Saturday morning was rough. I mean, it was ROUGH. Abby and I got up early but then we remembered what an awesome day we had ahead of us and it wasn’t so rough being up anymore. We got ready and made our way back to the exhibit hall, where we met up with Julia again. We all discussed what we were hoping to find out and what our plans were for the day, and then the doors opened.

The pace on Saturday morning was much slower than on opening night, so we were able to wander and be more selective in what we were picking up. This was also our prime time to talk to vendors and find out about titles that excited them. We made some good contacts, and we walked away with books many had been telling us to find for a long time (including The Piper’s Son by Melina Marchetta).

We picked up a ton of great books again, and I think we made a couple trips to the mailing center and our hotel room to drop them off and ship them out. A bit before noon, we met up with Drea and Sarah and headed back to our hotel, where we attended the Simon and Schuster lunch which I blogged right here.

Post-luncheon, Drea and Sarah had to scoot to committee meetings, and Abby and I took a run to the exhibits again. We stopped to see Sarah Stevenson sign her book The Latte Rebellion, then we went and saw Melissa Wiley and Mitali Perkins signing for their forwards in the rereleased Betsy-Tacey books (and Mitali knew me!). We did another walk through before seeing Brent Hartinger signing Shadow Walkers and Rebecca Fjelland Davis signing Chasing Alliecat shortly after. Did I mention how great all of these people were yet?

After Rebecca’s signing, Abby and I hit up another book preview, this time for Disney Hyperion. We went over to the Hardrock Hotel for a swank snack and look at a ton of new books coming out in the next few months. In this preview, unlike the Simon and Schuster one, we were read to — each of the reps took a pair of books to read to us, which really helped give a feeling for the books. For your viewing pleasure, here’s a sampling:

Mercy by Rebecca Lim: A fallen angel book with a bit of a mystery is the first in a series by this debut author. This one’s actually out already.

Girl Wonder by Alexa Martin (May 2011): Another debut author for this one — the writing on this title about love and jealousy was tight and easy to imagine. Sounds a little bit like there might be some mean girls in this one, too. I believe the main character has a learning disorder.

Mission (Un)Popular by Anna Humphrey (June 2011): This tween novel features mean girls but has a nice humorous beat to it. The main character is a dorky girl (a trend I noticed in a number of titles).

Perhaps the funniest one they read aloud is one I might pick up despite it being out of my normal reading tastes: Aliens on Vacation by Clete Smith (May 2011). This humorous tween novel is about a boy who goes to spend time at a relative’s place. That place happens to be a hotel where aliens who come to visit Earth on vacation room. The rep read aloud the portion where the main character meets his first alien and it was laugh out loud funny. A great voice and a book that has definite appeal for middle schoolers.

Because we had not yet had enough of the exhibit hall, Abby and I went back after the preview to scope out even more books. We picked up just a few select titles this time, then headed back to our hotel room to ship some books home. First though, I went through the big pile and pulled out about ten titles to pack in my carry on luggage for immediate-ish reading. When I finished agonizing, I slugged everything down to the UPS in our hotel and shipped it off. I think in the end I probably spent about $150 on shipping. We also had a little fun trying to eat an apple in such a manner it would match the one on the cover of Melissa Walker’s Small Town Sinners (Bloomsbury, July). I think I did a good job, no?

After that, we were back up to our hotel room to get ready for one of the most exciting events of the entire conference: an intimate dinner with Lisa McMann. Abby and I both got these mysterious invites and struggled to figure out how well we needed to dress and just how intimate an intimate dinner was. Abby was dressed in no time, since she was already dressed nicely, but I probably spent way too long analyzing what to wear. Fortunately, it was worth it, as I got a lot of comments on my little number (which is totally a fist pump moment for someone who is *not* into fashion in the least). We donned our finery and went downstairs to take a cab to Suite & Tender, where we’d be enjoying our dinner. But see, we lucked out even more than you’d imagine — it was no cab we took. We got to take a town car and arrived in total class.

