Thursday, June 3, 2010

The Big Post BEA '10 Post

The title is pretty post-tastic, isn't it? Alrighty, I have my photos now, my stories are all lined up and a hefty amount of redacting has been done to protect the guilty. :-) BEA last week was an absolute blast. Long, exhausting, foot achingly amazing!

I arrived on
Monday afternoon and was lucky enough to have dinner with Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit, Anna of Diary of an Eccentric and her daughter, known on her blog as 'The Girl', but whom I now refer to as 'T.G.' It was so much fun and I can't thank them enough for meeting up with me. It's a long train ride from Queens and I know they were hungry!

On Tuesday, I attended several of the seminars at Javits. In the past, I never attended on this day, instead saving my energy for the three days of the on the floor madness of BEA. But since BEA was only two days this year, I decided to try it out. I'm so happy I did!


The Building Online Reader Communities with an Eye on ROI (return on investment) was pretty
awesome. From the picture, you can see moderator Charlotte Abbott (far left), a publishing journalist and digital content strategist, Kelly Leonard to her right, who works in online marketing for Hachette, Neil Strandberg, manager of operations at Tattered Cover (@tatteredcover), and author Richelle Mead (@richellemead). They chatted Facebook, Twitter, building an online presence for authors, and connecting with the book loving audience. You know how much I love that! Attendees were invited to tweet #readcom during the event, and a large screen offered us a live feed of what folks were tweeting. I wasn't able to connect to the internet in the cavern this panel was held in, but it was super helpful to see who was in the room by their tweets. Q&As held via tweet? How sweet it is...

But my absolute favorite panel of the day was titled: 7x20x21. I remember people talking about
how much they liked this one last year and was pretty excited to make it this time around. (Thanks again to Ami Greko @ami_with_an_i and Ryan Chapman @chapmanchapman for hosting!)

Each presenter was given 7 minutes to speak. They were allowed 20 powerpoint slides, with the slides changing every 21 seconds. There is a story behind how the style of this presentation came about, but aside from recalling that it was Asian in influence, I'm sorry to say that I don't remember it. :-/


Jennifer Egan kicked it off by relaying a chapter of her upcoming
book using images created in powerpoint. She shared the she had never used powerpoint before and was curious how it could project her story. It was pretty incredible to see how she illustrated emotion with empty spaces or large blocks of color and conversations with boxes and arrows that conveyed the flow and tone of the speakers. I'm still in awe with how wonderfully she did with this.

Ed Nawotka (@pubperspectives) gave my other favorite presentation. He's challenging us to 'teach literature backwards'. Instead of starting with the classics, begin teaching children about literature through contemporary works so you 'can help the living make a living'. It was hysterical and there was a lot of head bobbing going on as folks agreed with him.


After all that, it was BEA hustle and flow. I was thrilled to finally meet CaribousMom, which was such a treat since her and I have been online friends for several years now! (I stole this image from her post, which the pic is linked to)



I snagged a signed copy of The Passage ARC from Justin Cronin. Many of you already know the panic attacks I get from a chunkster even being in my house. I think I have the attention span of a goldfish, but from what everyone has told me, this one might be worth sticking it out for!



This is Artist Arthur at her Manifest signing on Wednesday. Thank you so much to the bloggers who were able to stop by and sought me out. It was an absolute madhouse in the Harlequin booth and I really appreciate those who took the time. I probably looked like a frightened rabbit trying to stay visible and out of everyone's way at the same time. Did I mention I get a teensy bit claustrophobic?

It was great to speak with her and talk about all the fun Manifest things we have coming up. And her husband was super nice, too.

I also met Adele Griffin (l.) and Lisa Brown (r.) in the Sourcebooks booth. They signed a copy of their book Picture the Dead for me and were such a delight to speak with. Who doesn't love people who wear period costumes for the promotion of their book? As a former theater major, I was in costume heaven! And the book is absolutely gorgeous, with the interior designed to look like a nineteenth-century scrapbook. Can't wait to read it!

