So, oddly enough, even though I posted every day last week–which I never remember to do–I wasn’t even here! I was in the faraway land of New York City, and it was AWESOME. To be honest, I hated it the first day. It was outrageously hot and muggy and gross and not obviously sparkly and magical like I thought it would be. But I hate every new place the first day, so it doesn’t mean anything. I thought all the famous streets like Broadway or Fifth Ave would look *special,* but they looked like any other street, at least during the day. Broadway at night DOES sparkle–everything is lit up and beautiful and it’s always full of people and very amazing. The following picture doesn’t really do it justice, but it was the best I could get with my limited camera skillz.

From BEA 2010

I thought I would get lost in NYC, since I always get lost at home, but I was wrong! The streets of Manhattan are on a grid and I felt so independent because I could find anything and get anywhere under my own power. I was also the one in the group who was like, “Come on, guys, it’s only twenty or thirty blocks, LET’S JUST WALK.” I got a lot of walking done. It was this great primal, hunter/gatherer life of setting out each morning with miles and miles to walk throughout the day in search of food and socialization. And despite the heat and mugginess, I felt better and healthier than I have in a long time (and the humidity fixed most of my dry skin). It made me realize how dry it is where I live, despite the constant rain, and how I wish we had a little thing called sunlight.

From BEA 2010

Meeting up with people I’ve so far only known on the internet and finding out they’re even more fun to hang with in person was the best part of the trip. I met my agent, my editor, lots of other authors (mostly Tenners!) and bloggers. This pic is a bunch of us at the ill-fated Tenner lunch meet-up, where we walked several avenues in sweltering heat (and bad shoes), only to be turned away at the Burgers and Cupcakes place and have to hobble back to the Javits, where we ate a much needed food court lunch off on the floor.

From BEA 2010

One of the highlights of the trip for me was the signing I did at BEA. I got to the Javits (convention center where BEA was going on, aka giant glass building that someone told me leaks when it rains) at 10:00 unbreakfasted. I got breakfast at the food court, which was surprisingly grilled up right in front of me (and tasty and cheap) and then looked at my phone to see I only had 8 minutes to get to my publisher’s booth to be escorted to the autographing area. The exhibition hall was full of SLOW people who weren’t late to signings and apparently had all the time in the world to meander in front of me. (To my credit, I didn’t push anyone down or elbow anyone too hard.)

From BEA 2010

When I finally got to the Egmont booth, they told me my editor had already left, thinking I was there already. They said my fans were waiting, but when I got to the autographing area, all I saw was a couple stragglers for the people signing before me, and then empty space. I thought, “My fans are waiting, huh?” BUT it turns out there was so much empty space because they’d gated off the signing area until I was ready to start. In fact, it turned out there was a huge line waiting. O__o I later found out that Khy, Mitali, and Sarah had been camped out at the front of the line for half an hour. Probably a huge number of people in line were there on threat of death from Gail, who has been known to beat people with my book. (And now that it’s out in hardback, watch out!)

My editor had to ban anyone from taking pictures with me, because we didn’t have time, and he had to call for backup and implement the post-it notes system. It was only a half hour signing, and I signed as fast as I could, and we still had to turn a few people away at the end because there just wasn’t time. I was honestly not sure what to expect going into it. I knew at least some people would show up, because they told me they would, but I had no idea there would be such a large crowd!

This is a picture of the line, which I totally stole from Gail. They let me keep the poster, which I promptly framed. Best. Souvenir. Ever.

From BEA 2010

I stole this picture from Sarah. That’s me signing Mitali’s book, with my editor standing guard. (In Dia Reeve’s post, she referred to him as my “handler,” which made me feel like a wild animal. Or a spy. XD)

From BEA 2010

Since we were staying in Chelsea, everything was Chelsea ___, including this television studio. Since I’ve always wanted my own television studio, it was what I chose out of the many potential Chelsea items to capture on camera and take home with me.

From BEA 2010

And of course there was this lovely billboard across from the theater where we saw Promises, Promises. Apparently New York has bedbugs, and it’s a serious problem. If someone you love has been plagued by bedbugs, make sure you get them the help they need. /sarcasm

From BEA 2010

And since I don’t want to end this post with a picture of bedbugs, here’s a pic of the one and only Vordak.

From BEA 2010