Book Expo America - Part 1

Last weekend, I attended my first ever Book Expo America. All I can say is WOW!

I wasn't really sure what to expect, and now that it's over, I can safely say that no matter what I had expected, nothing could compare to the reality.

Books, books, and more books.

Book sellers, book buyers, and book writers (including moi). All of us, book lovers!

It was magnificent.

It was also intimidating as heck!

When I walked into the expo, I instantly felt as if I were in over my head. Sure, that's my usual mode of operation, but this was worse than usual. There were so many people, and they all walked so fast and with such purpose. There was no one standing in one spot and just looking around, the way I was. Everyone looked as if they had a place to be and knew how to get there.

I had a place to be. I was meeting my agent for the first time. We were to meet at my publisher, Dorchester's, booth. Problem was, I had absolutely no idea how to get there. I wandered around, searching and searching, picking up a free book here and there, sweating like I'd just run a marathon (the temperature was at least 90-degrees in the Javitz Center). Then, suddenly, I literally ran into my agent. I'd never met him before, but gave him a hug like he was my long lost brother. At the very least, he was a familiar name in this sea of unknown, intimidating people.

And after a bit of small talk, we sat down with some frozen yogurt, and got down to the nitty gritty of this new career I've embarked upon. It was encouraging, and my agent's total belief in my writing ability made me think that I just may have a shot at making it as a writer. That's cool!

There is just too much to say about the expo, and my weekend as a whole, to limit it to one blog post, so expect to read more in the upcoming days about my adventures in NYC at Book Expo America.

posted by Farrah Rochon @ 3:52 PM Comments: 4