Sunday, June 9, 2013

BEA 2013

It only took me a week, but I've finally put together a recap post of BEA 2013! *takes a bow* Well done me.  First I need to say a huge thank you to Danny and Hannah (and also my mom and sister-in-law Tracy) for sending me their photos to use for this post, as I didn't bring a camera with me. I KNOW! I fail at life. My excuse is this: the only camera I own is of the larger variety and I didn't want to haul my mega camera to NYC and try to manage it as well as all the books, so I just threw myself into other people's pictures and hoped for the best. I have to say, all my blogging friends were really great sports about it:)

This is going to be a long and rambling post, so I apologize in advance! There was so much crammed into a single week that I really should have done multiple posts (like the far more intelligent Danny and Hannah), but quite frankly, I was just too lazy to go through all that effort, so instead I've just combined everything into this post. Hope you all enjoy!

DAYS 1 and 2

 Left to Right: Cathy and my mom with Matt Lauer (sort of); The Moms and me; me and Tracy

Unlike past years, my mom, mother-in-law (who always accompany me to BEA and will be known as The Moms for the remainder of this post) and my sister-in-law Tracy (a fantastic new addition this year) got to NYC a full day before the blogger conference. Normally I just hit the ground running and abandon The Moms to go do touristy things while I'm at the conference, but this year I actually got to wander around the city with them. Win.

After checking into the hotel, we took a quick tour through the monstrous public library–it was stunning–before heading to see Grand Central Station and then ordering the epic frozen hot chocolates from Serendipity. I'm not sure how I lived life before trying one, but as you can see in the above picture, I was finally able to be complete after experiencing them this year. I'm not sure what's happening with my face in the picture, all I can say is my mom told us both to smile while we had straws in our mouths, which of course led us to contort our faces in weird ways because one simply cannot suck chocolatey goodness up through a straw and smile at the same time. The chocolate will always win over the smile. It's like my mom doesn't even know me at all ;-)

Day 2 dawned with much better weather than the rain and cold of day one, and while I went to the blogger conference, The Moms apparently went and inappropriately groped a cardboard cutout of Matt Lauer. I don't think I could love them any more if I tried.

In the evening of day 2, I had the privilege of going to dinner with two of my very favorite people in the world, Danny and Pushy of Bewitched Bookworms, and authors Katie McGarry and Julie Kagawa before heading to the HarperCollins Blogger Party. Katie and Julie are so much fun and incredibly easy to talk to, and I'm pleased to say I made it through the entire dinner without saying anything absurd, something I sometimes do to fill awkward silences when they happen. Luckily for me (and everyone else really, it's impossible to guess what might come out of my mouth when there's a pause in the conversation), there were no silences at this dinner as we were all constantly laughing too hard.

Left to right: Pushy, Me, Katie, Julie, and Danny

Danny and I left dinner and headed to the Harper party which was loud and had crazy lighting, but was an absolute blast. The authors and publicists casually wandered through the sea of people all night so I not only got to meet authors Cora Carmack, Eve Silver and Elizabeth Norris, but I was also able to chat with some of the truly wonderful people at Harper that I'd been speaking with via email all year.

Left to right: Me and Cora Carmack; Danny, me and Bailey from IB Book Blogging; me, Alison Lisnow and Elizabeth Norris

We all had name tags at this party which was of course helpful in figuring out who everyone was, but with my awesomely large handwriting and my poor use of space I ran out of room for my blog name in its entirety, so I spent the evening wandering around as Jenny from Supernatural Snar. Way to go Jenny, way to go. *pats self on back*

DAY 3

Day 3 was the actual first day of BEA and brought me back together with not only loves of my life Danny, Pushy, and Bailey (and her fabulous mom!), but also put me face to face with Hannah from the Irish Banana Review whom I absolutely adore and may have attempted to climb like a tree when I saw her for the first time. I excel at all social graces you see, so clinging to her like a monkey was a lesson in etiquette for all those present ;-)

I started out the day at the HarlequinTEEN breakfast where I was reunited with the brilliant Katie McGarry and Julie Kagawa as well as Amanda Sun, Elizabeth Scott and several of the amazing publicists and editors who work with them.

While the breakfast was a truly fantastic way to start the day, I have to say the highlight for me was when my friend Mary from The Book Swarm texted me to say I needed to head over to the Ellora's Cave booth because all the Cavemen (aka cover models) were present and available for pictures. This I could not miss.

