NYC: Day 4

NYC: Day 4

Today was the day! Today was the day! The 1st Day of BEA! Hey, that rhymes!

I was so excited. I got up early and was ready to go and nervously tapping my foot waiting for my friends. Okay, not really, they were pretty enthusiastic as well.

So I thought I had somewhat of an elaborate plan for BEA at home, with lists and charts and a planner. Well, that went out the window pretty much when they opened the doors to the Exhibit Floor. We got there at about 8:30. Trever and I had already registered so Cheryl had to pop down and get her badge to get in.

I waited in the enormous line and almost illegally hopped on board the Rick Springfield line! But I had no ticket. I didn't get up THAT early.

Once the doors opened, it was madness. We kind of stuck together and tried to meander but it was way too hard to see everything. Trever, who had been to conventions before said, "If the book is on a large stack, it's okay to take without asking. If it's on a display or a smaller stack, initiate conversation and ASK! Politely!" This was good to know.

So I said, "I'm going that way. See ya later!"

We went off our separate ways for about an hour to get a grip of the place.

I stumbled through booth after booth picking up things here and there. I made the mistake of hitting up the Hachette Booth and was totally manhandled. It was fun but a little too crazy for me. I'm not going fight you people. I'm just not.

I decided hitting the major publisher booths would be a better idea later in the day. So I headed to a favorite smaller publisher and had a great little chat with them. Overlook Press publishes some good stuff and I knew they would have a copy of the new Penny Vincenzi novel. They did! (hidden away) But they took one out for me! I picked up a few others that they suggested as well.

I could see that the day was going to be long and exhausting carrying all those books so I really tried to pace myself and not take everything I saw. I hit up Harlequin, Simon and Schuster, Chronicle, Grove/Atlantic, Sourcebooks, Candlewick and Workman.

The Exhibit Floor is really just rows and rows of booths with large numbers hanging above them to help you navigate. I had a map and had some of my favorite publishers written down. The major publishers were pretty much in the middle with the smaller ones to one side, the foreign language publishers in one area and the remainders section separate as well.

By lunchtime I had two bags full and almost got one of them stolen. Thanks people. Where's the love? Thankfully my pal Trever interjected with a glare that would kill a puppy. Yikes! (we don't kill puppies, though...just fyi!)

The floor was a madhouse, lots of knocking in to each other and crazy energy. We needed a break to formulate a better plan. We should have done the whole ship out the books thing right from the post office that day, since we passed one at Penn Station. But, no, we were mentally exhausted and took a cab back to the hotel and had some lunch.

That's rephrase that. A SUSHI lunch. !!!

After some yummy food at the sushi spot next to our hotel (secret cool place that will remain nameless!), we headed back empty handed and ready for more.

This time we were hitting up the Autographing Area.

I thought that you could get the same books at the Publisher booths that you could get in the Autographing lines, but I was wrong. So, it was good that I discovered the Autographing area early because I got a lot of cool books that way.

I will include a pic tomorrow or the next day of all of the books I got but I've only received 2 out of the 3 boxes so far. Cross your fingers that I get the other one!

The Autographing Area was a lot of fun. The lines were a little cluttered and disorganized for some of the well known authors. I personally did not encounter any negativity or rudeness between people in line, especially when you were trying to navigate and FIND your correct line.

I had a few authors I really wanted to see and others I just hopped in line and discovered. I got a ton of mysteries; Tess Gerristen, Lisa Gardner, Jonathen Land, etc. I picked up some really great fiction; Kathleen Kent, Debbie Macomber. I got a TON of Children's picture books for the little kiddo. Lots of Mom's Choice Award Winners! Very exciting.

I'll have to list more when all of the books arrive. I'm having a brain freeze moment.

All in all, the Autographing area was the way to go. We spent the rest of the afternoon there stocking up (instead of heading back to the booths), talking to fellow bloggers in line, chatting up with the authors. I handed out a bunch of business cards. All of the authors I spoke to were really receptive to bloggers and genuinely really excited to meet me!

After this wonderful day, I had dinner with my friends at one of our favorite restaurants.

Thalia on West 50th and 8th. Good wine and such delicious food!

We had tickets to Wicked at 8:00 that night and I wanted to stop by and atleast say HI to the folks at the Harper Collins Celebration of Book Bloggers Cocktail hour.

Okay, I hauled ass (pardon my language). I had from 7 to 7:30 to mingle and then run back 10 blocks to the theater to make it in time for one of my all time favorite musicals.

Well, I did it!

During my very short stint at the cocktail hour I met Jenny from Take Me Away, Marie from the Boston Bibliophile and a Avon Publisher rep. I sucked down a glass of water and before I knew it , I was off. I thanked the ladies at the sign in table for hosting this event, grabbed my Swag bag and made it to see Wicked.

I wish I had more time for mingling but I was NOT missing Wicked on Broadway.

I don't need to say much about this fabulous musical. It's awesome. I resisted singing along.

I almost cried when it was over.

"No one mourns the Wicked."

(sigh)

Unfortunately, the night did not end well for this little blogger. Lots of rushing, not enough water, and eating ice cream on the way back to the hotel made for a sick Michelle in the middle of the night. I thought I would be down for the count the next day but good thing, I woke up fine and ready to go!

But that's for tomorrow's post. Day 5: BEA Day 2!

Happy Reading and as always, thanks for stopping by!

red headed book child

After that