BEA 2013

Just got back from BookExpo America (BEA), an annual publishing industry convention. Five days filled with tons of wonderful people who love books!  It was fantastic!

My BEA started on Tuesday when I arrived at a pre-BEA party at Books of Wonder (one of my favorite bookstores in the world), and it ended on Saturday after I was on a BEA panel about SF/fantasy with Laura Anne Gilman, Leanna Renee Hieber, and Jeri Smith-Ready that was more fun than riding a sparkly unicorn across a meadow of cheering leprechauns.  And you know those leprechauns can cheer.

You can watch the entire panel here.  I start talking at just shy of 4 minutes in.



Other highlights included the Children's Art Auction on Wednesday, my signing on Friday (So much fun! Thank you, everyone!), and the elegant and awesome Harlequin party on a rooftop bar with a gorgeous view of the Chrysler Building.  Wish I'd taken photos.  Just picture Manhattan at its prettiest.

All in all, it was a great week, and I'm already looking forward to next year!

Reading About Writing

I love reading about writing.

When I first decided that I wanted to be a writer, one of the first things that I did was empty my hometown library of every "how to write" book I could find. I poured over those books, taking copious notes as if I were unlocking the secrets to the universe.

I was ten years old, and I believed that books held the answer to every question, the solution to every problem, and the map to every dream.

Okay, I still believe that.

These days, one of my favorite things to do online (along with checking out cake wrecks and fashion commentary) is read about writing. In case you're interested, here are a bunch that I bookmarked recently:

"The Ever-Popular I Suck Playlist" by Libba Bray

"How Not to Bug the F*** Out When Writing a Novel" by Chuck Wendig

"'Don't listen to them. They're both wrong.' And other reasons I love Steven Tyler" by Jo Knowles

"Making Story Happen" by Laini Taylor

"How to Steal Like an Artist" by Austin Kleon

"Writing Better" by Megan Crewe

"Choose Your Own Adventure" by Jessica Tudor

"And the Magic Begins" interview with Terry Pratchett

"Love What You Love" by Ray Bradbury (via Boing Boing)

"Our Best Advice for Writing Fantasy" on Enchanted Inkpot

"How Science Fiction Movies Can Help You Write Novels" by John Scalzi

"How to Survive a First Draft" by Delia Sherman

"Writing Weirdness" by Carrie Jones

"The Things That Save Us" by Terri Windling

Anyone have any writing-about-writing links you'd like to share? Any favorite writing-related sites or blogs?

In addition to reading about writing, I've also learned a lot about writing and publishing by hanging out with all manner of bookish people every chance I get, which is exactly what I'll be doing this week. I'm headed to Book Expo America (BEA), a huge gathering of booksellers, publishers, authors, etc at the Javits Center in NYC. Really looking forward to it!

Off to BEA!

Off to the candy store of the publishing world, Book Expo America! For those of you who haven't been, BEA is an annual event where publishers present their upcoming books to booksellers, and authors claim to be "networking" to hide the fact that we're really just rooting through the exhibit hall looking for free books like pigs looking for truffles. Last time I went, I told myself that I was not there to collect books and therefore did not need to bring an extra bag. Naturally, that meant that I came home with several new bags filled to the brim with books. Bad Sarah. This year, I am bringing an extra bag.

I will be there on Friday and Saturday. If you're attending and see me wandering about, please come say hello! If you're not attending... I'm going to try to tweet from the event. (No promises. I've never tweeted while at an event before. I may get distracted by shiny things.) Anyway, if you're interested, you can follow my tweets here.