Does anyone else feel like this month just zoomed by? It felt like yesterday I was doing my last wrap up post. I guess May has been a pretty eventful month for me since it was my blogoversary and I hosted a giveaway. Rebecca Graham won and you should definitely check out her blog. I also attended the National Book Bloggers Forum at the Random House headquarters in the city.

The Penguin Random House National Book Bloggers Forum was probably one of the best events I had been to so far since it went for the whole day! I was so impressed because some people flew over from all around Australia. Some said they came from Perth and I met a lovely girl who flew from Melbourne, check out her blog here. I also met Laura from Laura Plus Books and Joy from Thoughts by J for the first time. I saw Estelle again from Reading in the Dark, Mands from The Bookish Manicurist and Belle from Belle's Bookshelf. Of course I had already met the awesome Sunny before.

A group shot on the balcony of Random House Headquarters Angel, Laura, Sunny, Estelle, me and Felicity (Penguin Teen publicist)

After the very confusing start of trying to find the venue I finally entered the building and suddenly felt very out of place. It was filled with adults heading out to work in their suits and there I was standing in plain jeans and a jacket... The first thing I noticed with the office was that it was very classy! I must say I was impressed and the view was pretty good.

Once I entered, I was greeted with the sight of these massive goodie bags filled with about 6-7 books. I was one of the first to arrive and once all the awkward introductions were over, everyone was finally at ease with each other.

The 'conference' room as I like to call it!

Random House in one word was hospitable. They were very friendly and a lot less intimidating than what I imagined they would be. They offered food and drinks and they started the program as soon as most of the people had arrived. They offered us great tips on how to get the most of online, tips to promoting our blogs, and even how to get publicised. I even learnt some cool facts like how 88% of bloggers are female and the other 12% are male! I found it funny because they encouraged us to be on twitter the whole time! Apparently it's ok to be on your phone while at these events...

We had Sneh Roy who owns the award-winning blog called Cook Republic  speak to us about her blogging experience. She was so inspirational because she had been blogging for 10 years. It's such a relief to see that she hadn't lost her passion. She said she only lost that passion about twice in her blogging experience. Sney gave us a few tips and basically said to stay true to yourself and just enjoy blogging.

These awesome floating bookshelves

2 authors spoke to us about their upcoming books which was interesting. Random House and Penguin also showed releases that we should look out for this year. I'm excited for some new books this year but I wish they showed more Young Adult novels.

During the breaks it was so much fun talking to the publicists. They are just as much a a fan as any other and it's so easy to talk to them. It makes requesting review books a lot less intimidating because you've actually met them and seen what there personality is like. Felicity from Penguin is just so funny and outgoing and her enthusiasm is very contagious. I'm so excited for the PTA Live event in June!

So in a nutshell that was my month! You probably saw a lot of my tweets on the National Book Bloggers Forum because I must say it was very exciting. I got to miss out on a day of school to basically talk about books!