Tuesday, June 19, 2012

BEA Day 3: In which I say goodbye to good books and good bookish friends

I'm a bit late on this recap so I'm jumping right into it: Thursday was the last day of BEA and I was already getting bummed that this year's event went by so quickly. I was a sad individual as I was on the train barreling towards NYC. (And if you're wondering, yes, I was late again. I missed an early priority signing. CURSES.) Once I got to Javits though, I went through the motions of leaving my bag, shelling out the three dollars so the hawk-eyed female guards bag ladies and heading back onto the second level of the building.

Since it was the last day, the energy levels were less chaotic. I had forgotten how nice the last days can be at BEA; Wednesdays are usually the days when the energy levels hit an all-time high since it seems to be when all the fantastic events and panels are occuring. Or maybe it's just me. Anyways. Since I missed the Alexandra Bracken signing, I decided to wait in the Autographing area for the Kristin Cashore signing where I already found a line forming for it. Lexie was there so I sat down next to her and waited...until someone pulled out a finished copy of CODE NAME VERITY. I freaked out, asked if there were any copies left and after asking Lexie to prettyplease hold my place in line, I speed-walked over to Disney-Hyperion booth and found this nice stack waiting. Sigh. I asked for a copy and they allowed me to take one! YAY. Then a thought occurred to me: I would love to be able to meet a contact I have over at Macmillan...so I swung by and asked if she'd be there. Yes, she would be. In a few moments, actually. But wait! Kristin Cashore line! Ah! Crap.

So I checked with the ever-patient Lexie if she could hold my spot for a while longer. She being the awesome individual that she is, said yes and I flew back towards the booth where I was told that they were wrong about the time; she'd be there at 10:30. Gah. But the Kristin Cashore signing STARTED at that time...and I didn't know if my contact would BE there all day. Grr. I risked it. I flew back to Kristin Cashore line (where I also managed to get a copy of NARC, woot) and once it was time for the BITTERBLUE signing to begin, it surprisingly went very fast (it also didn't hurt that I was near the front of the line, hehe). But BOOK DILEMMA. Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian's signing for BURN FOR BURN (another book I really wanted) was happening at that moment...it actually started at 10am, half an hour earlier than the Kristin Cashore line. At that point it was 10:45ish and the line for BURN FOR BURN was one of those scary-long lines...but I decided to risk it again and stood in line for it. Again, weirdly enough the line went really fast! So after cuddling my latest book, I hightailed it back towards Macmillan.

Once I got there, I was told that my contact had just left since she wanted to walk around for a bit. URGH. It's in times like that you wish you could teleport. Since I had nothing pressing for the next hour or so, I stayed put...I did chat with another publicist who showed me the new cover for John Green's book (I like the new cover better) and then my contact came back! It was so nice to meet her :) Naturally we talked about books and we jumped to other subjects too. I was SO happy to finally meet her since I missed her at last year's BEA. After a while she and the other nice publicist I spoke to had to man the booth so I took it as a sign to leave and wander around for a bit until the Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton & Brenna Yovanoff signing...

Then I got there and holy cheesecakes, that line was ridiculous. I was handed a post-it where I was number #115 I think? That line curled too. It reminded me of Wednesday's signing for THRONE OF GLASS. I was hoping to get to the signing for SKYLARK but that didn't happen (there weren't any copies left by the time I got there). So since the CURIOUSITIES line was long, I unloaded my backpack and ate lunch until it was my turn to get my arc signed. Then I stood in front of the Merry Sisters of Fate and eeeeeeeeeee. :D

After that, I headed straight to the booth where David Levithan was signing arcs of EVERY DAY. THAT line was long too; I noticed a lot of people who asked others on line why YA signings were garnering so much attention. Say it with me: BECAUSE YA IS AMAZING, THAT'S WHY. ;P

This signing flew by too; it was more of I'm-signing-ok-next! kind of thing. Oh well. I understand v.v After that...well, I was done with my list of WANT books so I dedicated the precious time I had left to wandering all over the place. I ended up getting some other copies of books and the best surprise of all was acquiring an arc of LEVEL TWO. I think it may have been the last one too o_o! I walked by the S&S booth at the right time, it seems.

Le stack for Dia Three.

swag acquired all three days.
Highlights: The last day is usually the day when everything winds down. And it did but I ended up getting more on Thursday than on any other day. I also met my amazingly kind contact at Macmillan so that was a blast too. AND OMG MAGGIE STIEFVATER REMEMBERED ME FROM HER RAVEN BOYS SIGNING. Sigh. I was so flattered, lol.

Low points: BEA ended. I have to wait for next year because I never get to have as much fun or hang out with such like-minded bookish people when I do at BEA. Sniff. So that's all folks. Until next year...

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