol lol And the rhyming continues on. XD Maybe we should make it a song. *gags at how I didn’t technically rhyme*
DO!!! And tell me so I can see how you ever possibly worked it into a post!! π
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Haha!!! I actually was just working on how I could put it together!! Thanksπ
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No way π epic. π
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Enjoyed reading this Anna!
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Yay! Glad. π
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Looks like so much fun! π
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It so was! π
Hey, I want to meet you in person someday…
Thanks for commenting β€
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I’d love to meet you in person some day π Health-wise I’m not able to travel to your area yet, but we’re working towards it. I have a list of people in the Pheonix area I want to meet XD
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Aw I getcha, hope it is possible someday soon! β€
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Looks like fun! I’m looking forward to seeing picture from the convention afterwards!! Also, the design on the website where you hover over each cover to see it better– I β€ it!! Pretty cool. π
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Aw yes, I can’t wait to share convention pictures!!
Thanks! We actually just designed a new GenRising website partly cuz that slider wasn’t working right, but I agree it was pretty cool and professional looking. π
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Sounds like a blast, Anna! New books is always exciting! And I’m sure you will all have fun at the convention when it comes. π
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Mm yum new books are totally fantastic. π
Thanks! I’m looking forward to writing a post all about it!
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Wow, sounds amazing! I’m’ so glad you have group and wish I could come to the conference and drop in to say hi. π
I hope it goes well!
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*that group
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Oooh man it would have been so cool to meet you in person, Evelyn!! Maybe next year? π
The convention was amazing… hoping to write a post about it soon!
And you should totally start your own writing group where you live like we did, it’s super easy and very fun!
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Wow, you guys had a ton of fun, didn’t you? π I hope your next Board Meeting goes well!
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It was a great outing. π We don’t get to all get together very much nowadays so it was especially fun, and we honestly couldn’t stop hanging out! XD We just hopped from store to store when one would close and drove around singing and stuff. Cool times.
Thanks for commenting, girly!
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Looks like fun!
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The perfect meeting always ends with pizza. ALWAYS. π
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AMEN!!! Yooo Jo we need to hang out lol, like not even joking. We have the best pizza places where you can make your own like at a Subway or something. ππ Do you guys ever come to the states/Arizona?
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*sighs* I’ve only been to Arizona once, and usually I head to the east coast. π¦ BUT ONE DAY.
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Come.
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Bwahaha this was hilarious!! π Can’t wait to hear more!
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π Glad you like reading about our goofiness! I’ve got so many fun stories and pics from the convention now… if only I could unscramble my brains to write it all out into a post hehe
Thank you so much for commenting, Kassie!
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Yay!! I love hearing about this! So fun!!
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When you Give a Moose a Muffin? Scary???
I agree — too much coffee π
This sounds so fun! I wish we had something like this in my state π I’m looking forward to seeing the pics from this year that I know you’ll post =)
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bwahaha Yep! I was interpreting the illustrations completely wrong and spookily. XD
lol You’re like “definitely too much coffee if you were that goofy” ππ
It is fun! We’ve all gotten to know each other so well, and it has grown into an amazing, supportive place of encouragement. I’m immensely glad we all got together to make GenRising. π You should totally start a writers group in your state, Kaitlyn!
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“Also βIf You Give A Moose A Muffinβ can be such a scary kids book if you read it right.” I want to hear what this meant π
Woo! I’m so excited to hear about this again! It looked like a lot of fun last time, so this is going to be great :3
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Ummm haha… so we were all in a super punchy mood and had wandered into the little kid’s section in Barnes and Noble (5 min before closing time, or else I probably would have given some poor little kids nightmares π ) and my brother plopped himself down and demanded “Anna read me a story” in a funny whiney voice. So I grabbed a book nearby and did “story time”. lol Except I showed the pictures and everything right, but realized the first illustration where the muffin comes flying out the window at the moose (just assuming you’ve seen this book haha XD) looked violent and then the next one is of the moose bursting into the kitchen and the kid being surprised sooo…. I made up an entirely different story for what was happening. π I had them laughing so hard they were in tears!!
So there you go! Storytime with Anna! *mic drop* πππ
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That’s awesome π Yes, I’ve seen the book. This version sounds way more interesting, though π
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lol This version was definitely um interesting. XD
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