On Saturday, January 15, Kim Harrington and I attended this splendid event. Kim and I drove into Boston. She picked me up at our favorite bookstore where we generally try to meet for coffee (or hot cocoa, for her). It was a glorious day and we didn't even need jackets! The drive in was a ton of fun. We were both anticipating what the day would bring. Kim didn't kill me nor did she get us lost! We get to the convention center and I'm amazed how built up this section of Boston is because 5 years ago, it was all dirt lots!
We park the car and they have shuttle buses to take us to the center, which we technically could've walked, but hey, shuttle was free! We get inside and not exactly sure where we need to go, so I ask the information desk. We have to go downstairs. First off, Kim sees the Scholastic booth with their ginormous logo. Of course, she'd see them, it's her publisher! Once we're all registered we immediately head to Scholastic. I want to see if my friend Cheryl is there and Kim just wants to look around. I immediately text Gail to find out where she is and she's with a librarian eating lunch! So Kim and I look around. I immediately notice that there are not many ARCs out. Okay, I'll see what is available and keep looking around. We head to the HarperCollins booth and I turn around and Kim is gone! She's chatting with someone that I don't know (I've been introducing her to people that I did know). Turns out it's her editor, Aimee Friedman and Alex Bullen!
They were both so sweet and Alex was doubly excited because her launch was being held on Sunday (I did not make it, but Kim did). Aimee was very sweet, and I mentioned that I did have her book as well (Sea Change). Then I turn around and I see a fellow LJ'er and friend, Shana Silver (who has a couple of MS on submission, good luck, Shana!). I'm so excited to introduce Kim to Shana, they're both going to SCWBI in a few weeks, so they have someone to connect with. Then I see Mitali Dave and TiffanyE. It's like BEA all over again! Of course there is just so much to do, that chatting is practically non-existent! I introduce Kim to them. Oh, and then I turn around and here is Kate Messner with her beautiful daughter, Ella! I was handing out my bookmarks and I loved it when they said they recognized my blog! YAY! After I talk to Kate for a few minutes, Mitali Perkins is right behind me! (I've been trying to meet up with her for ages! LOVE HER TO PIECES!
I think right about now, both Kim and I are swimming with all the people we're meeting, seeing, saying hello to, etc. We're all there for the same reason, WE LOVE BOOKS! Let me tell you, tho', the YA books were flying off the shelves and the adult titles weren't moving quite as fast. Just goes to show you that the YA titles and authors are HOT right now. By now, my bag is getting quite filled with books. Kim was a bit more shier about asking for books, so I did it for her. She now has a sparkling Before I Fall and Will Grayson, Will Grayson. We finally decide to eat, because we're starving and I need a drink. All that talking and schmoozing is hard work! :)
We have lunch with Gail, Shana, her mother-in-law-to-be me and Kim. It was good to sit down and get the heavy books off our shoulders! After lunch, I had to get to Little, Brown to get Michelle's book before they were gone and Feiwel and Friends to get Lisa's book (I got both!). I talked to the Little, Brown rep for a little bit. I look around and Gail is with me, but Kim is gone! Wouldn't you know that EVERYONE was wearing red shirts like Kim was!!! I try to text her, but I hate my phone so much because the keyboard is ON SCREEN ARGH! I finally make my way to the Scholastic booth again, to see if that is where she went. But I wait there for her and she finally shows.
We talked with Daniel Nayeri who is working for Houghton Mifflin and is editing Carolyn McCullough's Always a Witch! of course he wouldn't give anything away, but said it was brilliant. (I think he's paid to say that tho':)) Daniel was rocking the pink converses and was doing a really cheesy card game when I spotted him. We talked about him writing with his sister and how they managed to do it. Luckily they're on two different continents so that helps! :)
We had about an hour or so before the great ALATweetup, so we wandered around. But first we did managed to bring our books back to the car. It felt SO good to get those books off my shoulders! I swear I had about 65 or so! Books are heavy! One of the last places we headed to was Flux/Llewellyn booth. We chatted with them and saw all the pretty shiny books they've published. Maggie Stiefvater was proudly there as was a gorgeous display of Laurie Faria Stolarz' books. Those were being given away on Sunday, but I wasn't there.
We had such a great time and pictures were taken, so many people were met and talked to. Once I'm able to figure out how to post the pics from my phone I will. I still have to take the pictures of all the books I received. One thing I learned is Librarians really know how to party! :)
GiveawayGoodreads Book GiveawayBack To Goodby Laura McCarthy BensonGiveaway ends April 07, 2017. See the giveaway details at Goodreads. |
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Sounds fun! Wish I could have gone.
ReplyDeleteCool! I wish I was able to go to fun events like this. :D
ReplyDeleteAh, I'm so jealous! Authors and librarians and books, it sounds like heaven!!
ReplyDeleteSo glad to see you had such a great time. I want to go to an ALA at some point, so love these kinds of posts to see what I can look forward to :-)