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As you are reading this, I am on my way to BEA! This is the first time I am going, and I remember when I sat around at home last year filled with insane and unhealthy jealousy toward those lucky people making their way to New York. I vowed that this year, I would attend, and unless I miss by bus (or get hit with one, I suppose), I will be there!ezgif-2798300660

But when you plan for BEA, you learn a lot of things. As someone who started planning before last year’s conference had even begun, I have come across a lot of information. As someone who is an obsessive planner, I probably came across more information than is necessary. So if you are really quite pissed at me right now for being at BEA, and want to start planning for yourself (next year, it’s in Chicago, if that helps you!), here’s a few things I have found out along the way:

1. Hotel information is a closely guarded secret.

This is akin to say, the government’s response to Area 51. No one will discuss it, and if you ask about it, answers are vague. Even posts talking about BEA planning are surprisingly closed off about the “where did you stay?” questions. I get it, I am sure those people value their hotel and don’t want to be screwed out of a room by telling everyone and their mom about it. But it makes it hard to know in advance if you are booking a decent hotel or a cesspool of rats and brothels.

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2. Booking said hotel is scary.

See aforementioned cesspools and rat brothels (oh wait, that’s different…), and add in concerns like bedbugs, roaches, cocaine, whatever the kids are doing these days. Is some guy on bath salts going to come in and eat my face? I don’t know! And that is the problem. There’s only so much you can gleen from online reviews before you just have to jump in blindly, and hope it works out so that you can tell absolutely no one for the next 366 days (2016 is a leap year, guys) where the hell it was.tumblr_mz3hsrqO4F1rpcl4mo1_500

3. You’ll worry more about stupid stuff than anything important.

I spent a week obsessing over flip flops, and spent the entirety of today (Sunday) having a complete meltdown over lanyards. This is not just me, there was a whole group of people on Twitter experiencing the same meltdown. Yeah, I could be worried about the hotel, or using public transit for the first time ever, or packing or whatever, but nope. Let’s worry about whether the badges are vertical or horizontal. That’s a good use of time.

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4. Take a Blog Hiatus.

You’ll see here that I am not following my own advice, and I regret that. Of course, I am also way too obsessive to not post anyway, because I do worry that during the week I am gone you shall all flee the premises and forget that I ever existed. I don’t know if this is delusions of grandeur, or quite the opposite. I’ll let you figure that one out.WE-WERE-ON-A-BREAK-jenjen_bunny-30737469-272-200

5. You’ll worry about your clothes in December… but you still won’t have decided in May.

Yeah, this will be a source of nightmares, unless you are a super secure individual and then hey, bravo! I started thinking about what I was going to wear literally last year when I saw people’s pictures. I am leaving in about 36 hours and I still don’t know. Pants? Skirts? Dresses? I wish we had a uniform, and also, I miss high school.ezgif-3655364073

6. Get homesick easily? Start crying about a week out.

Seriously, make sure you’re nice and soggy for the ride. A few things I have cried over so far, and I haven’t even left:

  • The thought of leaving my kids, which includes every single mundane thing I do with said kids.
  • Missing my parents, even though I really only see them once or twice a week anyway.
  • Being jealous of my kids because they get to hang out with my mom and dad all week.
  • Being jealous of my mom and dad because they get to hang out with my kids all week.
  • My lack of outfits
  • My outfits not fitting into my suitcase
  • Holly being on the bus alone (seriously this made me cry)
  • Missing all my stuff, and my bed, and my pillow
  • My kids potentially missing me and being upset
  • My kids potentially not caring at all that I have left
  • Probably a dozen other things

The struggle is real.

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7. No matter how much people tell you you will not be able to do everything, schedule it all anyway! 

We’ve made and altered schedules at least 20 times, and my rational mind knows I will miss things, but my anxious mind will not and cannot accept it. There’s color coding, there’s last minute additions, and I even brought highlighters that smell like fruit so we can alter them on a whim. Seriously, I am overthinking. A lot.ezgif-2482732497

8. You will feel like you know nothing.

Even after doing all applicable research (and Twitter stalking of every publisher, author, and blogger you know), you still feel like you aren’t at all prepared. You don’t know what you’ll be doing, where you’ll be going, how you’ll get there, or any other relevant piece of information. I, for one, feel like I will be fumbling around the Javits Center like a toddler who is just learning to walk. Where do I go? What do I say? Will I end up in a coat closet somewhere? Likely.

