Finally, it’s my last post about BEA 2014! (But you can still check out parts one, two, and three.) The biggest lesson I learned from BookCon is that I will (most likely) NOT be doing it again! It was absolutely INSANE. The prior days of BEA were limited to people with some type of connection to the publishing industry, but BookCon was open to the public; anyone who bought the (relatively inexpensive) ticket could come. As a result, the Javits was almost unbearably crowded, and the lines were ridiculous.

I had just two goals for the day: (1) get Cary Elwes’ autograph and (2) see the interview with Amy Poehler and Martin Short. First, Cary Elwes was set to arrive at 11:30, so I (feeling very wise and superior) decided to get in line at 10:00. And the line was already HUGE, snaking up and down corridors multiple times! Also, the poor girls in charge of wrangling the line didn’t really seem to know what they were doing. They kept directing us to move to different places and to shift positions…as a result, I’m pretty sure I ended up ahead of some people who got there before me. And meanwhile, some people came up to the line and jumped right in the middle of it, presumably unaware that there was a whole other segment of the line that they’d missed! In short, it was utter chaos. Fortunately, I did eventually get to the front of the line! This is what happened:

CARY ELWES: Hi, what’s your name?

ME: Christina.

CARY ELWES: Hi, Christina, I’m Cary. *extends hand to shake*

ME: *shakes hand* *swoons*

So that was pretty awesome. And I did talk to some really nice people in the line, so it wasn’t a total drag to be waiting there!

Then I immediately got in line for the Amy Poehler event, which was supposed to start at 12:30. I got in line at 11:30, and once again, the line was incredibly long already! I did eventually get a seat in the events hall, but I was in the very back, and I could barely see anything. (It didn’t help that some woman in front of me thought it would be appropriate to stand up so she could film the whole talk on her phone.) At least I could still hear them, though, and it was a thrill to listen to Amy Poehler (whom I love from “Parks & Rec”) talk about her career and her upcoming memoir, Yes Please!

(Books and swag from BookCon. Note the awesome button in the bottom right corner!)

When that was over, I thought about going to a couple more panel discussions…but honestly, I was wiped out! I went back to my hotel to chill out and read. In the evening I went to a local pub for the “Meet and Drink” activity sponsored by Katelyn from Tales of Books and Bands (host of the Tune in Tuesday meme!), Andrea from The Overstuffed Bookcase, Alexa from Alexa Loves Books, and Jen from YA Romantics. It was really fun to meet some great bloggers in a less hectic setting — and I definitely needed a drink by the end of BookCon! 🙂 I’ve begun following a bunch of new-to-me blogs, and I hope to increase my participation in the blogging community in the future!

This is what my suitcase looked like on the way home from BEA. My dirty clothes were flung haphazardly into a backpack. I’ve got my priorities straight!