What I did at Book Expo America (BEA) 2015

I knew this would be my last year attending BEA so I decided to make the most of it (it's moving to Chicago next year).  First up, they had a promotion code for $25.00 off your first Uber ride, so I gave that a shot and it worked out really well - not only did I get the the Javits Center early for once, but it turned out to be a free ride.  Naturally, I took that to be a good omen for the rest of BEA - and I think it was.

First off, I met my friend Elizabeth of Silver's Reviews.  Our blogs couldn't be more different, but it goes to show you what a great community bloggers are.  We were both attending the BEA Bloggers Conference, so we started off with some of the provided breakfast, followed by the keynote speakers.  While that was happening, we invited Daniel Saugar who blogs YA fiction at The Couch Potatoes Digest (twitter @dsaugar9 and who will also be posting his BEA recap) to join us.

Most of the sessions were about monetizing and branding your blog, both things I don't want to do, but they were interesting.  At lunch, I ran into Charlotte of Charlotte's Library, who I have known for about 5 years now.  For those who may not know, Charlotte blogs about middle grade science fiction and fantasy book, and does a great roundup of reviews and other news on Sundays.  Charlotte was handing out cards informing bloggers about the 2015 KidLitCon (kidlotosphere conference), which will be held  on October 9th and 10th this year at the Hyatt Place Harbor East in Baltimore, MD.  More information can be found HERE.

After lunch, however, the exhibit floor opened up for the afternoon, which they never did before.  Needless to day, Elizabeth, Daniel and I headed up there.  So, for 2 1/2 days, we lugged books around the Javits Center, stood on long lines and walked away with clutching our treasures and grinning to beat the band. 

On Friday, I went to the Children's Book and Author Breakfast with Nathan Lane, Oliver Jeffers, Rainbow Rowell, and James Patterson.  Each spoke about their work, their passion for what they do and did you know the it was James Patterson who coined the term "Toy-R-Us Kid" - authors are always full of fun surprises.  I did get a chance to tell Rainbow Rowell about my Kiddo writing fan fiction at fanfic.net when she was younger and how much she loved reading Fangirl because of it.

After breakfast, it was on to the exhibit floor for the rest of the day.  I had decided to be more discriminating in the books I thought I might like and since the amount of swag available goes down more and more every year, swag for me was at an all time low, which was fine.

So what books did I bring home with me?  Most of them are for my other blog, Randomly Reading, but I thought I would share them here anyway.

The Harry Potter book you see is only a preview of the new illustrated edition coming out in the fall.  The blue book is Juneteenth for Mazie by Floyd Cooper, who I was very excited to meet.  And of course I have to get Mike Curato's new book, Little Elliot Big Family.

These are the middle grade and YA books I was excited about, especially Lois Lane: Fallout by Gwenda Bond.  I read an awful lot of Lois Lane comics as a kid, so couldn't resist this one.  And even though I have already readGone Crazy in Alabama by Rita Williams-Garcia, I loved meeting her and getting a signed copy (and yes, I did gush).  But I had already run into Rita the day before when I got a copy of the new Guys Read: Terrifying Tales, edited by Jon Scieszka, and signed by Jon, Michael Buckley, R.L. Stine, and Rita Williams-Garcia, among others.

There are the books I picked up for this blog.  Not quite as many as for my other blog, but enough.  I was very excited to meet M.T. Anderson, whom I have always enjoyed reading, and get a signed copy of Symphony for the City of the Dead, a YA nonfiction work about the Siege of Leningrad.  And who could resist the new Tim Wynn-Jones book, The Emperor of Any Place.    I'm looking forward to reading and reviewing all these new books.

This is my swag (like I said, not much.  I'm not a big Disney fan, but I have Diane Muldrow's other Everything I Need to Know, so I decided to see about this one, too.  And they are a nice walk down the Little Golden Books memory lane (I stll have my original Pokey Little Puppy book). The gold box on top of that pile is 15 Thank You cards in 5 languages.  The book at the bottom is the new Geraldine Brooks novel, The Secret Chord.  I've always enjoyed her historical fiction so much.  I also have a copy of Suzan-Lori Parks play Father Comes Home from the Wars.  I saw an excellent production of it performed at the Public Theater this past winter and thought I might like to read it, as well.  I was happy to find that Suzan-Lori Parks also thought the play was excellently produced.

So that was my Be a 2015 experience and I have lots of reading material for the coming months.  It was fun, but tiring and now I will be happy to get back to my regular blogging routine.  If you went to BEA, I would love to hear what you did, and if you participated in Armchair BEA, I would like to know how that went, expecially since that's the BEA for me next year.

(This was originally posted on my other blog, Randomly Reading, so if you follow both blogs, I apoligize for the duplicate posts in advance.)

Top Ten Tuesday #17:: Top Ten Favorite Things to do in NYC when you come for BEA or just to visit

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

I thought I would share some of my favorite things to do in NYC.  I know many of you will be here for 2015 BEA or just visiting at some point in the summer.  Either way, I hope this is a helpful list for you. Some of these suggestions are free, some only cost a minimal amount of money, but all are fun ways to enjoy NYC besides the typical touristy things.