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9. You will promise to let your bookish friends know what actually happens! 

Did I embarrass myself? Did we end up in a rat infested hellhole? What about the lanyards!?! How much did I cry? Did Val and Holly sleep in Central Park because they couldn’t put up with my nonsense? That is all stuff you have to stay tuned for, loves!

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Try not to miss me too much while I’m off fighting cockroaches and gaping at famous people. I shall miss you all 😀

Posted May 27, 2015 by Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight in BEA, Discussion, Discussion Challenge / 33 Comments

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33 responses to “Lessons From a BEA Newbie

  1. Shannon! This post is so cute and I mean that in a “Poor Shanon’s all stressed out, aw” kind of way! I love how you’re jealous of your kids and your parents for being able to hang out with each other. I promise, no one is going to forget you existed because you’re taking a short hiatus and surely not for BEA of all things.

    It’s funny you mention hotels, I was actually randomly wondering about that earlier. Just because I’ve never seen anyone talk about them. At all. Not really anyway. It is totally on an Area 51 level.

    As you know, Holly survived the bus ride alone! We tweeted quite a bit. I would totally be the one to worry about something as mundane as lanyards compared to, oh, where I was staying or how I was getting to the hotel or anything like that. Ha.

    Okay, so you might FEEL like you know nothing, but you probably know SOME things, unlike Jon Snow (Game of Thrones reference). I can understand that though.

    YES, YOU MUST LET ME KNOW EVERY. SINGLE. DETAIL. I HAVE TO LIVE IT ALL THROUGH YOU.

    I hope you have tons of fun (which of course you will) and I shall be here awaiting your return.

    . . .

    Are you back yet?

    😉

    • People seriously do NOT mention hotels by name EVER. Even after BEA is over, it’s still “the hotel we stayed at” and never “Cockroach Inn”. Good thing though, next year won’t be as insane, because Chicago is less insane. The bad part is, the only hotel I have stayed at in Chicago was a HUGE suite in the Radisson so…. that won’t work!

      I promise, LOTS of details to come! It has been so hectic trying to get back into the swing of things, but I promise ALL the details soon!

  2. I’m going to just save this post for when I finally get to BEA (I will do it someday. I WILL.) I love how you started off with practical concerns (also, you should totally round up a bunch of bloggers at BEA and have them spill their hotel secrets in a post) and then just went on to ramble about the trivial things you’re worried about. But I’m sure you’ll do fabulously — let us know how it goes!

  3. Sam

    This was fun for me to read, as I just dropped my daughter and one of her co-bloggers at the train station — heading for BEA. Have fun today!

  4. I love this post! I am such an obsessive person and such a planner that I am pretty sure I would be worrying about ALL OF THIS and so much more if I were going. Now I am insanely curious about the deal with the lanyards. I hope all works out with them!

    • The lanyards ended up not being a problem… well, almost. They were JUST paper, and they had these weird suspender-type things as a lanyard. Well, mine kept getting caught on my tote and almost ripping my badge, so I swapped it out for my own lanyard, because there were already holes punched (win!) and everything was fabulous!

  5. Dude, I’m not going and even I’m worried about all those things (although not the children parts, since I don’t have any) but try to have fun too! Please say you’ll be doing a post-BEA post? Can’t wait for it! 😀

  6. I think you might actually be more anxious than I am, how is it even possible ? I hope once you’re there, and settled, and meeting other bloggers, you’ll be having so much fun you’ll completely forget about all this 🙂 ENJOY !!!

  7. Haha, oh my gosh, I can’t wait to see your update when you get back! I hope you’re having a fabulous time!

    So, you sound a lot like me when I went to comic-con. All the overthinking everything, all the schedules(though my schedules never worked out because I kept losing them! By the second time my brothers and I went we just started writing the days schedule on our hands so we wouldn’t easily forget anything!) Also, all my homesickness is always focused on my cats… =D Personally, I wouldn’t worry about a hotel simply because I have stayed in some creepy crappy places so I don’t fear them anymore! I am so jealous of you guys though! Unfourtantly for me, BEA is just too far away! Even in Chicago!

