BEA Day 1: In which I wake up extremely early

So last week many of us in the blogosphere and the publishing world attended the Book Expo of America, an annual conference that has been held at Javits in NYC for three years now. I went for all three days and had a LOT of fun :) I think that this year was personally the best for me since I knew what I was doing (most of the time) and the atmosphere felt much calmer this time around. I guess the third time's the charm!

I'll try to be brief since I don't doubt that these kinds of BEA posts have been popping up everywhere lately. So. I was very anxious excited last Monday and I wanted to get as early as I could to Javits so I set my alarm clock for 5:50am. Why I thought this was a good idea? I don't know. I didn't want to risk getting up late so...yeah. There you go :/ I'm not sure when I fell asleep (I went to bed around midnight or so) but once my alarm rang, I sprang out of bed to get ready. Since I live relatively close to NYC, I took a train there (although as I commuted back and forth I began to wonder if maybe staying at a hotel would've been better) and walked from Penn Station to Javits. Now, let me tell you something. New York City is relatively easy to navigate: it's a life-size grid. The only thing that upsets this otherwise harmonious balance of straight parallel and perpendicular lines is Broadway, an irritating squiggle that slants its way through some streets. But since I'm nowhere near Broadway, I should be fine. Still, since I'm, well, me, I managed to get lost for a bit. Just like I did last year -_-;

But after letting myself relax for a few seconds, I found my way and managed to get to Javits around 9am. I did make a slight detour into West 35th street where I was stopped by a nice gentleman in a hardhat informing me about construction.

Me: Oh! Will there be construction for the next three days? *thinking about not getting lost*
Gentleman: *laughs* There's be construction for the next three months!
Me: D:

But he pointed out another way to go and after my profuse thanks, I skedaddled out of there to make it to Javits.  After getting my badge and leaving my bag with the ladies that guard them like hawks, I commenced Day One of BEA Bliss.

This year my list for books to get was much shorter: I only had 9 signings I wanted to attend and four of them were books that I NEEDED to get; the rest were only if I could. I missed a few signings but they weren't books that I couldn't live without so I didn't feel the sting too badly ;) I did regret not getting Julie Kagawa's THE IMMORTAL RULES but the line at Harlequin was hellishly long so I didn't even attempt to try my luck. (I did however get Julie's novel on Thursday--more on that later!) Happily though, I did make the rest of my signings. Here is the proof!

Le Stack.

My first signing was for Shannon Messenger's KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES and wow, it was so nice to finally meet Shannon in person! She's just as friendly in person as she is on her blog :) I actually lost Taschima before Shannon's signing and couldn't find the Autographing area so I went over to the Simon & Schuster booth to ask where her signing was. I ended up chatting a bit with publicist that I know from over there :D Then I speed-walked over to Shannon's signing.

After that, I wandered around for a bit until my next signing which was at 1pm (Shannon's was at 10:30am--I did a lot of wandering and made some new acquaintances). Gretchen Mcneil was signing her sophmore novel, TEN, and I can't remember if I was on line with anyone since I was really pleased that I got her book, lol. Then I had nothing to do until 3pm for my two last signings. I had a problem though since Kat Zhang and Maggie Stiefvater were both at the same time o_o; But weirdly enough, it worked out--and I ended up getting another book before then! I had no idea Mike Holmes was signing a book and I was momentarily stunned (before I went to bed the night before, I was watching his show! Talk about surreal to see him in person O_O) when I walked past him around 2pm. His line was very long but I decided to risk it since my mother loves Mike Holmes and his show; I managed to get a signed copy of his book and a photographic evidence that I indeed met him. Then I ran like hell to get to the Maggie Stiefvater signing because I love Maggie's books and not getting THE RAVEN BOYS would be a mistake that would haunt me o-< I also jumped on line for Kat Zhang's WHAT'S LEFT OF ME and luckily I was able to acquire a signed arc as well. :)

The other books that I didn't mention were all from galley grabs that I didn't plan on; I was just there at the right time (which works for me!). Marie Lu's PRODIGY was being distributed at 10am (that's when I lost Taschima :'( ), I randomly walked past the Disney/Hyperion booth whereTHE DARKEST MINDS was being distributed and Ilsa Bick's SHADOWS & Iris Anthony's THE RUINS OF LACE were other unplanned encounters. My first day was more luck than anything else even though I had my list and map at the ready.


Highlights of the day: Finding Taschima within moments of stepping into Javits. I lost her soon after though at the Penguin booth when they were doing galley drops. The crush of people made it impossible for me to go through so I searched around the edges and found no trace of her. I ended up seeing her much later (I can't remember where however; it was all one glorious and bookish blur, haha). I also found myself with other old blog buddies and I met some of my fellow YAckers too! *waves to Holly, Angie and Donna* I also met Janice which was great because I was looking out for her >:D

Also, the Apocalypsies Event after the first day was over. Fun times were had by all and I got a lot of swag...which I didn't picture here...because I suck. Sorry. I'll fix that later :(

Low point of the day: Not being able to go to YAcker dinner that was planned ahead of time. -_- I would've liked to have gone but couldn't because of issues. Blargh. Maybe next year?

Note: There may or may not be pictures of me floating around on other people's blogs. If you happen upon one, please remember that I AM NOT PHOTOGENIC. I can't smile on cue so if I look pissy or anything but happy, I really am happy, lol. I just can't make my face work for pictures ;P