OMG, I’m Attending the 2010 Book Blogger Convention and Book Expo America

I am THRILLED to be able to tell you that I am officially attending the 2010 Book Expo America (BEA) and Book Blogger Convention (BBC) in New York City May 25th – 28th.  (Actually, I’ll be leaving New York on the 29th.)  I’ve been thinking about going for months now, and last Thursday night, it finally became a reality for me.  If you have been on the fence about going yourself, you still have until Friday to register.

There are several reasons why I am able to attend – and the most important is that Pamajama offered up her spare bedroom so I won’t have to go broke paying for a hotel room.  She is so cool that she even will drive me to and from her home (when she can) to the convention in New York, which is over an hour away.  We’ve never met, just been blog buddies for a long time.  She is, in a word, AMAZING.  I can’t thank her enough, so please feel free to visit her blog or at least tell her how cool she is in a comment below.  Thanks again Pam, for making my dream come true! (A special thanks to my hard-working hubby who is footing my bill to New York.  He badly deserves a vacation and has went without one for over two years so that I can do things like go to the BEA/BBC or occasionally buy things, like my laptop.  You’re a good man, Charlie Brown.)

The only reason I can even afford to go is that I have mad skills in securing cheap airfare.  Sure, the BEA provides you with discounts in air travel, but I got an airline ticket to NY from Michigan for $183, when most tickets were around the $500 mark due to the holiday weekend.  I got the last seat on the plane!  Hell yes!  I haven’t worked since last September, and because I am in the business of civil service and non-profit work, I am NOT having any luck even getting an interview in my state with 15% unemployment.  To say I am stressed out about money is an understatement.  I don’t even own a car anymore.  I tried to win a free registration to the BBC, but the winners were announced over the weekend, and I wasn’t one of them.  (Boo hoo.)  Thankfully, the conference is very affordable at $115, and even includes two meals.

You may not understand why going is so exciting for me, so let me try to explain quickly.  Not only do I get to meet other book bloggers, but I will be meeting authors, agents, and a variety of publishing insiders.  The best part is that I will find out about 1,000′s of upcoming books.  I spend hours (and hours and hours) looking for good books to review, then emailing people asking for them, or reading emails about books being offered to me.  In the few days I will be in NY, I will have learned about so many new books my head will most likely spin right off.  Now, I read like crazy fast and on a rare day I can polish off three books.  I review around fifteen books a month, so between reading them and writing and promoting my reviews, the searching for good books has become a massive undertaking and a huge time constraint.

Books have been my one luxury item my whole life, even when I really was The Girl from the Ghetto.  When I lost my job and my book budget got slashed life became downright scary.  Reviewing books has been my lifeline, and the best part of the BBC and BEA is that I get free books.  As many as I can carry.  Seriously.  I read about one girl who attended the BEA last year and she took home 400 books.  Now, I love a good freebie, but 400 books?  I think that is absolutely ridiculous, but I do plan on trying to take home around 15-20 books.  I only want to get books that I want to read, not just because they are free and available.

Since there are around a 1,000 authors coming to this event, I am not going to meet all of them, or get all of their books (which, by the way, they do autograph for you!).  I’d die to meet Barbara Streisand, Joyce Carol Oates, or any of the other awesome authors who require a ticket to stand in their line.  I’d have to wake up at 5 am and then take an hour-long train ride just in the hopes I am lucky enough to get one of these tickets.  I’ve got my top eleven, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed I can at least meet most of them.

I have a million questions regarding the events, and since this is the first BBC ever, no one can really answer those but the organizers, and I don’t want to kill them with questions.  (I already had to bug them about veggie lunch options, as I only eat a handful of different types of meat.  Thank goodness they were cool about it.)  But, if you have been to the BEA in the past, please feel free to share any tips or advice or leave a link to a good website offering tips.  I am reading as much as I can this week to find stuff out, but I also have to run a book giveaway (come back late Monday night, it’s an INTERNATIONAL giveaway!) and write a few reviews this week, as well as read two books and volunteer and of course job hunt.  Help a girl out if you can.

I am dying to catch a broadway show (I’ve only seen one in NY in my life!)  but $ is my main obstacle.  If any of you readers wanna help sponsor a girl get some culture, and help feed my creative process, feel free to send me an email about sending me a donation to help fund my expenses.  I feel silly doing one of those Pay Pal things, or, even bringing this up to all of you, but I figure that some of you have enjoyed reading my blog, maybe even every day.  I know some of you have even read it for the entire two and a half years.  I work to entertain you for free.  There aren’t adds here, nor do I earn a dime from writing my blog.  Just think how much you pay for cable tv, magazines, bar nights, movies, concerts, books, etc.  If every one of my readers who were able to afford it sent me $5, I’d be able to go see a show, maybe even eat a steak dinner.  And then you can read all about it, and if you want, I’ll give YOU a huge shout out for being so cool to me.  Maybe I’ll even do a book giveaway of my own.  I know no one will probably email me, asking where to send their generous donation, but then again, I didn’t expect anyone to offer me a place to stay, and last time I checked Facebook, three of you have, which floored me!  So, I’m just putting it out there, in case one of you is a rich millionaire and figures what the hell, I’ll send her some dough.  Mr. Millionaire, you can email me at thegirlfromtheghetto [at] gmail [dot] com.  Just think – I could hit a break and get my own book published someday, and by helping me out, you know I’ll hook you up in return!