Hello there! As most of you probably know, last year I attended BEA at the Javits Center in New York.

SO BEA…BookExpo America.

The largest book conference in the U.S. of A.

Let me take you through my three days of awesome bookishness so you can sort of get a picture of how it is!

Okay. The first day, I wake up around 7 and get onto the Path, which is super convenient if you are staying in Hoboken like I was. From there I take the Subway to a stop about half a mile from the Javits center and we walk the rest of the way. Now, you crest the hill of streets and look and this is there:

(image from inhabitat.com)

Now, this thing is tremendous and stunning. And extremely intimidating for a first-timer.

 

Then you step inside. And you see THIS. GIANT book covers on banners and posters that are bigger than your house. Lines of people waiting for the doors to open and a lot of natural light. You get a map and a daily planner and you ask around to find the badge pickup and luggage drop-off (you can check a bag or two to put everything in, and you can make frequent trips-highly recommended!) You walk downstairs and wait in what you assume is the right line. They give you your badge, and you turn around. This is what you see:

A bunch of business-looking people wearing bunny ears and dancing to some jig. You start to question life.

I still haven’t figured out why there were bunnies there, but I think it put a smile on nearly everyone’s face.

I get in some short line to an elevator and wait. Then we move. forward and up the elevator and I react so:

Speechlessness and flails. I totally forget about my schedule, and run around like a crazed man going to this booth and that, picking up galley drop sheets and swag and tote bags. The tote bags abound, so choose carefully or you’ll end up like this:

I finally look at my schedule. Garth Nix-10:00. I get my mom to stand in line for Mr. Nix and I do some more exploring. Then, I head over to the signing area for a signing I was interested in with Caragh M. O’Brien’s book The Vault of Dreamers, and I was the LAST person before they closed it off. I met Caragh and she was fantastic! She was so nice and I have been in contact with her from time to time.

Next were some other signings including the Lauren Oliver signing, where I met Kimmy from Page to Premiere who I recognized and shyly introduced myself to. It was fantastic meeting Kimmy, someone I look up to with PtP and now I am so humbled to be a part of PtP myself.

Then I went to many other signings and galley drops and met other book bloggers and librarians and such. I met Amy Plum, and got a copy of her new book, After the End.

 So, I walk outside of the show floor to party drop books off, and look who I just happened to run into.

ALL THE BOOKTUBERS. I kind of just stood there and gawked but I did talk to them and tell them that I love their videos. They were the coolest in person!

Then. I was lucky enough to get a ticket to David Baldacci’s signing for The Finisher. He was so nice and I rambled about how much i loved his 39 Clues book.

As I was walking around the show floor, I kept running into bloggers I knew as well as stumbling upon galley drops and fun things. I was walking, and I saw Hafsah from IceyBooks walk by. I stopped her and introduced myself and chatted for a little and I got a picture with her.

Then, I met Pseudonymous Bosch a second time! He remembered me and signed my ARC (which got lost in the mail GRRRRRRRRRRR) Talking about him, I interviewed him which will be up on the YouTubes soon!

And then. And then. Holy crap. I sauntered past the Disney booth and stopped dead in my tracks and nearly exploded. John Rocco was talking to one of the Disney people, just there nearly five feet away from me. He saw me standing there looking at him and I got to talk to him for about 10 minutes. Then. Then. He motioned for me to follow him over to a package. He opened it and told me to get the thing out of the package. I did. Fabulous things happened. ONE OF THE FIRST. PEOPLE. TO TOUCH. PERCY JACKSON’S GREEK GODS. Oh, the beauty.

Kind of looking like this:

I headed over to the Divergent Cocktail Party at the Harper booth because that’s where all the cool kids go. I got a DIvergent cookie and a poster which both were super fab.

After this really hard flailing, I went and met Melissa de la Cruz and Peter Lerangis, who were signing their books.

THAT day’s BEA wrapped up on a good note! After leaving the show floor, I walked way too many blocks with way too many books and met up with the fantabulous Brendan Kiely, author of The Gospel of Winter. We talked for a while and had an awesome time together!

The next morning, I got up SUPER early, anxious to get Rick Riordan tickets. To cut to the chase, the person in front of me got the last ticket. So that was fun. Anyways, I saw John Rocco and told him what happened and a couple minutes later I’m in the green room with Rick:

I fanboyed out loud in front of him so hard. He signed my book, and all the little scraps of paper I could find in my pockets. After that, I went to more signings and got more books and met more people and the rest is history. SO, that is my BEA experience! Come back TOMORROW for my Inner Commentary; my sarcastic brain voice narrating ALL THREE BEA days.

I am SO excited for this year and I hope to see you there!

Will YOU be at #BEA15?

Let me know in the comments!