Now that I am back from BEA/BookCon, I am finally getting to my write-up for this amazing weekend! Getting home and back into the real world was a major let-down, and I've been busy getting ready for my first BEA. I had such a great time and already can't wait for next year!
This event just gets bigger and better every year. This is my third year attending, the second year with my husband along.
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| Bingo! |
The fun started Friday afternoon with a bingo party hosted by Winnie Griggs,Sharon Sala, Holly Jacobs, Liz Talley, and Lenora Worth. Instead of traditional bingo with a letter and number, they used the author's name and the title of one of their books. It was clever and I was mentally adding to my TBR list. I had a great time even before I won a goodie bag with a Kindle fire and some other fun stuff during the first game of blackout.
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| Kindle Fire and other good stuff |
Later Friday evening was the author Q&A. This is always fun as the authors get a random question that they pick out of a bowl. The questions ranged from questions about writing and books to "how did you meet Barbara Vey?" There were a lot of interesting answers. It was a fun and entertaining time. Even my husband enjoyed it. After the questions and answers, people stuck around for drinks and chatting with authors and other readers.
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| Tonya Kappes and the author formerly known as Jade Lee |
Saturday was the luncheon. First, you stop in to get your goodie bag to see the books and other good stuff in there. We took ours back up to our room so we didn't have to carry it around for the signing.
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| Bag room |
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| Books and swag from the bag |
This is also the time that you can buy raffle tickets for all of the available raffle baskets. The money goes to a different charity every year.
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| Raffle baskets |
The doors for the luncheon open at 10:30 and you can go in and chat with people and see all of the table decorations. The authors try to out-do one another with their tables and it is interesting to see what they come up with. I sat at Shiloh Walker's table. She brought alcohol, so she wins. :)
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| Shiloh Walker's luncheon table |
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| From the Shiloh Walker goodie bag |
The keynote speaker during the luncheon was Eloisa James. She spoke about not being ashamed of what you read, to embrace it and read what you like. She also talked about pouring yourself into your work as an author. She talked about how genre fiction is harder to write than literary fiction due to the fact that, since you know how it's going to end, it's harder to surprise the reader.
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| Eloisa James |
During the luncheon the authors each gave away a basket that they donated. At the end of the luncheon they drew tickets for the raffle baskets.
There were so many baskets to give away that it went all the way up to the author signing. The signing was set up much better than last year. This was an opportunity to chat with the authors, get books signed, and buy more books. This was a lot of fun.
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| Josie Brown |
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| Sharon Sala |
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| Tina DeSalvo |
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| Tiffany Snow |
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| Susan Elizabeth Phillips |
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| Nancy Naigle and Brinda WiLoveBooks (me) |
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| Eloisa James |
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| Brenda Novak and Brinda WiLoveBooks |
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| Julie Moffett |
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| Brinda WiLoveBooks and Tonya Kappes |
After the signing was pizza, followed by game night hosted by Eloisa James and Damon Suede. There were authors that rotated around the room for the games. The first was a game where each table had to pick their favorite book to pitch to the rest of the room. This resulted in quite an impressive list. There was also romance novel charades and a crazy game of Mad Libs.
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| Eloisa James and Damon Suede |
The Sunday morning breakfast was new this year. I sat with Toni McGee Causey, who was a new-to-me author. She is from New Orleans and had her table decorated with authentic Mardi Gras beads. Author Lauren Dane also sat at our table. The two authors had some interesting stories and it was a great time. Then Jade Lee made my husband blush from the next table, which was pretty funny.
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| Toni McGee Causey's breakfast table |
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| From Toni McGee Causey's breakfast goodie bag |
It was a fantastic weekend even though I was exhausted when I came home. Every author and reader I have talked to about this event says what a great event it is. I already have the date on my calendar for when tickets go on sale for next year.
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| Books and swag |
I brought so much stuff home with me. Authors donated books and swag for giveaways, and my husband came along. So let's have a giveaway!
Giveaway
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