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01 June 2011

BEA 2011. Overwhelmed.


Come on, I told myself. You knew it was going to be overwhelming. It's New York.

Look at this line to get into BEA...

Picture from BEA Site
Wednesday:
I aimlessly wandered around. I wish I had taken a picture of the massive size of the location and the number of people, but I think you can get a sense of it from the above picture from the BEA press page - look how long the line is! It was so different from the SIBA event in Daytona Beach. At that event, books were stacked on tables and publicists were readily available to chat about what they felt were *the* books to keep an eye out on. BEA was tougher for me to randomly introduce myself at the booths, although there were a handful of fantastic publicists who were ready to chat it up (you know who you are - thank you)!

APA Audiobook & Author Tea: One of my favorite events! Unlike other prepared bloggers, I didn't dive into the details on each event, so imagine my surprise when I walked in and Star Jones was the host and moderator for a panel of authors discussing audiobooks including:
Do I wish I had taken a plethora of pictures? Yes. The few I did take were grainy and hard to see, but I do have this picture of when Brad Meltzer brought up the incomparable Scott Brick to read a segment of Meltzer's upcoming book. Book, Line, and Sinker is a huge fan of Scott Brick, so I had to tweet it out to her that I was *thisclose* to him!

Scott Brick, fabulous audiobook narrator
Karin Slaughter and Brad Meltzer had engaging personalities and immediately shared stories regaling their disappointments on initial audio narrators and the eventual success once they found narrators who captured the essence of their stories perfectly.

Wednesday Night:
Dinner at Bice Restaurant with bloggers!
From Left to Right: Ann from Books on the Nightstand, Stacy from A Novel Source and me and my husband, Jason

Thanks to Heather for the above two pictures from the dinner - click here go to her site to see close up pics as well. From Left to Right around the table: Reagan from Miss Remmer's Review, Heather from Age 30+...A Lifetime of Books, Megan from Leafing through Life, Sheila from Book Journey, Florinda from The 3 R's, Michelle from Red Headed Book Child, Allie from Alison's Book Marks, then back on around to Ann from Books on the Nightstand, Stacy from A Novel Source, and me.

Thursday:
Pseudo-attended BEA, ended up leaving early and going with my husband to the Madame Tussaud Wax Museum since Michelle Moran's book just came out. The museum was expensive, but it was fun.
Madame Tussaud was tiny, right?
Friday:
Book Blogger Convention! The best of BEA with blogger discussion panels on ethics, ask a publicist, author meetings, etc. I met more bloggers, including the blogger who motivated me last year to start my own blog - Jenn aka The Picky Girl! Love her blog, you must check it out!
With Jenn from The Picky Girl
Saturday:
Ellis Island. Loved.
Ellis Island
Sunday:
St. Patrick's Cathedral, beautiful.
New York Public Library, incredible.
And we saw the show WICKED later that afternoon at the Gershwin Theater! LOVED!
St. Patrick's Cathedral
New York Public Library
Monday:
Home sweet home.
Okay, so Rome with the Vatican as the background isn't home, but whatever. A girl can dream...!
Fabulous time had by all, and cannot wait for next year!

Things for me to remember next year:
  • Seriously, wear comfortable shoes. Seriously.
  • Do more research on which event to attend.
  • Take more pictures.
And now it's time to get ready for SIBA in Charleston, SC!

40 comments:

  1. Great post, Natalie! I really admire your husband for sitting/walking/standing through all this!

    You had a nice time at BEA and like everyone else, were suitably overwhelmed. I think that's how it's supposed to be, from reading other people's posts.

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  2. It looks like you had a good time though. I am quite envious. I hope to go next year.

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  3. I am so bummed that I missed y'all, but we have to make plans for a drink with our guys while we're at SIBA!! BEA is much more overwhelming than SIBA, but they're both so much fun. By the way, I tell myself I'm going to take more pictures every year and I never do. I just want to live in the moment.

