Scenes from the BEA

I was out of the house by 4:30 AM, and the day unfurled at lightening speed (save for the trains, which were both on the rather too late and slow side).  In the first photo:  The Egmont lunch for authors, booksellers, and librarians, held on the upper floor of a garment-district art gallery.  In the second:  Egmont Publisher Elizabeth Law, the remarkable James Lecesne (about whom I will soon be writing far more), Laura Geringer (who edits both James and me), and yours truly (in pink, because who else would wear pink on an 18 hour day spent among crowds and on trains?).

A huge thank you to all of you who stood in that line for the end-of-day, end-of-convention signing— I looked up, and there you were, and I won't forget the gift of your patience and enthusiasm.  Thank you to all of those who found me and stopped to say hello.  Thank you to the impeccable and beautiful Mandy King (I will always be grateful for our time together, and for all that led up to it).  Thank you to Amy Rennert and Louise (you know why).  A lasting thank you to the Egmont team—Elizabeth Law, Doug Pocock, Mary Albi, Rub Guzman, Regina Griffin, Greg Ferguson, Nico Medina, and Alison Weiss—who put together such a show, and who have welcomed me to the family in ways that I have never before been welcomed. (Nico, please note that I am thanking you despite your refusal to wear 19th century garb in support of my 19th century book.)  Thank you, Laura, for being there throughout.

I came home to see my boys (a midnight rendezvous) and to attend to corporate work.  I'm back on that train in a few hours, to join book bloggers at a convention and to speak about author/blogger relationships.

The horses are down the street; I'll sneak into their world early Saturday.