First, just have to say that our book baby Your Perfect Life will be born in exactly one week. O.M.G. And we couldn't be more excited! (PS: Have you ordered your copy yet? And have you entered our book club contest? And are you coming to one of our events?) We hope so! And we're giving one lucky reader a bundle of 5 books to celebrate BEA! Just leave a comment here and you'll be entered to win. US only. Contest closes on June 8th after 8am PST.
So...we've just barely finished unpacking from our trip to NYC. But we knew the first thing we needed to do was sit down and tell you all about it--because, you guys, it was SO RAD! (And before we say anymore, we just have to thank GAWD we learned the lessons we did last year!) But, don't worry, we did still manage to clumsily stumble our way through it, literally tripping over things and making asses out of ourselves all over the place. (Why do they keep inviting us back?!) But, we were in Heaven. And all you little book whores would have been too. We snagged upcoming titles from Jojo Moyes, Rainbow Rowell, Isabelle Gilles, Jennifer Weiner, Liane Moriarty, just to name a FEW. Our bags were so heavy that *someone* couldn't stop complaining while *someone else* rolled their eyes at her!
And we fulfilled some serious girl crush fantasies by meeting (And I think scaring, a little bit) Jennifer Weiner, Isabelle Gilles, Rainbow Rowell, Liane Moriarty and Catherine McKenzie, among many, many others. Let's just say we were very, crazy, stalkerish enthusiastic about meeting them!
Oh, and we had our first interview with Shindig, a really cool online hangout! And we didn't suck! In fact, there was a rumor that we totally killed it. (We credit the glass of wine we had at lunch prior...) We may have started that rumor, but still. (No, really, they actually said we did well!)
See? We were perfect little angels, right?
Um, wrong. We also had a few slip ups, faux pas, and just some plain ol' wrecking ball behavior.
1. Karma bites Lisa in the ass as Liz looks on
Lisa really wanted to get latest book by Meg Wolitzer. And the line was very long, like wrapping around the block long. She'd stepped out of it to make a phone call, and then she went on a stealth mission to slip back into the aforementioned line. The only problem? She came in like a wrecking ball. Liz watched from afar (she's a rule follower! No cuts!) as Lisa tried to slide in-between the metal post, knocking it over loudly in the process with her hugeass bag, setting off some line-cutting alarm to every BEA staff member within a thirty foot radius (even though she technically wasn't cutting as she had been there before and her "line friends" begrudgingly accepted her back). But somehow she managed to sweet talk her way into keeping the spot (thank you again, line friends!). And that staff member even came to OUR signing later while on her break! #lemonsintolemonade
2. Twisting Arms
Speaking of the BEA book signings, we may or may not have used them as our recruiting grounds for our own signing . And by recruit, we mean beg. And in one case, mildly threaten. But it worked--we had a legit line the entire time! But no one was so desperate to see us that they knocked over a metal pole. (Maybe next year?)
A few people that came to the signing might have commented that we "sure had a lot of energy" as they slowly backed away from the table. Did the fact that we were practically foaming at the mouth scare them away? Or was it the way we screamed HIIIIIII as they approached? Hey, at least no one can ever say we're apathetic, right?
3. Cute shoes at any costs #blistersbedamned
We made a pact before leaving: we were going to wear our sassy heels no matter what they did to our feet. (In case you haven't been, at BEA, you are on your feet all. day. long. From 7am to 10pm. People actually recommend wearing cross trainers with your skirt! As if!) And while Liz enjoyed towering over everyone in her four-inch platforms and Lisa ate up all the compliments on her suede pink heels, we could barely walk by Saturday. But Jennifer Weiner said we had cute shoes on. Totally. Worth. It!
4. Open mouth, insert foot
Let's be honest here: we don't always say the right thing. But our foots seemed to be permanently hanging out of our mouths at BEA. Whether Liz was using incorrect grammar in front of the publisher of Atria Books (one of her finest moments!), or Lisa couldn't remember which character she wrote in YPL, we were basically wreaking havoc everywhere we went. We tell ourselves that's just part of our charm. #denialisaniceplacetolive
5. Okay, maybe we had one fight
But it was really small. And we really didn't mean to have at dinner it in front of our agent. And we're sure it's fine that she went to "wash her hands while we work it out" and didn't come back for ten minutes. In our defense, we hadn't eaten all day. And we had ran Amazing Race style to this restaurant that was too good to have an actual sign (wtf with that, anyway), and then drank the bottle of wine that man with the fake italian accent had recommended for us. (It was the least we could do!)
But like we always do, we made up quickly and put in the archives of our friendship, another story to tell, a lesson to be learned. And the best part? We're getting better. We're getting more careful with each other in the way that matters--becoming more delicate with each other's soft spots. We'll never be perfect, but we're learning. And to us, that's what perfect looks like. xoxo