    • Thank you so much! It was really fun! I mean, yes, I freaked out for a bit when I first got there, but then I was FINE! And like, I got really good at talking to people and asking people stuff, which was so great for me! It was probably one of the best things that I have ever done.

      And dude- make Chicago happen 😉 Seriously!

  8. I LOOOL’ed at this post so hard especially the crying a week earlier post. The BEA is happening right where I love in NY, but I’m too scared to go there this year. I hate big crowds and the paranoia of getting trapped if that makes sense. I hope you have a blast there though! I look forward to seeing your book haul and event related posts soon. PICTURES PICTURES <3

    • Aww thanks! I did take quite a few pictures, so I will try to find a good way to post them all! And I know what you mean about the crowds, I was so nervous, but luckily it wasn’t bad AT ALL! The place is so big that even though there are lots of people, it doesn’t even seem that way. It’s so… airy!

  9. Six years blogging and I’ve never made it to BEA. I swear I’m going to go one day. Just to say I’ve done it and meet all my friends! And these are such good points and bless you for the exact right gifs to go with them. Have a great time!

  10. Thank you so much for this! I’m glad I’m not the only person who sits and obsessively reads advice articles about BEA even though I’m not going. I hope you have a blast at BEA – and get lots of great books to review!

  11. SEE THIS IS WHY I’M IFFY ON BEA. I feel like I’ll just be a mess because I can’t schedule to save my life. I’m not good at that kind of thing. Also crowds are either the best thing or the worst. There is no in between.

    • I am happy to report that it was all good! The crowds were 99.9% the BEST- there was one guy, I will talk about him in my recap 😉 and the whole thing was just so fun, all the people, and the books. WORTH IT. I hope you can make it one of these years- also, tons of people can help with scheduling! You can steal my schedule 😉

  12. This is hilarious, I can’t wait for your recap and whether you actually had to fight off cockroach invasions or threw up on your favorite author or something. 😀 I always either overthink or don’t plan at all – there is no middle ground for me. It can lead to me worrying about whether anyone will come to my birthday party six months in advance or to me standing in a Colombian airport with no clue what to put down for the where I’ll stay option in the we-might-let-you-enter-our-country form (I’m sure it has an actual name, but I’m also sure that one’s more fitting). My brain is a weird place. 😀

    I’ve never been to the US, but I still can’t comprehend how there’s so little public transportation! How do you get around?? I have to use it ALL the time. That said, nothing’s more scary than public transportation. 😀 And I always worry a little bit when I have to use it in a country where I don’t know how it works. It all worked out fine so far though, so I’m sure you’ll handle it fabulously!

    Have fun meeting tons of awesome authors and bloggers and generally enjoying the buzz of the bookish world!

    • A few good things: No roaches. No throwing up. Full recaps to come! 😉

      And the US is a hot mess about public transportation. I have ridden subways in freaking RUSSIA and not in the US (well, now I have, but not before!) But around here, you drive. There is no other way. Nothing is within walking distance to anything else unless you are in a BIG city, so… yep, if you don’t have a car, you’re basically non-functional!

  13. Very cute post! I’ve never been to BEA, but it sounds like a blast. Hope you had a great time, and can’t wait to see what you got.

  14. I can’t WAIT to hear all about it!!! I’m so sad that I didn’t go and get to meet you. Wish you were coming out to Chicago next year – I could totally help you out with that hotel thing. (Heck, you could stay at my house if you wanted and pretend that my kids are yours. I promise I’d totally let you have them!) LOL!

      • You are?! Woo hoo!! Technically, I live just over an hour away from McCormick Place, but if you’re driving during traffic times that number goes way up. I still think I’ll probably just commute during BEA next year (I’ll just have to get my butt out of bed early!) – it will be nice not to have to worry about storing up books for the whole week and getting everything home. It will also be very dangerous! 🙂 And of course, it will be MUCH cheaper! (You actually would be welcome to stay with us – you’d just have to decide if it would be worth it to you to not be right there near the convention center – it’s kind of a tough choice, even for me!)

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