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  4. So much fun! I'm so glad I got to meet you. I totally didn't take a single picture of me with any bloggers, so I'm glad you had that (even with my crazy humidity hair).

    Isn't Wicked wonderful? I've seen it twice and LOVE it.

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  5. Great post! Looks like you had a fun time! :D

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  6. Wednesday looked awesome! I love audiobooks and tea -- so, great! And what a fabulous crowd of bloggers to have dinner with!

    I have Madame Tussaud from the library right now... haven't read it yet, but the picture from the cover looks VERY different than that wax statue, haha! I'm sure I will be itching to go once I've read the book.

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  7. Tony Horowitz is married to Geraldine Brooks?? I've always pictured him as this young guy and her a little old lady, so I think my mental images need some updating. Unless, of course, that's really the case, in which case, go Geraldine. :-D

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  8. Thanks for the virtual tour through BEA. Looks like a great time. Someday I'll get to one of the conventions.

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  9. I KNOW I've listened to Scott Brick on an audio, but I can't remember which one. I'm going to have to do a search. It is driving me crazy. Loved hearing about your time. As usual you did it in style! (From Sandy...don't know why the hell I can't log in through Google!)

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  10. Aha! Book of the Dead, by Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston. I know you were dying to know. He was excellent. (Sandy)

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  11. Thank you for the wonderful re-cap. I hope to go one day, I was thinking of going to BEA. But, what you said, I think it might be better to go to SIBA,first time if book bloggers are allowed. It sounds overwhelming. With all the money you are spending it seems like you have to do some research. I would like to get some info. on your experience with SIBA. I live close,I live in Myrtle Beach. About a two hour drive. Would you tell me where to get info on SIBA, and the prices.

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  12. This post was so much fun to read. Thanks for the vicarious experience. And I loved seeing the photos-now I have faces to match the names/blogs. Book bloggers are so cute-who knew?

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  13. I wish I'd take more photos too -- many of mine inside Javits were really grainy. It was so nice to meet you in person!

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  14. How sweet it was to recognise some bloggers, wow, great to meet you :-) hahaha, wow, i'm so jealous. I can totally travel to one of these but unsure if I would enjoy the crowds and long lines, i'm totally social but uggh hate lines.

    I would be in heels which I am assuming you wore, lol, I would be there with you.

    Loving the post, thanks for sharing.

    BTW - I ordered Coffee and Fate today, one of you recommendations, I got tired of waiting for the Kindle version.

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  15. Great to meet you and Jason! It looks like you guys really made the most of your trip to NYC -- glad you had a great time.

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  16. I'm SO GLAD I finally got to meet you! And I'm thrilled that you got to do Ellis Island - that is one of my favorite places to visit.

    Maybe one of these years I'll make it down to SIBA ...

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  17. I feel like I went to BEA myself. Great post!!

    BTW, if you change your comment setting to pop-up window instead of embedded after the post, some of us can comment normally. (like Sandy, I can't log in through google either)

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  18. Next year - note to me - take more pictures!!! I am usually so good at that but this year it is like I forgot or something....LOL

    SO fun having dinner with you!

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  19. What fun! I think it's the blogger meetings I covet the most.

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  20. From the pictures and descriptions, I would have to say that you had a wonderful time, and I so wish I could have been there with you. But hey, there is always next year, and I am already making plans! You going to be at SIBA this year? I am hoping to go with Sandy. It should be fun!

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  21. I found your post through googlealerts, which notifies me about all things related to Madame Tussaud! What a great photo :) :) And yes -- she was really tiny!

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  22. It looks like you had an amazing time. I can't wait to actually attend BEA. I've seen Wicked a couple times and I've loved it more each time.

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  23. I so very much loved hanging out with you although it was brief...hopefully Charleston and SIBA I won't be worn out by the last day =] (I'll send you an email later); your pictures are great! I agree with you though, I wish I had taken many more! And overwhelmed - heck, yeah! but so happy I went and got to see everyone! can't wait to meet up again this fall! decatur and then charleston, right?

