A Thousand Lives Lived: BEA 2015 Recap: Day 2

Day 2: May 28, 2015

Day 2 was really what I was waiting for from all of BEA. Jokes, I wanted to see all of it, but Thursday was also known as the gorgeous day that incorporated the 7:30-9:30 Harlequin Teen Breakfast at the Javits itself! My, when I got the invitation, my heart exploded into millions and billions of sparks. And then, I realized that I wasn't a true New Yorker and didn't know what could really happen.

NYC traffic is horrendous. If one thinks that Toronto traffic, or traffic anywhere else is bad, they should take a trip to NYC.

I left my Jersey hotel around 7, and expected to be a little late, maybe around 30 minutes, maximum? And hey, it lasted for two hours, so there was much to see. When (at least) trying to get close to the Lincoln Tunnel to the city, it took about more than an hour and a half of stalling in the gross traffic to finally get inside. Ew.

By the time my mom and I entered the Center, it was close to 10:00. That means that I: missed the breakfast completely and the chance to meet amazing authors (ie. ADI ALSAID, JLA, KATIE MCGARRY!), completely missed Alexandra Bracken's signing of Passenger, another crazy-needed read of BEA, and wasn't even there at the Centre when it opened. PEOPLE ALREADY GOT STARTED ON THEIR DAY AND I WAS STUCK IN TRAFFIC. Ew, again. Excuse me for my ranting, but I was in a huge state of shock. Never staying in a Jersey hotel again. -_-

But Wednesday was amazing. I got my signing-shoes ready and was all set to hit the floor and run around for the whole day. First stop? The BEA Young Adult Editor's Buzz Panel downstairs. I heard so many awesome things about this panel, and I figured that it'd be my only panel that I'd be visiting this time around for time's sake. I arrived a little late, but did get to hear a bit about Nightfall, and all of Zebulon Finch and This Raging Light. The editors' speeches and lectures were ultimately fabulous, and this encouraged me to want to go into the publishing industry someday and work as an editor, perhaps!

Here are the editors and other awesome peeps who put this together!

All of the novels sounded so intriguing and of course, I got my hands on them all! *photos below with haul* This year's beauties were:

Everything, Everything, by Nicola Yoon
This Raging Light by Estelle Laure
Dream Things True by Marie Marquardt
Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski
The Death and Life of Zebulon Finch by Daniel Kraus

And the rest of the day involved tons of more intense fangirling. Like, here's a photo of me with the fabulous authors of Elusion, Claudia Gabel and Cheryl Klam!

Ew. I look horrible, but the ladies OBVIOUSLY look stellar!

I literally died and was out of words to say when I came up to them in line! I can't wait to read Etherworld!

Moving on, I felt like I REALLY got to know the Centre by this day. I could find the big publishers' booths with my eyes closed! Around 12:30, I headed to the Penguin Random House booth to grab a ticket for this:

YES. I ALMOST DIED WHEN I GOT IT.

Can I just cry and bawl again? Ultimate fangirl mode. I planned on heading to this signing since my BEA schedule became real, but I was unsure if I'd actually get the chance, since you know, IT'S JULIANNE MOORE. I love her to death, she's such an inspiration, gorgeous inside and out! Here's starstruck me with the amazing her:

HI! OMG YOU DON'T KNOW ME BUT I LOVE YOU.

AGGGGHHHH! I also met two fabulous ladies in line who kept me entertained although the line wasn't even official?: OMG, I forgot your names but you know who you are if you see this! (You guys were hilarious!) I will never look at a blue tote bag the same way ever again! (Let's hope the guy found his own eventually.) Well that was amazing.

Did I mention that I MET DAVID LEVITHAN? I was in the line for Will Walton's signing (who was one of the most memorable, funniest authors I met), and David was writing everyone's names down for personalization for the copy. I wasn't completely sure if it was him (as we usually are), and then I read his badge and it all made sense. Here's a snippet on how our conversation went like:

David: Hi! What's your name?
Me: Mmmiicheeellleee... Oh my gosh, it's you!
David: It's me!
Me: Agh, you're my favourite author and it's amazing to meet you!
David: Thanks, but I'm just an ordinary guy...
Me: NOO! You're not, haha. Thank you so much!

My insanely good stalker skills helped me quite a bit here, I was too nervous to ask him to take a photo with me! *slaps forehead* I was so dumb.

Looking great, DAVID!

Now that we've come to this stage, I really feel like noting how awesome the publishers are. KUDOS TO:

Penguin Random House
Macmillan
Simon and Schuster

for being SO organized with your lines and knowing exactly how to make people smile. Your booths were the highlights of my trip and I had so much fun exploring them! Tickets and publicists holding lines together and controlling crazy people? THAT'S THE BEST WAY TO DO IT ALL. Thank you so much for making this trip forty times better. *sends love and hugs*

Ready for my haul? I know you are, I know you are! Thank goodness I brought a luggage this time, or else I would never have been able to lug anything this time. My shoulders were killing from Tuesday, and this was a breeze!