Ah, BookExpo...

BookExpo rocks. It's a huge industry conference with tons of freebies - and this year, I actually got work done, too. Met lots of interesting folks and talked Cosimo up like crazy, so let's hope something comes from it. Got to see a Google BookSearch demo, which is intriguing. Got Lane Smith's autograph on his new book, John, Paul, George and Ben, for Will and was pleased to discover that he's a really nice guy - when I mentioned that Will's birthday was coming up and that he was a huge fan, he drew George Washington holding a birthday cake and wrote, "Happy Birthday, William!" on the book. All in all, a great time. And I'm still suffering zombie-like tendencies from the weekend.

It started at 5 a.m. on Friday morning, when I dragged myself into the shower. Got to LGA for 5:45, was on a plane by 7 a.m., in D.C. by 8:15. Got to the hotel by 9, only to be told by the hotel staff that my boss had not in fact dropped my BEA pass off at the front desk. After an hour of borderline hysterical phone calls, my boss finally got in touch with me, swearing up and down he left the pass at the hotel the night before. After a terse discussion with the incredibly unhelpful staff at the Doubletree, they managed to 'find' the envelope - clearly marked with my name and Michelle's name, whose room I was sharing. It was in clear sight the entire time, so I have no idea how they managed to tell me it wasn't there. No apologies offered, I grabbed my badge and took off to the convention center.

Made the 10 a.m. blogging seminar, which had an interesting enough panel but the Q&A was kind of rudimentary. I ducked out and went on my search for books.

Met Michelle for lunch, only to be told that the cafeteria had run out of food. Go ahead, read that line again, I'll wait. Yes, they ran out of food. We ended up eating at the hotel l0unge later on.

Hit the bed by 9 but didn't sleep well - I think I was just really distrustful that the alarm and/or the wakeup call would work because if I missed my plane, Will would never speak to me again. Got up at 5 a.m. again, down in the cab by 5:45, ate a very tasty bagel from the Chesapeake Bay Bagel kiosk by my gate (their coffee was awful, though - basically water with a coffee-flavored accent), was back in the air by 7:35. At LaGuardia picking up my bags by 8:45, and at Will's birthday party at the Nathan's on Old Country Road in Westbury by 10:30, drinking another coffee (love that New York water).

I am woman. I am tired.

More to come!