BEA recap- Wednesday and Thursday

So we last left off at the end of my second day at BEA. After heading home, Lynsey and I had Susan help us figure out how to get to Books of Wonder for a Class of 2k11 signing. Then we rushed off to the subway, made it there (after a very slight detour when a New Yorker pointed us in the wrong direction) a little bit late. We missed the reading but made it in time for the signing. I said hello to Christina Mandelski, author of The Sweetest Thing, and we chatted for a few minutes before I went to go find Amy Holder, who was being very sweet and taking pictures with some fans. I got my Lipstick Laws signed and then met up with Lynsey again, who in the meantime, had acquired quite a few books. Then she found a few more, some of which were signed. I got a picture with Amy and Christina before they left and then waited for Lynsey to pay for her books. I sat down on a comfy chair which felt amazing. When you're on your feet standing or walking all day, sitting down is the most awesome feeling in the world.

After we finished at Books of Wonder, Lynsey had the idea to go to The Strand so we went into a small market to ask for directions to see if it was close by. Which it was! So we walked to it and found it pretty easily. We had a great time looking around at the YA section and the whole bookstore. It's such an amazing place. Lynsey had a bit too much fun with it though and was grabbing books every second until she had a huge pile. She realized that she couldn't buy them all, so we tried to figure out what she could put back and what she should buy. She ended up buying like 9 books and a Strand bag. I helped her carry the books back to the subway and we found our way back to the house just fine.

In the morning, we slept in a bit because not much was happening Thursday and we arrived to Javits a bit late. I immediately ran off to the Uptown Stage where Jane Lynch would be giving her talk and signing. I got a ticket for the signing and sat down in one of the front rows. A few minutes later, Jamie and Shanyn came by and I went to go sit with them and we had a great time chatting and catching up with each other. I also got to chat with a lady about my blog which was fun, and then Jamie and Shanyn's friend Tara came by and sat next to me. We did the obligatory business card exchange and chatted a bit. Jane Lynch came out a little after 10am and there should be a video of her talk online eventually. She talked about her book then answered a few questions for about 20 minutes then started signing. They did a good job of organizing the signing line so we were out pretty quickly.

I said goodbye to Jamie, Shanyn and Tara and ran off to Ellen Hopkins' signing for Perfect. Ellen is so sweet and it was really nice to see her again. I cannot wait to read Perfect. I then went straight over to Lisa McMann's signing, which for some odd reason, was only a half-hour long. Also, side note, Thursday had very few signings yet they decided to use one half of the rows right next to each other rather than having someone sign at every other row to keep the area from being too crowded. Who runs these things? Back to Lisa's signing- I and others had to be moved to the overflow area when Lisa's time ran out and she continued signing copies of Unwanted until she had to go be on a panel. When I got up to Lisa, she came around and hugged me quickly which was so nice of her. She's the best. After Lisa, I went off to get in line for Sarah Mlynowski but I was intercepted by Susan who was in line for Frost by Marianna Baer (which was LONG). She asked if I would mind getting a signed copy of Poison Diaries 2 for her since the line for it was short and I said sure. I got in line and got the book for her; Maryrose Wood was really sweet too. I've only read her book My Life: The Musical but I'm looking forward to reading more by her.

I got in line for Sarah Mlynowski and was actually in line for 10 minutes before Andye from Reading Teen poked me on the shoulder and said hi. We each had no idea we were standing next to each other in line, lol. We chatted as we moved up in line and it was really fun. I got up to the front and Sarah actually recognized me! I'm really excited to read her book. After that, I went over to Micol Ostow's signing for Family which was right next to Sarah's and I'm glad I got to meet Micol because I'm such a huge fan of hers and I love her books so much. That was my last signing for the day and I caught up with Alex and Erica and we wandered around a bit. From that point on, everything is a bit of a blur, so this may not be in order. I stopped by Disney before heading down to meet Susan and the others in the food court and tried to get the display copy of Uncommon Criminals but unfortunately someone got to it like right before me. I was very sad- I had missed Ally's signings and now the display copy. Le sigh. I went down to the food court and as I was getting ready to sit down, Lisa McMann walked by! We hugged and she introduced me to her editor who I gave a business card to. We chatted a bit and then Lynsey and Susan talked to Lisa a bit before she left. At some point, I also got to chat with Martin Wilson, author of What They Always Tell Us, while he was doing his day job working at a publisher booth. It was really fun to meet him in person and we chatted for like 20 minutes. I stopped by the Houghton Mifflin booth too and got to say hi to my publicist contact Rachel who had sent me a wonderful unexpected package earlier in May. We also did some wandering around to try and get some books publishers were giving away but we didn't get much. I got two from Flux- Playing Hurt and Pure Red- but that was about it.

Susan, Lynsey, Stacey, Katie, and I took a breather and showed off our hauls for the day since we had some time to kill before going to the Scholastic Store for the VIP Meet and Greet. We took a taxi over, which took us forever to find. Once there, we got our name tags and went up to the Green House to do some mingling. Right away, there was Meg Cabot inviting us to go get a drink. When she spotted me, she was like "I know you!" and gave me a hug, which pretty much made my year. And then I chatted with Meg for a few minutes and she introduced me to her publicist, who I've talked to a bit in email. I met several publicists and it was so much fun to put faces to names and just chat. I met Libba Bray too and I told her that I had a quote on the back of Going Bovine, and she was like "You're that James!" and thanked me several times over the course of the night for that quote. I felt special. I only got to say hi to Maggie but considering I see her several times a year anyway, I figured I should let other people have their time with her. David Levithan was also there since he's an editor at Scholastic and I wanted to go say hi but I was too shy. I also got to meet and chat with Chelsy from Big Honcho Media and also TS Ferguson, who was the editor for I Am J by Cris Beam, which I just loved.

After the Meet and Greet, we went down to the signing. The authors answered questions from the moderator as well as the audience, then started signing. They were each in a specific part of the store; Maggie was particularly excited to be signing in the Magic School Bus and really, who wouldn't be? Before getting into Libba's line, I got to chat with Michele Jaffe, who I love, and it was just so much fun to see her again. I got into Libba's line since I already have signed books from both Maggie and Meg. It took a while to get up to the front but I had some good company during the wait. When I got near the front, Sheila (a publicist) told us about the choice we had to make to get a button (she made it sound very dire and important, lol)- we could be Lost Girls, Beauty Queens, or Sparkle Ponies. I decided to be a Sparkle Pony.

I wanted to say bye to Meg before she left but she was gone by the time I finished with Libba. I went to go see Maggie since her line had died down and got some books signed. She also told me to not wait so long to read Forever and Scorpio Races since I had several of her books from the time each came out and only got around to them last summer, lol. I told her I wouldn't let her down.

After the signings ended, a group of us went to Soho Park, a restaurant nearby that was absolutely delicious. It was a really fun time and a good way to end the day.