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  24. Sounds like a wonderful time! (And I love Wicked too -- my kids haven't seen it yet, but they are always singing the soundtrack.)

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  25. I'm so glad I got to meet you (and thanks again to you and Jason for the cab escort on Wednesday night)! I took lots of pictures, actually - but of places, not people, unfortunately. It sounds like you had the perfect blend of bookish and NYC-ish goodness!

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  26. Here's hoping I can attend next year. Would love to meet you and others. It looks like a BLAST! :)

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  27. I'm really seeing the word "overwhelmed" a lot in blogs this year. I wonder if that's because so many people were there for the first time or if it was just more hectic than ever. I'm worry to have missed meeting people but maybe not the rest.

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  28. It was so very nice to meet you and hang out with you! I need to take more pictures. i only have a few :(

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  29. JEALOUS! So wish we had something like that here in Australia! There are book bloggers I would LOVE to meet... both from Aus and overseas.

    And you met Jen! I love her blog! :) totally awesome.

    ooh and Daniel Silva and Karin Slaughter! aahhh really really really wish we had events like that here. All we have is the Sydney writers festival which are all held as separate ticketed events that cost a small fortune and are spread out all over Sydney.

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  30. Oh, and may I add... we never got THAT MANY awesome writers in one go.

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  31. I give the "wear comfortable shoes" pep talk just about every time we walk out of the house. My wife and daughters sometimes listen. :)

    Best,

    Bill

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  32. So happy to read and see that you had a wonderful time! Thanks for sharing all of your memories of the trip with all of us. One of these days I will definitely attend!

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  33. Aww, I so wish we had gotten a chance to meet during BEA. The entire week was a frenzy though and I had no clue what I was doing most of the time. I practically happened upon a group of bloggers (went to meet one blogger buddy for the HP exhibition and never really left) that I stuck with for the whole week. Next year though, we should definitely cross paths and at least say hello.

    Glad to see you enjoyed yourself :)

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  34. I remember going last year and stopping to just stare when I walked in because I had NO IDEA what to do first. It was so crazy - but fun. I dragged my boyfriend around with me too. Glad you had a great time - I hope to go again next year. It was a toss up for me this year - BEA or Historical Novel Conference in San Diego - I chose HNS. I leave in 2 weeks!

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  35. I tried commenting on this like three times but for some reason blogger gives me problems at work and I was ultimately unable to. Looks like you had such a great time at BEA! My husband and I have been considering going to SIBA this year so maybe we'll see you there!

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  36. Oh, wow. That really does look overwhelming. It looks like you had a wonderful time, though. Big cities and comfy shoes go hand in hand. I made the mistake of bringing only new shoes to London, once. Oh, man. Never again. I did come home with some really cute Mr. Happy plasters, though, thanks to the fact that I was so blistered. LOL

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  37. Glad to see you had a good time :) And yes, I agree, so overwhelming!

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  38. scoooottttt brrriiiicccckkkkkkk. i seriously have a love for that man's voice that i can't put into words. i borrow the most banal audiobooks from the library--ones i would NEVER read in real life--just to listen to scott. i'm so green with envy that you were so close to him but it might be better that i wasn't there. it's possible i would have fainted or begged him to say things like, "Scott Brick presents Natalie from Book, Line, and Sinker". i'm a dork like that. thanks again for the pic--he's too cute! glad you had fun in the city and it's great that you managed to squeeze in a bunch of other touristy things! i'm taking my uncle's sister and two teenage daughters on a 'tour' when they come out next week from california. it should be interesting...i think i'm going to be hanging out in bloomies for a while!

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  39. It looks like you had an amazing time! I've had enough of this whole not-being-able-to-go thing, and am saving my pennies and dimes for next year.

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  40. Oh how seriously awesome, Natalie! Looks like you had a great time, even if it was a bit overwhelming.

    Thanks for sharing so many great pictures.

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