We're Going to BEA 2014! (Rachel)

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READ. WRITE. RAMBLE. IS GOING TO BEA!!!!!!

BEA's website

Much like the above minions, Megan, Katherine, and I are all freaking out. Last year, we attended BEA on Power Reader day (you can read my perspective of the experience here), and since our experience was mostly positive, we decided that this year we'd register for the whole conference. So it's official! We're going to BEA!

Luckily, we only live an hour outside of NYC, so our commute to the Javits Center isn't bad at all. We'll be staying in a hotel close by for a few nights, but unlike a lot of people attending BEA, we don't have plans to do any sight-seeing or special New York activities when we're not actually at the conference. Because NYC is so close, we can kind of just visit whenever we want, so this trip is not nearly as exciting as it is to people who live farther away. I know a lot of bloggers have epic plans to do ALL THE NYC THINGS while they're in town for BEA, but since NYC isn't that exciting to us, we don't have to worry about cramming in all the fun things. This means we can relax in our hotel room everyday after the conference is over, which I'm sure will be good for our exhausted bodies. :)

So the only place you'll probably be able to find us is at the actual Javits Center on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We're making lists of the authors/panels/events we're most excited about, so we have a few things that we'll definitely get to. Other than that, we don't have any concrete plans other than walking around and hopefully meeting people and making friends and having an awesome time.

Since all three of us are going, we'll be able to split up and cover more ground if we so desire. We all have different things we want to do, so we'll most likely be wandering around by ourselves at some point. I personally have a little list of authors I'm excited to meet/books I'm excited to get a copy of during the conference, so if you're at BEA, chances are you'll be able to find me in line for the following authors:

-Scott Westerfeld (autographing session for Afterworlds on Friday, May 30 from 3:45 pm-4:45 pm)
-Libba Bray (autographing session for ???* on Saturday, May 31 from 11:00 am-12:00 pm) *the website says Libba Bray is signing The Diviners, but I believe she might be signing Lair of Dreams? Eh, I don't really care either way. I'm just excited to meet her because Libba Bray is awesome!
-E. Lockhart (autographing session for We Were Liars on Friday, May 30 from 1:00 pm-2:00 pm)
-Lauren Oliver (autographing session for Rooms on Thursday, May 29 from 10:00 am-10:30 am)
-Amy Zhang (autographing session for Falling into Place on Friday, May 30 from 1:30 pm-2:00 pm)
-Adi Alsaid (autographing sessions for Let's Get Lost on Thursday, May 29 from 11:30 am-12:30 pm* and Saturday, May 31 from 12:15 pm-2:45 pm) *I'll probably try to go to this one!
-Holly Black and Cassandra Clare (autographing session for The Iron Trial on Saturday, May 31 from 11:30 am-12:30 am*) *I might not make this one, but Megan should definitely be there!

I can't believe BEA is almost upon us! It's less than a week away! I'm both ridiculously excited and a little scared that I'm totally unprepared. It's going to be a crazy week, especially since I'm ditching school for this and will have a ton of make-up work when I get back. But it will be totally worth it, because obviously BEA is more important than silly things like Precalc quizzes and gym class. :)

I'd love to meet some of you internet people in real life, so if you're going to BEA please let me know so I can look out for you and say hi if I see you!

Here are some pictures of what I (and Megan and Katherine) look like, so you'll recognize us if you see us:

Lauren (she won't be at BEA so just ignore her :P), me, Maureen Johnson! (as far as I know, she won't be at BEA either :P), Katherine, Megan

Megan will be especially easy to spot because she is like six feet tall with bright red hair, like so:

Katherine looks like this (minus the winter clothes because, you know, it's May):

And for me, I recommend just watching one of my YouTube videos. This video is short and I only posted it a few days ago, so it's very accurate to what I look/sound like right now.

Are any of you guys going to BEA? Let me know down in the comments! What books/authors are you most excited about? Is this your first year going, or have you been before? I did attend one day of BEA last year, but I'd still appreciate some advice from long-time attendees if you have any! :)