I literally flew in from the Philippines yesterday and got in around 11PM, which left me jetlagged and awake until 4AM. But that definitely didn't dampen my spirits as I trekked to the Javits Center to attend Book Expo America 2012! Despite the wind and the exhaustion, I was very psyched.
BEA 2012, Day 1 has been pretty darn cool so far! I won't really elaborate too much since I'm still kind of tired and will soon be heading to bed, but I do want to try and recap what we did today. There are very few pictures, however, since I forgot to bring my camera.
1: I met one of my best blogger friends Katelyn before the exhibits opened. Honestly, if you follow one or both of us on Twitter, we've been fairly repetitive about our excitement at finally being able to meet each other in person. It was so cool for me to finally hang out with her (and not just online) - and I just know that we'll be even better friends now. Katelyn is my BEA buddy and she is AWESOME and I love her!
2: Once the exhibits area opened, I was fortunate enough to be able to right away get the ONE book that I really wanted to pick up at BEA. I'm not going to say what it is because the books I picked up are going to get a separate post this week. But I'm REALLY excited about it and I can't wait to read it!
 |
| Picture c/o Tara (I don't have one with Anna yet!) |
3: I had another awesome blogger encounter, this time with Anna & Tara. I seriously was awestruck and incredibly happy to meet these two in person! It's always nice to put a face and a voice to the name and I was especially ecstatic about meeting these two!
4: We got the opportunity to meet a bunch of wonderful people who work at some of our favorite publishers. They were sweet enough to tell about the awesome books they had on display and some of their favorite titles! Also, thanks to their generosity, we picked up a few ARCs and a bit of swag.
5: I met quite a few wonderful authors today - Jennifer L. Armentrout, Ally Condie and Mike Mullin - and they were all kind enough to sign a few things for me.
Apart from them, we attended a great event that let us meet plenty of Apocalypsies authors - Gennifer Albin, Lenore Appelhaus, Zoraida Cordova (who I have actually seen before at Books of Wonder!), Gina Damico, Emily M. Danforth, Lizzie K. Foley, AC Gaughen, Hilary Weisman Graham, Leanna Renee Hieber, Claire Legrand, Elisa Ludwig, Sarah J Maas, Gretchen McNeil, Shannon Messenger, Lauren Morrill, Fiona Paul, Jess Rothenberg, Kimberly Sabatini, Tiffany Schmidt, Tamara Stone, Sarvenaz Tash, Sarah Tregay, KM Walton and Kat Zhang (who is so cute in person!). There was a TON of swag from this event, which I loved!
All in all, taking in BEA in a relaxed manner certainly worked out for Katelyn and I. We didn't feel rushed at all, and we were able to make it to most of the author signings we wanted to attend. Plus, it gave us the chance to really check out the books and talk to the publishing representatives.
Of course, there are a lot more signings we want to attend on day two, so I don't know if we'll still be relaxed or if we'll be a bit more rushed. Stay tuned as I report back tomorrow!
YAY! Glad you had so much fun and OMG! The list of of authors you've been able to meet is just mindblowing! :) Hope today will be just as great for you!!
ReplyDeleteAhh it sounds like your first day was fantastic! I'm so glad you were able to take it easy and not stress too much - having a crazy BEA day with jet lag sounds like it would be no fun at all. I'm so jealous you've gotten to meet Katelyn, Anna and Tara in real life, I adore their blogs and would proooobably fangirl about them as much as an author. I hope you get some rest and continue with a fantastic BEA!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a fun time! And good for you being a trooper and attending after getting back from the Philippines! I know I would've crashed in my bed ASAP. :)
ReplyDeleteI would love to attend one year .... it looks like fun!
First day! WOOT!
ReplyDeleteIt was SO great to finally meet you in person Alexa! You are so incredibly sweet and I loved getting to chat and hang out with you and Katelyn throughout the week. Yay for a successful and fun BEA :)
ReplyDeleteHooray for getting to meet so many authors and bloggers too, BEA sounds like a great opportunity :)
ReplyDeleteIt really is. I hope that you get to come to BEA one day and we can hang out! (Or that I get to go to Australia!)
ReplyDeleteI was SO HAPPY to finally meet you in person! It was one of the best parts of BEA for me. Thank you for being so sweet and so awesome <3
ReplyDeleteI certainly felt like crashing in my bed, but for the love of books and bloggers, I persisted! And yes, I hope you get to attend one BEA... maybe next year? ;)
ReplyDeleteOh girl, I totally fangirled over bloggers! It was AMAZING. I really hope you get to come to BEA so that we can meet in person too!
ReplyDeleteIt was INSANE. But I loved it so much!
ReplyDelete