In regards to recent books events which I have attended...

There comes a time in every book bloggers life (okay, my life in particular) where one no longer knows how to handle book signings and events. Why? Because as much fun as they are, they can get a little overwhelming.

Why am I bringing this up now? Well, truth is, I don't know what to write about all the book events I go to anymore. Should I post pictures and give a short account of all that transpired? Should I mention everyone I saw and met? I mean, I'm pretty sure there's a decent amount of you guys who enjoy my book event posts, so I don't want to bore (with repetitive details) or annoy (with dropping names) anyone here.

So, for the time being, I will stick with a (hopefully) brief rundown of the last three book events I went to.

On January 19, I went with Mitali from Alley of Books to the Borders at Columbus Circle to see David Levithan. Yes, I have already seen David Levithan many, many times before, but this was the first event I went to for David's first adult novel, The Lover's Dictionary. Though I have not read it, and don't know if and when I will ever have the time to get around to it, I thoroughly enjoyed everything that David read from it. He is truly, in my own humble opinion, a magnificent writer on top of being an editor extraordinaire.

David Levithan reading from The Lover's Dictionary

Then, on January 28, I took a roundabout way to Brooklyn to see Lauren Oliver, Anna Jarzab, and Leila Sales at WORD. I was a little late to the event, and thus I made it in time only to hear Lauren read from Delirium and the the panel, titled YA Not? It was thoroughly enjoyable to hear such intelligent people share their thoughts on YA, publishing, and everything in between. I was particularly excited to learn the titles of the final two books in the Delirium trilogy, which will be Pandemonium and Requiem. Squee!

The discussion was so scintillating that I forgot to take pictures. Let me clarify, I took a couple of pictures when I just got to WORD, but then I stopped. And I refuse to post those pictures, because, frankly, they're just terrible, which makes me sad. However, I have borrowed this picture from a couple of other bloggers in attendance from First Novels Club.

Anna Jarzab, Leila Sales, and Lauren Oliver (thanks to Donna for this picture)

After that is when things got a little crazy. I met people. Lots of people were there. Interesting and nice people, publishing people, book bloggers, authors, soon-to-be-published writers, and the like. People including Mitali from Alley of Books, Donna and Frankie from First Novels Club, Lenore from Presenting Lenore, author Alexandra Bracken, soon-to-be-published Jocelyn Davies, Lauren Oliver's publicist, not to mention the fabulous featured ladies, Anna Jarzab, Leila Sales, and Lauren Oliver and everyone else in attendance.

Then I tagged along with the First Novels Club ladies to KidLit Drink Night, where, initially, I recognized about one person in the room, that being J.A. Yang, who I've seen at a couple of other events. A lot of people in attendance were from out of town and visiting for SCBWI, so that may have been a factor. I spotted (or was spotted by) a fabulous editor that I work with at Lee & Low, Stacy Whitman, and warmed up to a couple of authors, but frankly, I was way too overwhelmed to meet more people than I did.

Moving to NYC has been the biggest and most welcome change in my life. I moved here particularly because I wanted to get involved in the book publishing industry. I wanted to meet people! What I never anticipated, though, was how many people I would meet. It's really exciting, but it's kind of scary at the same time. Hopefully, the more I do this, the easier it will get!