BEA Newb No More: A Recap, Part I

BEA 2013 has now come and gone. It's hard to believe after all those months of planning and anticipating the big event that it's over now. But, what an exciting and crazy three days it was. Here's a blow-by-blow account of how it all went down.

Wednesday, May 29
I embarked on this whirlwind adventure from the very beginning with my good friend Jen from At Random. She and I arrived in NYC mid-day on Wednesday and immediately headed to the Javits Center to register early and take a look around. This was the first thing we saw when we walked in, and I had a bit of a fangirl moment:

Then, we wandered around New York for a bit, taking in the sites before heading back to our hotel and preparing for the big day the next day. 

Memorial at Ground Zero

Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty

Day 1:  Thursday, May 30

Day 1 dawned at butt crack o'thirty. We stayed in Weehawken, NJ and took the ferry over to the Javits every morning. Jen and I caught the second ferry out at 6:20 a.m. and arrived at our place in line around 6:45. We weren't the first in line (about a dozen back), and most certainly weren't the last. This is what it looked like an hour later, which was still almost an hour and a half from go-time. 

The time passed quickly for Jen and I. We perused the PW Show Daily, chatted with fellow bloggers and channeled our alter steampunk egos, courtesy of some cool 'staches from Spencer Hill Press.

When the doors opened, everyone was off on their respective missions. I headed to meet Jane O'Connor first. My 7-year-old daughter is a HUGE Fancy Nancy fan, and I wanted to do that for her before I got anything for me. After that, I tried to stick as closely to my schedule as I could. Amazingly, due to lots of pre-BEA obsessing and making nice with the incredible people I met in line (like Chaz and Taschima from The Bloody Bookaholic, Lili from Lili's Reflections and Hannah from The Irish Banana), I got to do more than I expected! I met some amazing authors, like Ami Kaufman and Megan Spooner:

Ami Kaufman and Megan Spooner

Sarah Maas, Cinda Williams Chima and Abbi Glines:

Abbi Glines

Day 1 even held a few surprises, like meeting Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon, the authors of Doon and scoring my own signed copy and happening by a galley drop of Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles. Fangirl squeal!! My one main regret from day 1 was missing Antigoddess by Kendare Blake. I should've gotten in her line first, and then jumped to Jane O'Connor, but by the time I realized my mistake, the Antigoddess line was completely REDICK.

By 4 p.m., I was kinda dead on my feet, but the day wasn't over yet. We headed downtown to a party thrown by the fine folks at Kensington Publishing where a good time was held by all.

Me at the Kensington Publishing party

 
By 10 p.m., it was time to stick a fork in me. I hadn't had a proper meal all day long, my feet were killing me, and I was so sleepy. But, before I succumbed, I made time to pet each and every book I brought back that day. Priorities, y'all.

Day 1 book haul

I reset my alarm for 5 a.m. and got ready to do it all over again...