BEA 2011 Mini-Daily Recap

BEA 2011 is officially over...and I had a great time. I'm completely exhausted. Early mornings, passing out at weird hours and walking around for hours (or standing for hours) takes a toll on a person. But it was completely and utterly worth every single second. I'm going to do two or three more posts about this later in the week. But here's the daily recap--what I can remember anyway.

Warning: I say "awesome" in abnormal quantities. I tried to change it but I'm too tired.

Monday
This was the day we went around and got our bea badges. After that morning, we went to the Harry Potter Exhibit with some new and wonderful friends: Jen (Reading With Tequila), Emily (Red House Books), Brianna (Bam Book Reviews), Toshima (Bloody Bookaholic), Lexi (PRationality)and two of their friends. It was totally awesome! Totally. We had some pizza at John's Pizzera (it's one of my favorites ever), went to The Strand (a really, really awesome bookstore) and then made our way to Teen Author Carnival.

panel 1

Here I attended two panels. The first was about the paranormal in reality and featured Leah Clifford, Nova Ren Suma, Carrie Jones, E. Archer, Michael Northrop and Scott Tracey. It was so much fun--especially when Karsten Knight threw them hilarious questions and Chelsea Swigget asked hard ones.

In this snippet of a video, the authors of this panel were asked, "If you could publish one book during the zombie apocalypse before you die, what would the title be?" Hilarious answers.

The second panel was a debut author panel featuring  Carole Estby Dag, Amy Fellner Dominy, Kirsten Hubbard, Bettina Restrepo, Michelle Hodkin, Nick James and Scott Tracey. It too was fun as each author read snippets of their books.

Afterward, Nikki and I got to have dinner with the lovely Amanda Havard, author of The Survivors. It was wonderful as is her book.


Highlight of the day: Harry Potter Exhibit

Book of the day: Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker

Tuesday

Alex Bracken!

The first official day of BEA. I'm not going to lie, I was completely overwhelmed. There was a LOT of pushing people, a lot of places to go/see/do. And I heard too much of "oh, you just missed the last copy." Yeah. BUT after a rough morning and a slight crying breakdown, I found Cindy from Books Complete Me and we were numbers 2 and 3 for Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. We went to the YA Buzz Panel, got awesome books in the afternoon and got to know more great people. I also got to FINALLY meet Alexandra Bracken.


Highlight of the day: YA Editor's Buzz Panel (Editors talked about Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor, Au Revoir Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber, Carrier of the Mark by Leigh Fallon, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin, and Down the Mysterly River by Bill Willingham.)
  
Books of the day: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi; Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor; The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater; Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey

Wednesday

Richelle Mead

Day 2 was a lot better. I knew where things were so I knew exactly where I was going and what I was doing. Tuesday was a lot of running around, whereas Wednesday was a lot of standing in line. I think I stood in line for most of the day. But it was awesome! I met Lauren Oliver,  Richelle Mead and saw Ally Condie again.

I also got to listen to Kristi from The Story Siren interview Michelle Hodkin and waited in line at Harlequin Teen for five wonderful authors. Julie Kagawa was one of them and she was lovely in person as well. 

Michelle and Kristi

Highlight of the day: Michelle Hodkin interview and lunchy-dinner with Leah Clifford, Scott Tracey, Courtney Allison Moulton and two other blogger friends.

Books of the day: Bloodlines by Richelle Mead; Crossed by Ally Condie; Liesel and Po by Lauren Oliver


Thursday
The morning started off kinda rough, but I got to meet Maureen Johnson when she signed my book. So that was all sorts of amazing. I loved her. She was SO FUN. I waited in line a lot for a long time. I don't really know what to say. It's all a blur of faces, lines, smiles from authors, and tired feet. Lovely. It was awesome.

I did meet some really, really great bloggers. I did this everyday but it just never got old. We also went to a blogger reception and got to meet some really awesome authors and publicists, bloggers.

Highlight of the day: I was first in line for Frost by Marianna Baer and she told me I was the first book she'd ever signed her name in. That was pretty awesome. Maureen was so sweet!

Top books of the day: Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson; Frost by Marianna Baer; Ten Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) by Sarah Malinowski




Friday
Today was the Book Blogger Convention. We got to hang out with other bloggers and go to some workshop panels. One was with publicists--what they look for, how they work, what they want from bloggers. It was VERY informative. We also had Author Speed Dating and even though it was a little unorganized, it was so much fun!!

We met some really great upcoming authors and got to talk to Lisa McMann, Elizabeth Scott and the very funny Daniel Nayeri, among others. The last 20 minutes we got to chat up Michelle Hodkin--and she signed stuff for us. She even hung out with Nikki and I (and some other bloggers) for another hour. She's so freaking great. I love her!

mmm....

Highlight of the day: Both panels were really great! I enjoyed them. I loved hanging out with Michelle Hodkin! And Nikki and I got this Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake. Amazing.


Top books of the day: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin; Open Wounds by Joseph Lunievicz

So, all in all it was an awesome week!! I'm definitely coming again. I had a blast. If you couldn't tell, I also adore Michelle Hodkin. She's all sorts of cute and awesome.

Michelle and Me!