Today started out better than yesterday. I mean, I was actually on time!
The entrance hall was even more of a madhouse than Day One, with less of a line and more of a mob. Granted, yesterday wasn’t single-file orderly, but but at least people pretended like we were trying to go in that vague direction. Ah, c’est la vie. The people I was with were eager to line for Passenger by Alexandra Bracken. Since that one is not on my “must have it ASAP” list, I was happy to let them rush past me as soon as the door opened. Instead I moseyed around and picked up some of the things I’d missed yesterday, like Inherit the Stars by Tessa Elwood.
Instead I wandered around the children’s section for a while, despite not knowing anything about children’s books. But, hey, I can’t ignore that huge section of the library I work for, now can I? Had to get them some bookish scoop as well. Got in line for Sandra Boynton and, since I know nothing about children’s books, didn’t realize how jam packed that line would be. I was there half an hour early and there was already a mob!
From there I checked out the various international booths, the non-fiction aisles, and got seriously sidetracked in a row of cookbooks. They had free samples out, can you blame me? By the time I went back to “my” corner of the event floor (where most of the big YA publishers sat), the Alexandra Bracken line was still going strong. It was honestly kind of awe inspiring. Once that wrapped up and I was able to snag of copy of Hunter by Mercedes Lackey, however, my morning was pretty much sewn up. I pittered and pattered around, wondering what to do, and kind of accidentally wound up first in line for the HarlequinTEEN book signing, two hours before they were due to start! Honestly, still kind of confused on how that happened, I was just hanging out on my phone and suddenly I’d started a line. But I was surrounded by some very chill ladies (Octavia, Katie, Erin, Christina, and Tawney are the only ones who’s info I got, darnit!) and they made the wait go by fast.
After picking up those books, however, I was loaded down and not too eager to try for anything else. And it was barely after lunch at that point. I finally remembered that there are panels at BEA, since they’re all downstairs and easy to forget about it. So I headed there next. After accidentally crashing a Chinese language panel, I found the right section, only to quickly realize the panels were 1) thinly veiled sales pitches 2) be pitched at actual publishing houses, not really individuals. Ah well, at least they had free water bottles, which were a lifesaver to me by that point!
So I called it a day and did some NYC sightseeing instead. I must be lucky, because so far my BEA experience has been pretty easy. All around me, people complain of stress and fatigue, whereas I’m like “dude, the Intrepid is only a few blocks from here, I wanna climb on it.” (Note: you’re not allowed to climb on the giant aircraft carrier.) Whatever the reason for my relative ease and energy, I am incredibly grateful for it. Here’s hoping it carries through tomorrow!
James Dashner!
Nice stash you have there and hey, I actually follow one of the girls you were standing in line with (Katie) so that’s cool that you got to meet her in person! I love her blog.
Great post Whitley! Love the pictures (especially the pic of you and the goddess lady) and nice book haul. The Jennifer E. Smith book was cute.
I’m kind of like you at the book conferences, nothing gets me down. I walk around and figure out what I’m going to do, where I’m going to go as I’m walking around. No biggie.