When the event began, there was a lot of mingling and we did some counting: 20 people total were at this dinner. That included the reps from Simon and Schuster, as well as Lisa McMann, her editor (who was a riot!), and her publicist (also a riot). All that they could keep saying to us was how much Abby and I looked like sisters that evening. While schmoozing with everyone, I noticed a name tag on the table for an attendee that was incredibly familiar to me, but because this person was sitting on the other side of the table, I didn’t get to talk to her immediately. I made a mental note to stop by after.

Let’s start with the food. It was….incredible. We all began with a ceviche-like palate cleanser, and then we had a few choices for meals. I went with a butternut squash soup with a white chocolate drizzle, one of the most delicious pieces of grilled chicken on top of home made mac and cheese, followed by a lovely piece of cheesecake (and maybe a bite or two of some lemon ice cream from the extra dessert they accidentally brought). Delicious!

While we dinned, Lisa talked about her book, as did her editor. It was nice to hear both sides of the writing and editing aspects of the book, and it made me more excited to read Cryer’s Cross. Both talked about the goals of the book and the readership that it will appeal to. Then we all talked what book and movie we would take with us if we were to be deserted on an island forever.

It was probably two hours into the meal when I saw the person I wanted to talk to getting up, ready to leave the dinner. I was about ready to jump up from my seat and approach her, but lucky me — she came to me first!

So a little back story here: when I first began library school and subsequently this blog, it was this particular person who inspired how I thought about books. I did a project in my very first library class about science fiction books — a genre with which I had little familiarity at the time — and her book became my guide to learning how to be a good reader and reviewer. It’s her openness to read a variety of things and pick out who it would work for that guided my initial reviewing beliefs and still helps me think through books today.

Needless to say, meeting Diana Herald, the woman behind genreflecting, was one of the best moments of my trip. It was wonderful to put a face with a name, especially since we’ve talked before. Not only that but she tweeted the kindest comment EVER. I mean, words can’t explain how special this was!

Shortly after she left, most of the other guests at dinner left, and it was Abby, myself, the kind folks at Simon and Schuster, as well as Lisa and her editor and publicist. Lisa begged to sign a book for me, and because I had one already, I didn’t want to be greedy….but then I said sure. But oh! That wouldn’t be enough. Abby suggested that, like her, I have my finger nails signed. So, I did. This left everyone there in stitches, and Lisa’s name, unlike Lauren’s, actually fit perfectly on ten fingers. We had a lovely conversation about some of our favorite books and authors while she scrawled each letter onto my nails.

After the nail fun, Lisa made us go with her into the bathroom, just so we could see it because it was apparently a very fun bathroom. It was trippy – a unisex bathroom with walls made of rocks. Weird.

Abby and I headed out, getting a cab back to our hotel, and spent the rest of the night marveling over new manicures. Since I was leaving early Sunday, I had to begin packing all of my goods for the next day. But she and I still stayed up late and talked, something we never have a problem with.

But don’t worry — when Sunday came, I had time to stop by the convention center for just a few more minutes to pick up a handful of titles other people suggested I seek out, including The Pull of Gravity and Hooked. Those made it into my carry on, as well.

About 9:30 am on Sunday, I said my teary goodbyes to the wonderful people I had the chance to spend the last couple of days with, and I may or may not have received about eighteen hugs from my roommate. This was one of the hardest goodbyes I’ve had in a while.

That would be where my post could end naturally, right? It would if my weekend didn’t get even more awesome. When I got to the airport, it took forever to get through baggage and security, but I want you to know it was well worth it. While waiting for my flight, I heard that it had been oversold and they were offering $300 and the cost of a one-way ticket in vouchers to whoever would give up their seat. I found out the next flight home would get me in only a couple hours later, so I offered.

Friends, I made over $500 in travel vouchers, meaning my flights to future fun are completely set. I spent the extra few hours in the airport reading and writing on the free wifi, so the wait wasn’t even painful.

Midwinter was one of the best conferences I’ve ever been to, and I was so fortunate to have been given the opportunities I had to meet and mingle with people — the things that are the heart and soul of these events. I was loaded down with books I’ll read and share not only on my blog but with my teens at work through giveaways and our summer reading program. Again, a huge thanks to the publishers, the authors, and the lovely librarian bloggers I had the chance to spend time with for making this such a great and memorable event.