BBC on Friday was such an amazing time. I can't thank everyone who pulled it together enough. It was vibrant and chatty, informative and light. I can see that this will soon be a BEA staple event.

In fact, BBC was so great, I stuck around too long chatting. Shocking. I think most folks who met me will agree that I'm not short on conversation! So while Natalie of In Spring It Is the Dawn, accompanied me (thanks for being my partner in the crosstown shuffle!), I made a mad dash to the subway, got to my friend's apartment, stuffed my newly acquired treasures into my suitcase (thanks BBC!) and took a (way too expensive) car service to the airport so I wouldn't miss my flight, only to find it....delayed. Awesome. So I stood around, jittery and sore of foot, looking a little like a lunatic (not enough to pose a threat to anyone, just enough so that people proabably felt sorry for and wanted to medicate me), until the plane finally showed up and ferried me back to Milwaukee. *happy sigh*

I was excited to get back, not just because I missed my
boyfriend and my friends, feared my cat would forget me, knew I had a ton of work to catch up on, but mostly because of this:


The view from the cabin my friends and I rented for Memorial Day weekend. It was the most perfect weather we have ever had for that weekend. Warm; not too warm, breezy; not too breezy. It was stunningly gorgeous for Wisconsin in late May. I stood in the water at the end of that pier with a gluten free beer in my hand, dug my toes in the sand, and forced my feet to forget they ached. In the hammock up on the patio, I napped in between chapters of Tinker and ate grilled meat until I hurt. It. was. beautiful.

I hope your week and weekend were just as lovely. A huge thanks to all of the bloggers I reconnected with as well as those I met for the first time. It was an incredible week and I'm almost ready to start planning the next one! Almost.

22 comments:

Brooke from The Bluestocking Guide said...

I will make it next year!

Alexia561 said...

Great recap! Sorry I missed you at the Harlequin signing! I looked for you, but couldn't find you in the huge crowd. Did get a signed copy of Manifest though, so not a total loss! :)

Debbie's World of Books said...

Looks like a wonderful time! I really hope to make it next year. I enjoyed The Passage but think I suffered from a little too much hype so my expectations were really high. So I was surprised it took me probably about 200pages to really get into it.

Lisa Roe said...

Debbie: There is definitely a lot of Passage hype. Good to know I should give it some time to get into it. And I hope you do make it next year! It is really something else. :-)

Bookfool said...

Oh, that looks like such fun. I'm kinda envious, although I was really happy to be home with my family all present, for once. :)

The Passage . . . I stayed in bed, today, because exertion is making me dog sick and read ALL DAY. I'm only on page 250 out of 766 (probably the combination of long, word-packed pages and Bookfool being a slow reader is just a bit much). Argh. This one might kill me. On the other hand, I already have several questions I'd like to ask the author because it's a fascinating story that had to have required an awesome amount of research. So, that's a positive.

Your Memorial Day fun spot looks absolutely amazing. I wanna go there.

Wendy said...

Great post, Lisa! It was so awesome to finally meet you in person :)

Michelle Stockard Miller said...

Looks like you had a great time. Wish I could have gone so I could have met you in person. And Jennifer Egan...wow! I LOVED her book The Keep. I can't wait to find out about her new book.

Also, wanted to let you know that I FINALLY finished Live a Life You Love. I'm so sorry it took me so long. I was sick for over a month with strep throat and some other crud. I'm still not completely well. My doctor feared I might have mono. Maybe I do. I never went back to find out...fail! Anyway, I enjoyed the book. I'm just not as fast with non-fiction. I will have my review up in the next couple of days.

Hope you had a nice Memorial Day weekend and are planning an awesome summer. =O)

bermudaonion said...

I hope your weekend was as fabulous as those photos look!

Stephanie said...

That cabin looks like the perfect place to read all your BEA books! I'm so glad I got to see you again, even if it was only for a few minutes.

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

It was simply fabulous meeting you! O already enjoyed workwith you - now I'm looking forward to more. :)

Lisa Roe said...

Bookfool: You would love the rental cabins this couple offers! Perfect for writing...I'll have to send you the link. :-) And I'm intrigued that you mention The Passage is based on a lot of research. I enjoy a story that requires that level of dedication!

