NYC & BEA, Here I Come!

*blink blink* I have emerged from my writing cave!

I haven't been blogging much lately or really doing anything but writing for a week. On Saturday, I wrote a long blog entry over at the MTV Books blog that talks about my struggles with writing for the past year or so and my breakthroughs and rediscovery of my love of writing through this new manuscript I'm working on. So if you've been wondering why I wasn't online much and what I've been up to, check it out here. I may blog some more about those things this week, but we'll see. I've got some live blogging planned for next week because.... I'm going to New York!!!!

Yep, when I finished up the 100 pages that I sent to my agent on Thursday, I realized that my trip had completely sneaked up on me!

I leave to New York on Sunday the 23rd and I'm actually staying with my agent (yes, I realize this is unusual, but that's just how Caren and I are.) and she pointed out that I can and should live blog from my trip, so barring any unforeseen technical difficulties, that's the plan!

Here are the details of the events I'm doing. This is my first trip to New York or the East Coast at all since my books came out, so I would love to see/meet as many of my NYC/East Coast friends/fans as possible :)

Monday May 24th from 5 to 8 pm, I'll be at the Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library (425 Avenue of the Americas [at 10th St.]) as part of the TEEN AUTHOR CARNIVAL! I cannot tell you how excited I am about this event. There are going to be at least 30 YA authors there and I'm going to be having some major fangirl moments. I'll be on a panel at some point during the evening and then I'll just be hanging around, signing, talking to people, handing out swag, and swooning over the other authors who I still cannot think of myself as on the same level as.

Wednesday May 26 from 6 to 8 pm, I'll be at Books of Wonder (18 West 18th Street) as part of the Suspense, Magic, and Romance for Teens and Tweens event. Again, cannot express my excitement because it's another loooooong list of cool authors that I'll be hanging out with including Linda Gerber, Melissa Walker, Erica Kirov and Jessica Burkhart my sisters from Teen Fiction Cafe (Jess no longer blogs with us, but will always be our sister!). I see in the description that I was mistakenly referred to as an L.A. Times bestseller (I wish! They just reviewed me), but regardless it will be a blast and I'll be signing copies, talking about my books and doing Q&A with the other authors.

And then there is Book Expo America (BEA):

This is the main reason I'm going to New York. I have never been to BEA, the premier North American publishing event, so this year I applied for a grant so that I could attend. I can't wait to wander the exhibit hall, looking at all the forthcoming titles from all the publishers. In fact, I'm so overwhelmed by the magnitude of BEA, I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with myself.

I bought tickets (since I had grant money) to the Children's Book & Author Breakfast and the Author & Book Breakfast on Thursday (because Jon Stewart is the master of ceremonies!) even though both are at ungodly early hours for me (8 am... which is 7 am my time... sleeping pills will have to be used), but um, what else to do???

So BEA experts (or newbies who have had more planning time than me), what are the must-do's/must-see's at BEA this year or in general?

And if you are going to BEA, I hope you will add my event to your list. Melissa Marr was kind enough to invite me to do a panel with her. Here are those details:

“YA Authors Crossing Over Panel, Wednesday, May 26th at 11 am (Midtown Stage)

Participants: authors Melissa Marr (WICKED LOVELY series, GRAVEMINDER forthcoming from William Morrow in 2011), Jennifer Donnelly (REVOLUTION and THE WINTER ROSE), Stephanie Kuehnert (BALLADS OF SUBURBIA and I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE), Michele Jaffe (ROSEBUSH and BAD GIRL); moderated by Elissa Petruzzi (Romantic Times Magazine)

Young adult authors are branching out to write novels for adults, while many successful adult authors are taking a crack at writing for teens. How do these authors write responsibly for both age groups, and how far is too far when it comes to promoting their adult novels to teens? And how do these authors tell a good story while also being mindful of a potentially younger than intended readership?

NYC Suggestions?:

So those are my three events. And I'm sure I'll be kept pretty busy at BEA on Wednesday and Thursday and meeting up with my NYC friends, agent Caren, and my author friends who will be in town for BEA, but...... On the off chance I do get some free time, does anyone have any fun, punky shopping recommendations in NYC? How about vegan-friendly food? Cool rock 'n' roll dive bars? I really don't expect much free time at all (though I do expect to meet up with people over food and drinks so those last two things are probably the most important), but I am happy for recommendations just in case. Or for other quirky must-sees in New York. I've done all the touristy stuff (Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building & Coney Island) on previous trips.

Radio Interviews:

Oh and I did two interviews a few weeks ago that you can listen to online now and since I was in the writing cave, I didn't get a chance to tell you about them.

Rick Kogan, who is like a freakin' legend and writes for the Chicago Tribune and does a radio show on WGN Radio called the Sunday Papers interviewed me at a very early hour one Sunday and we had a lot of fun. He also called BALLADS "a masterpiece" and I nearly fainted. You can listen to that here.

Brandon Wetherbee interviewed me in front of a live audience for his You Me Them Everybody podcast at the Hungry Brain a few weeks back. Since he's an Oak Parker, we talked a bit about the real locations in BALLADS, and about bartending and the interview is just generally ridiculous and hilarious. You can find that here.

Okay, I think that is it.... now to tend to that email I neglected for so long!