My BEA Recap: Part 1

BEA Prep

Having never been to BEA before I knew that I’d likely be overwhelmed with all the options for things to do there – author signings, industry-focused talks, genre panels, and so on. To help make sure that I attended the events that were important to me I created a schedule before I left. Then I realized that I might not want to stick with that schedule so I created a list of alternate events – sorted by day – that I might like to attend. I also had lists of phone numbers (just in case I lost my cell phone) and addresses, publicist and publisher contacts, copies of my BEA registration and train ticket, and several other papers. To keep them all from getting lost or wrinkled up I bound them into a book. Yup, you read that right: I bound my notes into a book, complete with a lovely cover with my name and phone # in case it got lost. What’s that? You didn’t realize I was such a nerd? Ah well, now you know.

And guess what? That book was the envy of many bloggers I met! ~LOL~

Day 1 – Arrival

My train ride from Baltimore to New York took about three hours, during which I was very comfortable and relaxed. Most of the trip was spent reading a fascinating non-fiction book entitled THE EYES OF WILLIE MCGEE, by Alex Heard (I’m still reading it but look for a review later this month).

my bags at the train station

Once in the city I hooked up with my three roommates: Shanyn, April, and Monica. I picked up my hotel key from them, and then Monica and I headed back to our room to relax for a bit. (How cool is it that Monica – who I did not know prior to our plans to room together – lives about 20 minutes from me?!)

That evening there was an author event at a local children’s bookstore called Books of Wonder. I headed there on my own to see which bloggers I could find (I’m really sorry authors, but I wasn’t there for you!). I immediately saw several l recognized and had a great time meeting lots of new people. I was surprised at how many people recognized my face from my blog – it was great to have bloggers coming up and introducing themselves to me.

I hooked up with a group who was heading out to dinner shortly, which was exactly what I’d hoped to do. There were about 12 of us and we ended up being at two separate tables. My table included these lovely ladies:

Julie @ Booking Mama, Kathy @ Bermuda Onion, and Natasha @ Maw Books, (and me)

and also Sheila @ Book Journey, and Reagan @ Miss Remmers’ Review

Those last two ladies had blogs that I wasn’t following prior to BEA but you can bet that I am now!

After dinner I headed back to my hotel and got to know my roomies at bit better. I got in bed just before midnight and set my alarm for 4:50am.

TO BE CONTINUED ...