Dork in New York





Wow! Home from BEA 11 already! Pooped and about five or a hundred and five pounds heavier. Did I mention I tried my first red velvet cupcake? Yeah. It was the size of my head. Did I mention it was so good I had to try another one the next day. :)

Plus there was Ziggy Cake to celebrate Ziggy's 40th Anniversary.  And Starbucks full fat Frappacuinnos. And Donuts. For some reason I showed no restraint.

But enough about the food, what about the BOOKS.  The AUTHORS. The BLOGGERS!! The LIBRARIANS. This is what New York librarians look like...

Okay. Not ALL of them but here's two!! Librarians were not this gorgeous and cool when I was a teen!

So. To start up. Tuesday morning EARLY I met up with Shana Silver and Laura from Laura's Reviews.  (We weren't blurry, but my blackberry was...)

They were pro's and knew what was up, which was why they were already staked out at the front of the line to get into the Expo. Which was great, because I had no idea what was going on or what to expect. I met lots of great book bloggers in line and was totally impressed by their levels of professionalism and passion for books. Very cool! 

There was even a group of bloggers who were so smart they rented a house together and paid a FRACTION of what my hotel room cost me! Smart bloggers!

So. Then the doors opened and WOW! BOOKS! ARCS! AUTHORS --in autographing booths giving away signed copies of books. Books at Publishers booths. Line ups. Craziness ensued.  I still had no idea what was going on and pretty much lost my peeps immediately. But wandered and nabbed some great books and then eventually wandered over to the Sourcebooks booth where I met my cool editor Leah Hultenschmidt, (but forgot to take our picture together.)  I also met other great people from Sourcebooks, including Todd Stocke and CEO, Dominique Raccah. 

Tuesday night, before the Soho Press Party (where I was dying to go to meet the fabulous author and editor Daniel Ehrenhaft),  I first went out for dinner with Laura from Laura's Reviews. She is an amazingly nice woman with the cutest hint of a Boston accent. Laura is very outgoing and went out of her way to introduce me to many authors and bloggers, including Barry Lyga.  As a huge fan of Boy Toy I was thrilled!

The Soho Press party was one of my BEA highlights. It was a cool old bookstore and it was filled with people from the NY literary scene.  Agents, editors, authors, bloggers and so many friggin' cool people. I was truly in my dorky element.  When I left the party (early) because remember the dork part, I actually went out into the streets of New York and flagged a cab. It was a good moment.  I also hung out on Times Square and it was super cool to be a gawking tourist checking out the sights and sounds! Of course I had to go to the giant Toys R Us store where there is (among other things) a Ferris wheel inside the store. I shot some photo's of Lego sculptures for Superson. 

Wednesday I met up with Shana and Laura again and spent the day waiting in more lines and watching panels and exploring the trade show. I had dinner with Editor Leah on Wednesday night and then on Thursday more trade show during the day. I met my agent's agent, Ronnie Herman and the fabulous and friendly, Anastasia Suen. 

Later on Thursday the fabulous Converse shoe wearing Publicity Manager from Sourcebooks, Derry Wilkens, took Sourcebook authors, Ty Drago, The Undertakers, Geoff Herbach, Stupid Fast, Leanna Renee Hieber, Darker Still, Katrina Kittle, Reasons to be Happy  and ME to a Book Blogger reception. It was  fun to meet the bloggers and librarians!!

Other highlights besides the enormous box of books that will be shipping to me (soon I hope), was meeting and seeing lots of authors I love and admire!

Kody Keplinger,  author of DUFF and soon to be released SHUT OUT. I got a signed copy and can't wait to read it!! Kody is adorable and sweet and so friggin' young and talented and poised I kind of wanted to hate her! Ha ha, just kidding! She was amazing!

I also got to meet fellow DEB and AMAZING author Sarah MacLean.  She wrote a YA, The Season, and is now a NY Times Bestselling Romance Author. She is as sweet in person as she is online and she is also really really tall!!! Which I envy now in addition to her amazing prose!! I got a signed copy of TEN WAYS TO BE ADORED WHEN LANDING A LORD!

I caught the last part of a panel with Laini Taylor, who is hard to miss with her trademark PINK hair ( love!). I got a little teary eyed when she spoke about a passage in her new book (DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE) that she wrote when she was on a book retreat with the lovely and prolific author, Lisa SchroEder and the amazing L.K. Madigan,  who recently passed away.

I got to meet and get an autographed book from TONY HAWK for my skateboarding nephew! 

I saw Jimmy Fallon (adorable) and listened to the AMAZING Jane Fonda speak. I saw Mike Holmes (smaller than I thought) and was so sorry I missed his book and autograph as husband is a HUGE fan,

I saw Coco and Ice-Tea and Candace Cameron. 

I saw Ellen Hopkins and Scott Westerfeld and so many, many other authors whose work I admire. I missed Sarah Dessen (sigh) but got an autographed book from Elizabeth Scott..

All in all- it was an amazing experience and despite the added girth and forge into horrid eating habits it was worth every penny.

Vive la New York!