BEA recap!

I'm a little late with my BEA recap, but sweet Moses was I exhausted when I got home. I slept on the entire six-hour flight back to L.A., came home, went to bed and slept for five hours, woke up totally disoriented, ate a sandwich and watched Mad Men with my husband, and went back to bed. SO TIRED. (Maybe going to Vegas the weekend before BEA wasn't the best plan...)

Anyhow, I'm caught up on sleep and feeling human again and here to tell you that BEA was excellent! I didn't spend a ton of time on the trade show floor, but how inspiring is it to be surrounded by thousands of book lovers? I got to meet fellow OneFourKidlit authors Susan Adrian and Erica Cameron (who came to my signing and got my very first ever signed ARC!), and lots of other awesome online writer friends. Hooray for meeting IRL!

One of the big highlights of the trip for me was that I finally got to meet and spend some time with my editor, Liz Szabla, who is utterly gracious and cool and reinforced my belief that I am working with the very best people. She also introduced me to fellow Feiwel author James Preller who is the nicest guy ever and has a new MG horror series coming out. Perfect Halloween gifts for my nephews, yes?

My ARC signing was on Friday, and it went splendidly. So bizarre and wonderful to meet people who are excited for my book! Here is photographic evidence of how I grinned like a maniac the entire time, with the delightful Anna Roberto of Macmillan looking on.

(Side note: Yes, I am aware that I hold my pen funny. I've always held it this way, except for a few years in elementary school where I was made to hold it the "right" way with a pencil grip. As soon as I was able to take the pencil grip off, I tried out this old way again, thought Yes this feels better, and never looked back. Sorry, most excellent Bruce Township Elementary teachers--you did your best.)

The whole experience went by so quickly, and I'm very grateful I had the opportunity to be there, meet so many incredible people, and learn so much. Now I'm settling in for the long haul (235 days to go!), and putting nose to the grindstone on book 2. It's definitely a different experience than writing the first book, but I'm learning a lot about myself as a writer (sloppy first draft! revisions are my friend!) and it's going pretty well.

A final word of BEA advice: If you're going to go, go with a friend. The fantabulous Liz Briggs flew out with me, and it was so nice so have someone to touch base with during the day and decompress with in the evening. Also, did you know that she has mad ninja skillz when it comes to getting highly coveted ARCs? I gave her my little wishlist, which included The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater and Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein, and wouldn't you know:

Ninja! <3