 Left to right: Me, Taylor, Mary, and another Caveman whose name I don't know but it doesn't matter anyway because look at his arms

My friend's name is Taylor and he's apparently a cowboy from Texas. Okay, he's definitely from Texas but whether or not he's an actual cowboy is a bit up for debate. He's a cowboy in the Ellora's Cave calendar anyway, so I think that counts right? Right. About 10 seconds before this picture was taken, Taylor had his face in my neck as he was hamming it up for the camera, which to be honest, startled the crap out of me and instead of playing it cool, I let out a very unfeminine grunt, snapped my left shoulder up as a defense mechanism (I'm ticklish okay? Don't judge me!) and promptly clocked my poor Caveman right in the cheekbone. I really should teach a class in composure and gracefulness because, clearly, I'm a master at them.

After the first day of BEA wrapped up I was off to the Macmillan Blogger Party where I got to meet several bloggers I'd spoken to online but never had the pleasure of meeting, as well as had an opportunity to speak with the people behind the Awesome that is Macmillan.

Hannah and I left the Macmillan party together and embarked upon what she so aptly calls the Great Taxi Hunt of 2013. It was rush hour when we left and there was simply not a single cab to be had. Hannah and I were all "It would be great if someone could stop and kindly give us a ride" and every single cab in NYC was all:


Super. I finally saw a cab that looked like it was slowing to let a passenger out, so I took off sprinting down the street and appeared breathless by the back door only to have the cab pull away and go a few feet further down the way. Once again, I ran down the street and ended up outside the rear passenger window as if by magic, a huge (and let's be honest, probably creepy) smile on my face as I began gesturing to the guy in the car to see if he was going to be getting out in the near future. For a third time, the cab pulled away from the curb and then stopped another several feet down the road. At this point, I was getting just plain desperate. There was more running, only this time when I stopped beside the cab my hand gestures were decidedly more emphatic and I was near to ripping the door open and bodily removing the passenger from the backseat. Luckily for him, he got out under his own power and Hannah and I were off to the Penguin Bird Bash and then finally the YA Author/Blogger Rooftop Party hosted by Liza at Who RU Blog and Andye of Reading Teen.

This party was beyond fun and had the most stunning views of both NYC and New Jersey, and I was simply honored to be there.

Me and Hannah overlooking the Freedom Tower and NYC/NJ

The remaining two days of BEA were filled with amazing books and even more amazing bloggers and authors, and it was without a doubt my best BEA experience yet. I can't thank all the publishers and publicists enough for including me in some of their unbelievably fabulous events, and I just don't have the words to explain how much everyone in this community of book lovers means to me other than to say I feel privileged to call myself a blogger and be in such outstanding company.

A very special thank you goes out to my mom and Cathy, whom BEA just wouldn't be the same without. I'm lucky to have you both.

I'm going to wrap up this exceedingly long post with a few more random pictures, and the sincere hope that I get to meet many more of you at next year's event!

Left to right: Me, Hannah and Mary; my mom, me, Hannah and my mother-in-law Cathy; Danny, Pushy, me and Olivia from The Reading Enchantress

35 comments:

  1. I've got a new goal in my life - to visit BEA once in my life.. It seems like I'll be walking or better said swimming to there but still. Anyhow I dunno where to start. It seems like you had great time and I love these pictures. Great post Jenny :)

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    1. YES TANJA!!!! Maybe if you start swimming now, you can be here in time for next year? I would love to meet you!

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  2. Awww.. looks like you had a great time. :)

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  3. Jenny thank you so much for this wonderful recap! Your BEA week sounded so hectic but full of so much fun too! I love how last year you had your picture taken with a pirate and this year it was with two cavemen! Ha I wonder who it will be next year! I'm so happy that you had the chance to meet so many wonderful authors and bloggers too, honestly I will have to make it to BEA one day!

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    1. I know right? Pirates and Cavemen, they'll be hard to top next year, but dammit, I'm going to try! There was another pirate there this year, and while he was impressive, he wasn't quite as impressive as the Cavemen:)

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    1. I thought it was:) It was exhausting, but i loved every single second I was there.

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  5. I am so jealous, but at the same time I was in extreme giggling and smiling sessions throughout this entire post. I am beyond glad you had so much fun and thank you to the moon and back for recaping this entire event for us non-goers. Love youuu! I hope you have a wonderful Sunday, my friend:)

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    1. Hahaha I'm so glad my experiences could make you giggle Siiri! Stick with me and strange, hilarious things will happen to you:) BEA is such fun though, I love going every year!

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  6. Great recap post, Jenny! I'm so glad you had such a great time!(:

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    1. Thanks Keertana! BEA is always the highlight of my year:)

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  7. LOL! All in all, a very successful BEA! MISS YOU! Say hi to The Moms for me. :)

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    1. I certainly thought it was! We'll have to devise a plan to top it next year Mary. It will be a challenge for sure, but I have faith in us:)

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  8. Omgggggg I'm soooo jealous!!!! I definitely NEED to go to BEA next year...or possibly the year after, or the year after that. I'm glad you had so much fun Jenny!!<3

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    1. YES! COME TO ALL THE BEAs SHIRLEY!!!! Then I could give you a massive hug:)

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  9. LOL @ the caveman comment!