Wendy: It was so amazing to get to chat with you! I can't believe it took us this long to meet!

Michelle: Ugh. I'm so sorry to hear you were sick for that long! And no worries on the time frame. Non-fiction isn't my quickest read either. I hope it's not the mono and you're up and kicking again soon!

bermudaonion: If I didn't think it would get messy, I would have held onto that house until someone pried me off of it! I can't wait to visit it again in fall...and winter...

Stephanie: You know what, I had a hard time reading anything that weekend! I tried and tried, but think my brain was overworked a bit. This weekend though, I'm already two in! woo-hoo! Back on the reading saddle again! lol.

Heather J.: It was so great to meet you, too!! And don't worry, you did a fantastic job moderating your panel! :-D

Bookfool said...

Lisa,

I'm really thinking you should hang onto The Passage and give it a go. It's huge, but it's so, so good. The farther I get into it, the more amazed I am. He's taken a bit of creative license in describing a couple of places with which I'm familiar, but . . . well, who cares? If I could sneak off to that cabin to read for two days, right now, I would. It's such a fascinating world that he's created.

I've love a link, thanks. :)

Melody said...

I enjoyed reading all the BEA posts! Looks like you all had a wonderful time!

Esme said...

Great recap-I cannot believe you had dinner with Anna and T.G-I was disappointed not to see them or Natalie.

Booksnyc said...

That view from the cabin looks wonderful and totally worth rushing back for!

Thanks for explaining 7x20x21 - I have seen it referenced since BEA but never knew what it meant!

Serena said...

Wonderful recap, and I cannot believe I missed the authors of Picture the Dead in period costume! UGH. Glad to see a shot of it though.

Also, that cabin view is breathtaking...Wish I had hopped the flight with you...stowed away in your suitcases or something! Gorgeous.

Luanne said...

Oh wow! Great time at BEA, a signed The Passage and a great cabin. I am soooooo jealous!

Teddy Rose said...

It looks like you had an awesome time. I am planning to come next year and have started saving. I would love to meet you f2f.

The cabin looks wonderful. I bet it was the perfect place to unwind from the hustle and sore feet of the BEA.

Lisa Roe said...

Alright, Bookfool, I'm in! I want to finish up everything else I'm reading at the moment and devote my full attention to The Passage. :-)

Thanks, Melody! I always complain about the exhaustion, but you're right, it was a lot of fun, too!

Esme: It's so difficult to organize and try to schedule face time with everyone, isn't it? It's frustrating to know that people I wanted to see were there, but I just didn't know where. :-/

Booksnyc: For some reason, 7x20x21 was not listed in what I called the BEA Bible. I only found out about it from a friend. It's so worth finding and checking out next year! It was a nice break from the panels.

Serena: Stowing away in my bags would have been a huge problem! I had the books from BBC stuffed in there and they ended up making me check bags b/c I had so much going on! lol. I seriously encourage anyone looking to relax to check out a cabin on a lake in Wisco!

Luanne: I actually forgot to mention that I also met Nelson DeMille and Paul Harding (author of Tinkers, winner of the Pulitzer Prize), so all in all, this was a heavy hitter sort of BEA!

Teddy Rose: I'm going to start paying for things little by little so the cost doesn't hit me all at once. Secure hotel now...purchase flight a few months from now...get shoes in fall...that sort of thing. And YES, we will meet! :-)

Paula Schuck said...

Wow! I am in awe. That view is incredible and also the BEA sounded like a great time. I will meet you there one year soon.

I hadn't heard of The Passage yet..766 pages. Yikes.

Paula

Anonymous said...

The pics from your cabin make me want to take a vacation right now. I certainly could use some peace and quiet.

It was so great to meet up with you again!

--Anna

Jenny Girl said...

Gotta take a lake cabin vacation someday. Those pics are gorgeous. Glad you had a wonderful week at BEA and finally met some of those bloggers in person. It helps to have name with a face. Thanks you for sharing :)