1- Walk the Highline - the Highline is a repurposed railway turned linear park that runs for almost 1.5 miles above ground.  You can just walk and appreciate the gardens, but there are also all kinds of fun things happening on it, too - art, performances, tours, storytelling, stargazing.  Check the Highline website to see if any will fit your schedule.

The Highline runs from Gansevoort Street to 34th Street, some of the access points have elevators and are wheelchair accessible.  And here's a bonus - the new Whitney Museum of American Art has just moved to 99 Gavsevoort Street, right by the Highline.

2- Visit the NYPL on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue.  This the is research library, but there are interesting exhibits and there are free one hour tours at 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM.  And you can drop by the the Children's Center and have a lovely visit with the real Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends.

3- Ride the Cyclone - you can easily take a subway ride to Coney Island for this.  The Cyclone isn't the world's biggest roller coaster, but it is an old wooden coaster, so you feel every bump and jiggle and it continues to be voted among the best.

Go for a ride on the Cyclone, stay for a real Nathan's Hot Dog just down the street on Surf Avenue.

4- Washington Square Outdoor Art Exhibit - head down to Greenwich Village for this unusual art show May 30th and May 31st if you are still in NYC.  Begun in 1931 by Jackson Pollack and Willem DeKooning who set up some of their painting to sell on the sidewalk when they were desperately in need of money.  They were soon joined by other artists needing money and it jsut grew from there.  My dad used to exhibit some of his painting there when we were kids, so I have a soft spot for this particular art show.

5- Shakespeare in the Park - You'll have to get up really early to snag 2 free ticket per person for this year's production of The Tempest beginning May 27th, but it's worth it. This production stars Sam Waterston and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, among others.  If you decide to do this, get to the line about 6-7 AM, tickets are given out around noon, first come, first served.  There are bathrooms, and food, but bring your own food it you can, and something to sit on.  And your linemates are usually pretty friendly, or you can read a new gotten book from BEA, either way, it itmakes the time go faster.

6- See a Mets Game - the Mets are playing home games during this year's BEA and you can get inexpensive tickets HERE, then take a subway out to Citi Field.  Friday nights are free t-shirt night for everyone in attendance, and Saturday, May 30th, it's free beach towel day to the first 15,000 people.

7- See a Broadway show - drop by the TKTS booth in Times Square to see what up on the boards - you might just snap some cheap tickets to a great show, same day tickets are usually 50% off.

8- Visit the Strand Book Store - I know, you're here for Book Expo, but you might want to go visit this iconic book store even if it is only to walk among the miles of books you will find there.  You might also want to check their calendar of events to see if there is anything of interest while you are here.

9- Do check out the Food Trucks - you will find food trucks almost anywhere in NYC, probably outside the Javits Center now, or you can download a mobile app called NYCFoodTruck to help you find what you want and where they are.  Food Trucks are different from sidewalk vendors, which are also good, but the trucks tend to have more upscale food and there is a great variety to choose from.

10- Visit the Bronx Botanical Garden - you can take a subway there or get a MetroNorth train at Grand Central.  The Botanical Garden is beautiful in the summer and they have a wonderful Frdia Kahlo exhibition at the moment.  During the warm weather, every Saturday, you can enjoy a Frida Al Fresco Evening, a evening of art, gardens, music, performance art and the price of admission, $25.00, includes a complimentary Modelo Especial draft cerveza or Jose Cuervo Tradicional margarita.

So grab a subway map, buy a Metro Card and have some NYC fun while you are at 2015 BEA!

2014 Book Bloggers Conference

This post was originally published on Randomly Reading, but I'm just too tired to come up with another post about the same day so I am repeating it here for different readers. 

I was off at BEA in NYC this week, but I feel like I have been gone from here since forever (and now you all know I don't schedule posts ahead of time, which is really surprising for someone a little on the OCD side).  Today is the official last day, and I was really hoping to be there, but it turns our that yesterday was my last day.

What did I do at BEA for three days, besides stand on long, long lines?

On Wednesday, I went to the Book Blogger Conference, which was more a lot more useful this year.  I met up with my friend Elizabeth from Silver's Reviews and she introduced me to Laura, a blogger from Library of Clean Reads and a senior coordinator at iRead Book Tours.  It's always nice to see old friends and meet new ones.

The day began with opening speaker was Maureen Johnson, YA author of 10 novel and contributor to two short story collections.  She was very funny, has an adorable new puppy named Zelda after Zelda Fitzgerald, and told us that book bloggers have and use their ability to shake up conventional reviews that tell us not to read a particular book and counter denouncements such as today's YA literature is too dark (Maureen started the YA Saves Campaign back in 2011 - read her article about UA in the Guardian HERE).  In short, bloggers can and should shake up the status quo.