And since you’ll ask: I started two books almost immediately — Small Town Sinners by Melissa Walker (which is so different from her previous titles and an excellent readalike to This Gorgeous Game) and Glow: The Sky Chasers by Amy Kathleen Ryan (which was hand sold to me by two people and so far is bizarre but in a very good way).

Bright and early Friday morning (ok, the bright part being a hyperbole for what the sky looks like at 3 am), I made my way to the airport to hop a plane to sunny San Diego. The plans for the day were to get into town early in order to get some fun in before working the exhibition floor. We landed without any issue in San Diego at 9:30 am and I was on my way to the hotel. As usual, I stayed with my partner in crime Abby who always has to take care of me during these things. Fortunately this time I remembered everything I needed so there was no care taking necessary, which I think was a huge relief to Abby. Also, for those who will inevitably ask, the books I read on the flight out were Michael Northrop’s Trapped and Elizabeth Woods’s Choker.

If I were to encapsulate the entire experience in just few words, I would have to say it was cross-platform and multidimensional. It was such a blast to be somewhere in person and be able to talk about it on the web, too. Sharing what was happening with those who weren’t there and hearing their feedback/comments was really exciting.

But on to the fun!

Since I got in so early, I met up with Drea and Katie to check into the conference and then do a little exploring. We hit up a local pizza shop and talked about blogging, books, and the people we love. Drea and I have hung out before (since she lives close by) but it was my first time meeting Katie. Lots of fun was had. I had to rush back to my hotel shortly after, though, because I had another event coming up in the early afternoon.

I made a date with Melissa Wiley weeks ago to take a special trip to celebrate our work on the Cybils YA panel. We’d met previously at KidLitCon but didn’t get to connect much because of other things going on, so we were excited to have some one-on-one bonding time. Now, if you’ve read the synchronicities posts, you’re privy to the fact In-and-Out Burger plays a part in two of our titles. Naturally, that’s where we decided to go. But it was Melissa who pulled out the big surprise — she brought the two books that feature that restaurant.

When we got to the restaurant, we took a photo of our books with our food, then we were able to convince a stranger to get a shot of us together with the books. After Melissa and I tweeted the picture, we heard back from both Tara Kelly and Morgan Matson about our hijinks. It was epic feedback, if you will. As dorky as it sounds, that was definitely one of the highlights of my trip to San Diego. It really brought a whole new level to what we were doing on the panel. We talked our favorite Cybils titles, non-Cybils titles, the importance of good voice in writing, and we talked about the fact she’s just sold not only a middle grade title this year but just got word she sold a YA historical fiction. Melissa is a wonderful person and I am so glad I got to spend time with her.

Also, that was the first hamburger I’ve eaten in about 4 years, too, and it was so worth the wait.

Melissa dropped me back at the hotel, where I had a little time to relax before meeting up with Angie, Liz, Sarah, Abby, Drea, and Katie to hit the exhibit floor. Anyone who has been to a book-related conference knows how these things go — it’s a madhouse. As a group, we’d developed a list of some of the titles we were really hoping to find, and I was beyond thrilled to get everything on my personal list (as well as a ton of new-to-me titles).

Wandering the floor here was such a different experience for me than it has been in the past. Before, I never felt confident enough to actually talk to the vendors, but this year, I did it and it was so worthwhile. At each booth, I learned about in-house favorites, new trends that they’ve seen, and picked up books that were otherwise not lying in piles. I’ve always been afraid to ask weird questions or come off as awkward when striking up conversations, but doing it was so important and really gave me the feel I know what I’m talking about (sometimes). I guess, too, I underestimated how eager they are to engage in conversation with you, especially if they “know” you. Perhaps that was best depiction of this was my incredible interaction with Laura at the HarperCollins booth: when she saw my Twitter name, she JUMPED UP AND DOWN in excitement to chat. We’d talked before on Twitter but missed talking with each other at KidLitCon, so it was great to hear about titles she was excited about. She also did me a huge favor and tracked down Suzanne Young’s forthcoming A Need So Beautiful, which I was then able to snap a photo of and show Suzanne. We got to be giddy about that via Twitter and on the exhibit hall floor (because my partners in crime were getting a huge kick out of this, too).