    It looks like you had such a great time!

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  10. Ah, all these BEA posts have me drooling in envy (is that a thing? I'll make it a thing). It looks like you had a fantastic time, Jenny! I'm so jealous that you had dinner with Katie and Julie. What awesome dinner partners! I'm proud of you for not saying anything absurd (though I doubt you would have anyway). ;) I love the pictures. Thanks for the recap. I'll just pretend I was there vicariously through your post, haha!

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  11. I know this has nothing to do with BEA, but this is my first time in your blog and I noticed that one off my favorite series in your waiting list. So a heads up. You can get Heart of Venom on Edelweiss and I have to say it was amazing.

    New follower on Bloglovin!!

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  12. Ohh, that looks like it was so much fun!

    Omgness, I have to add the going to the BEA to my to-do list :D

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  13. Looks like you had an absolutely amazing time :)

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  14. Traveling can take it out of a blogger!

    You got to have dinner with Katie McGarry? I am so JEALOUS! I'm about to start Dare You To and I can't freaking wait.

    Love that photo of you and Cora.

    OMG it's the cavemen from your famous commentary on covers! *laughs*

    Lovely travelogue, Jenny. Glad you made it home safe!

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  15. Can I enroll in your charm and manners class, Jenny?! Should I just call you Grace, for all your gracefulness? Lol! You do actually look like the picture of grace and composure, so I don't know what you're talking about. This seemed like so much fun, Jenny. I wish I was there. Maybe next year. :)

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  16. You sound like you had such an epic time, Jenny! I totally wanted to go to BEA this year, but it fell right in the middle of my finals, which sucked. I don't think I could ever go to a BEA until I graduate! But reading your recap posts and others posts makes me feel like I went there too, so thank you for sharing your experience!

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  17. Lol, this made me laugh ... couldn't you somehow squish the k onto your name tag, Jenny? And the taxi story was too funny.

    One of these days I'm hoping to make it to BEA. The experience just sounds so fun. Also, I want one of those frozen hot chocolates. It looks delicious but huge! Did you finish it?

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  18. Oh, I'm so sad I missed all this fun, but I'm so glad you had a blast. Reunion in the coming year, please? I'm lost without you. (cue dramatic music).

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  19. I can't believe I never swung by the Ellora's Cave booth. Ever. In my defense, though, their booth was not as centrally located as it was last year. I was totally going to get a calendar for my coworkers to moon over.

    And, honey, feel free to climb me like a tree all you want. I feel like you and I accomplished so much this year:

    1. We didn't have a total meltdown at seeing each other that required sedation and/or being escorted from the Javits by security.
    2. We learned to fine art of taxi stalking, a technique I daresay you perfected.
    3. We didn't die on the rooftop (couple of close calls with me tripping and you nearly being impaled, but we lived).
    4. We silenced our inner fangirls when needed (Megan McCafferty still doesn't realize how nuts we are).

    Clearly we are made of awesome. And I miss your face.

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  20. LOl- loved this post Jenny. Those dudes arms are crazy. Some day Im going to go to this and finally meet you!!!

    ~Tina

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  21. What funnn! Love the pics. I want to meet Danny!

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  22. Loved your recap! Looks like you had such a great time!

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  23. Oh wow, I am so jealous of all the fun you had but so happy you shared it with us! Um the guys from Elora's Cave too funny. I always think those muscles look like they hurt.

    Quite the dining companions, Pushy, Danny oh AND Julie Kagawa and Katie McGarry!! That must have been awesome!
    That would be my highlight, I think.

    Thanks for sharing!
    Heather

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  24. It's so cool cause with everyone elses recaps I can almost imagine I was there. (Okay, not really, but I'll keep dreaming.) I would have problems carrying a camera too just cause I have enough to keep track of, but luckily my phone takes decent (ish) photos.
    I could never catch a NYC cab, I'm just not assertive enough I'm sure. I have been hearing lots of horror stories about how hard it is.
    It looks, and sounds, like you had an AMAZING time!

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  25. It sounds like you guys had a great time. Thanks for sharing. I love your cavemen :)

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  26. Your BEA 2013 adventures look like so much fun!! Wish I could attend one year and meet all of you awesome bloggers and authors.

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  27. I was there this year aswell.. :)

    And I so wanted to try out the famouse chocolate drink.. But I didn`t get to it :(
    My priority 1 next time I am going to NYC :P haha
    It sounds so delicious.. and looks even better :D haha Me need to try..
    I so hope I can afford going to NY and BEA another time aswell.. Maybe in 2 years..
    Do you go every year?

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