 |
First
off let me apologise with my extra long absence. I realise that I have
been starting many blog entries like that of late, but it doesn't make
the sentiment any less sincere. Life has a way of being life you know?
Getting in the way and all that . . .
At
any rate, I am back, and with one of my uber extra long posts sharing
every minor irrelevant detail of my adventures that was BEA this year.
So put the kettle on, curl up with the cat, and enjoy the following
tale!
Our
story does not begin well unfortunately. I shan't go into great detail
about what happened, but needless to say it involves an 8 hour delayed
flight. I was supposed to get into the great and wonderful New York
City at 3:30pm. Instead I arrived at the hotel at 1:ooam. This was a
bit of a pity. However I did meet the delightful Marian Jarkovich who
works for Robert Rose here in Toronto who was also attending BEA and so
we hung out for the day in the airport, and shared a cab into the city.
Here is a picture of me pouting about the delay in the airport in Toronto:
I had to get up at a reasonable time Friday morning because that's when I was doing my official signing of copies of Timothy and the Dragon's Gate.
I was of course really looking forward to it because there is nothing
like a book signing to make an author feel special. That is, so long as
people are there waiting for you to sign for them, otherwise it is uber
depressing.
Fortunately
once I was escorted to signing table number 6 there were a few people
waiting for me, and once I started, there was a constant stream of
people. It was so awesome, and everyone was just so sweet. I have to
say though the highlight of the experience was that I was signing just
two tables away from John Rocco,
who I have mentioned many times on this blog as he is responsible for
my awesome covers (and is a brilliant author/artist of his own work).
He came over and we hugged and I might have been just a little too
giddy about meeting him, I hope I didn't scare him . . . oy.
Since I only had an hour, we had to end the line for books. But when I went upstairs to the Weinstein Books
booth to sign some stock I was kind of followed and I wound up signing
books for another hour. I did not mind in the least. How can one mind
something so very flattering?
Finally at 1pm we were done, and I met up with my amazing fellow Toronto author Tish Cohen
for a brief lunch in the convention centre. We sat on some chairs and
people watched and talked all about our experiences and general chat
about the book world. Then she was off in a cab and I wondered around
the centre for a bit to check things out.
Now
I know a lot industry pros are saying the conference was way different
this year, and I totally believe them as they kind of know what they
are talking about, but from where I stood it seemed just as vibrant and
packed as two years ago when I first attended. The only famous face I
saw though was Neil Gaiman
and that was a bit of an odd moment. See we follow each other on
Twitter, but we of course don't actually know each other. The internet
though is a strange place, and as I walked right by him I almost
stopped and said "Hey" as if we were old friends. Until of course I
realised he has no clue who I am. But it was quite a close call. He was
of course signing copies of The Graveyard Book with the world's longest queue.
Then
I went back to the hotel to wait for my friend Carrie (who lives in
Boston) to come join me for the weekend. The rest of the weekend was
awesome. Friday evening we had drinks with friends of Carrie's mom,
then a late dinner with her friend Faran, her cousin, and her cousin's
two just lovely friends. We walked on Saturday (glorious weather btw)
from Rockefeller Center (which was right where the hotel was) all the
way down to Battery Park - stopping off at lunchtime to meet with my
friend John from LAMDA.
For dinner we met up with some amazing author ladies who I've met on the internet over at Verla Kay
(aka The Blue Boards). We had so much fun, and were maybe just a little
too giddy at the fact that we were meeting each other in person:
 (left
to right) Me, Shana Silver, Bettina Restrepo, Jenny Moss, Jean Regean,
Megan Crewe, Ashley Formento, Aprilynne Pike, Laurie Compton)
Then
Carrie, her cousin, and I went to a massive bar on a barge on the
Hudson. We climbed up to the top where we had a wonderful view of the
city.
Next
Carrie's cousin got a text from the two gents from the previous night
inviting us to tag along to a midnight showing of "Up" which I have
been dying to see. And so we saw it. And so we wept like babies (from
sadness and laughter). This is a very good movie. See it.
Sunday,
Carrie and I met up with Faran once more for a delectable lunch, and
then we parted ways, she to go back to Boston, and me to check out the
Guggenheim for the first time. I have to say, it was smaller than I
expected. And very crowded.
I
walked back to the hotel through Central Park which was just glorious,
the weather was beyond perfect. My favourite bit was the ramble where
despite the fact that the park was packed, there were very few souls to
see.
The
evening prompted another walk, where I wandered over to Times Square
which was terrifying in how packed it was. I went up Fifth Avenue, and
got to watch some fireworks going off in the distance. Then I stopped
by Tiffany's to check out their window display and it was totally made
for me: a combination of doorknobs and keys! (for those of you who know
Alex and Timothy you'll know just how perfect that is) And so I took a picture:
Monday
was my last day and I was doing a presentation for the Jewish Book
Network as well as joining them for a luncheon. It went very well. I
think it helped that I demonstrated to them all the proper way to die
melodramatically. Yes, you read that right. And I got to meet a lot of
lovely people.
And
then I was off home. The flight was not only right on time, it got in
early. I went from the airport to the pub to meet up with some friends.
And then finally home where my glorious pillow was waiting for me.
And then I slept.
And it was good.
Some pictures!
 Outside the Javits Center which was where the BEA was being held . . .
 Signing books with enthusiasm!
 Inside
the lobby area of the Javits. You'll note in the above picture posters
for the latest Dan Brown book. I understand that they felt they needed
to hang 30 ft posters because they are concerned no one will have heard
of this book otherwise. Kind of have to feel sorry for this Dan Brown
guy . . .
 The Hachette Book Group section (they distribute Weinstein Books - whose booth you can see in the distance).
 Just loved looking at the seeming infinite numbers in the sky . . .
 Carrie and I stopped into St. Patrick's Cathedral, we'd never been inside before!
 Proof we made it to Battery Park (doesn't Carrie look proud of herself!).
 Me just hanging around at Battery Park. Gorgeous day right?
 Radio City Music Hall - right across the street from my hotel. Purdy ain't it?
7:29 PM
Powered by  | | English | | Albanian | | Arabic | | Bulgarian | | Catalan | | Chinese | | Croatian | | Czech | | Danish | | Dutch | | Estonian | | Filipino | | Finnish | | French | | Galician | | German | | Greek | | Hebrew | | Hindi | | Hungarian | | Indonesian | | Italian | | Japanese | | Korean | | Latvian | | Lithuanian | | Maltese | | Norwegian | | Polish | | Portuguese | | Romanian | | Russian | | Serbian | | Slovak | | Slovenian | | Spanish | | Swedish | | Thai | | Turkish | | Ukrainian | | Vietnamese |
|