I ran into another author I’d been real eager to meet, Keren David, who had the most delightful British accent. She came to ALA from England to sign her book When I Was Joe, which I’d read for the Cybils. I was able to get a copy of the companion to it and am so excited to read it. She was even kind enough to come to our party later in the evening.

But perhaps the most fun part of the exhibit all floor the first night — aside from hauling away a lot of great titles — was when Abby and I went to meet Lauren Myracle and I started a trend that’s sure to take the book world by storm. We both made trips to our hotel room when the exhibit hall was open on Friday night to load and unload books, and Abby picked up Myracle’s Shine earlier than me. I waited in a very short line to have Lauren sign my book and Abby waited with me. When we got to her, she signed my book after a nice discussion of how Abby and I looked like sisters (a theme you’ll see in my next post, too).

Abby was ready to leave since the hall was closing, but Lauren really wanted to sign a book for her. Abby insisted that she had one already and she was all set, but I suggested she have Lauren sign her hand. . . or her fingernails. Lauren got this crazy smirk on her face and was totally game on it. Abby plopped her hands down and we were on. The Abrams vendor thought this was hilarious, as did Lauren, so we snapped a photo with Lauren’s phone to remember it forever. What a cool chick!

We closed down the exhibits with that and made our way back to the hotel to check out our books. Between us we had an easy 80 some books. We piled them up, pet them, and drooled for a while. Choosing what to read first was going to be rough.

And ah! Now it was time for our party to begin.

As you know, Abby and I (as well as a few others) brainstormed this idea to have a blogger slumber party at the conference. We’d all known each other from blogging but only a few of us had ever hung out in person. We figured this would be a perfect way to do it. Well, it exploded. There was so much interest, we decided to hold it at a bar and make it an evening. Word got around, and then we found out there would be authors in attendance, then a publisher who was interested in helping pay for the event. And so you have the YA Librarian/Book Blogger Meet Up. I cannot express in words how much fun it was nor how much I want to thank each and every person for coming!

We dressed up and made our way down to the bar, where we met up with Jim of Baen Books and had our little area of the bar reserved. I’d spotted the folks from Flux earlier and brought them over to join us. It was so fun meeting Brent Hartinger, Rebecca Fjelland Davis, and Sarah Stevenson. Brent and I shared an excellent conversation about why YA books matter so much — talk about a wonderfully down to earth person with complete passion for what he’s writing and doing. Rebecca and I bonded over some cured meats and bread later on in the event, and we may or may not have talked about Jersey Shore.

For me, the meat of this was meeting and chatting causally with some of *my* blogging librarian heroes, including Sarah (who may have been the first book blog I ever read), Liz, and Whitney. I also had the chance to meet Julia, who I knew through a girl I went to graduate school with AND through a completely random livejournal fan group. It is weird when your strange fetishes catch up with you so much you bond with people over them in real life. No, I won’t be sharing what this interest is.

At the highest point, I believe there were easily 30 people in attendance. Everyone was good about passing out business cards, too, which means I can direct you to both Jordyn and Anni, who were new to me. It was a wonderful group of attendees, and everyone was able to drink to merriment. Like with all social events, a huge part of the success in something like this is everyone putting themselves out there and being willing to feel awkward. It can be hard to come chat with people you don’t know or haven’t met, but I think everyone felt comfortable enough to do so. Of course, a couple of cocktails help, too. A huge thank you to Baen Books for offering us some cash for this AND for the best comment of the evening — that this was money better spent than an advertisement in a major library publication.

Woah.

Abby and I retreated to our rooms about midnight (note I had been up for something like 40 hours at this point) and were on the hunt for pizza. Unfortunately, there aren’t major pizza distributors in such a ritzy part of San Diego and instead, we crashed in preparation of a full, exciting day on Saturday. That is, after we spent a little more time smelling and touching the books in our room.