After Maureen's keynote speech, we broke up into different sessions.  The first one I went to was Design 201 - Taking your Blog to the Next Level with Hafsah Faizal of Icey Designs and David Piakowski of BookLikes.  The basics of a great design were covered and include:

1- Color - use color to match your blog's theme: use dark colors, if your blog is dark; light if your blog is light.  But always use hues that you really love and don't limit yourself to one color.  Hafsah recommends using kuler.adobe.com

2- Branding - this defines your blog.  Make sure to have a nice square logo that encompasses your blog and you, and be sure to include your blog's name in it and don't keep changing your logo.

3- Layout - make sure you have a responsive design which is a layout that accommodates all screen sizes: desktop, tablet, phone or any other device.

4- Themes - if your blog is on Wordpress, you can find themes at themeforest.net, starting at about $3.00, or at creative market.com.  I don't recall anything being recommended for Blogger.

5- Design - it's all about you and how your readers feel while visiting your blog.

Some more pointers from Hafsah:
1- Do make your content area 1000px
2- Do place icons for all your social networks in a visible location
3- Do make sure you have easy to follow navigation
4- Do add a search function to your site
5- Do make sure your site loads easily
6- Do ensure your graphics across social networks match your blog
7- Do use web fonts to spruce up your content
8- Don't clutter your sidebar with too many gifs and worse, animated gifs
9- Don't have annoying pop up messages

We were give 5 tips and tricks:
     1- Use gifs, you can find some at giphy.com
     2- Be social - interact with your readers
     3- Have a proper photo of yourself
     4- Show what you read - put a bookshelf on your site
     5- Introduce yourself on your sidebar (longer intro goes on your about page)

The next session was on Software 101, Best Blogging Tools with Thea James of Book Smugglers, Sarah Wendell from Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, Stephanie Sinclair from Cuddlebuggery Book Blog, and Becca Brennan from Mad Mimi.  The panelists talked about histing, RSS feeds, scheduling posts, plugins and things that again mostly pertained to Wordpress, includingAkismet for spam control, Jetpack and  Co-Scheduler and sucuri.net for male ware control, which gives you a free scan but the rests cost $$$.

Next was Blogging and the Law with Amanda Brice, Allison Leotta and Katie Sunstrom

The gist of the session was to know what is copyrightable and make sure you have a copyright on your blog.  You can register your blog with the United States Copyright Office and of course, there is Creative Commons.  Be sure to display your copyright on your blog.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a lot of information, including a Legal Guide for Bloggers which might be very helpful if you aren't sure of something.  If you think someone is stealing your stuff from your blog, you can find some help at PlagarismToday

Finally, the last session was called The Publishing Process: How Bloggers Have Changed the Game with Merrilee Heifetz, Senior VP, Writers House Literary Agency, Emily Meehan, Editorial Director, Hyperion Teen, Alexandra Bracken, author of The Darkest Mind series, Christine Riccio of Poland Bananas and Andrew Sansome, online Marketing Manager, Disney Publishing.

Apparently they didn't get the memo about the session topic.  It was all about YouTube blogging, which nobody in the audience was interested in.  Alexandra Braken was part of a vlogging video to promote her book, and that was OK, she was interesting to hear and we got free copies of The Darkest Mind, but the message we got from the rest of the panel was that vlogging was better that blogging.   People walked out!

The day ended with lots of giveaways, music from Tiger Beat and a free beer or soda.

It was a busy day, and for the most part productive.

Recap: What I did at BEA 2013

It is early Sunday morning and another Book Expo America has come and gone, so naturally I went back to my Top Ten Tuesday post to see if I had actually accomplished the goals I had set out for myself.

Wednesday: The BEA Bloggers Conference:
I did have fun at the Book Blogger Conference, but can't say I learned anything new, which is most likely due to my having gained trial and error experience over time more than anything else.

At the Young Adult Editor Insight panel, YA editors talked about what they look for in the books they edit, which was pretty much the same characteristics bloggers look for in the books they review.  Things like primary sources in nonfiction; in novels, characters who have flaws, but are aspirational despite the flaws; contradictory characters that can act a foils for each other; characters who act, who do something;  day to day life of characters in YA and, finally, diversity in YA.

At the YA Book Blogging Pros: Successes, Struggles and Insider Secrets, the panel talked about how they started and what constituted success in blogging.  Of course, they did all the things most bloggers do - participate in memes, and have different features on their blogs.  These are all old, very successful blogs and I think hearing from a a newer blogging still finding their way in today's blogging world would have been a nice informative addition - sort of like experience helping inexperience.

I also went to Blogging Platforms, but that was mostly pushing Wordpress or buying your own domain. Also to remember that success in blogging isn't to be found in statistics, pageviews or the now nearly dysfunctional Google Friends Connect but in whether you make a difference.  I didn't get much out of this one because according to my notes my Kiddo texted me that she was on her way to China, but former boyfriend, now fiancé couldn't fly with her because his Chinese visa didn't include Canada and they had a layover.

Book Blogging and the "Big" Niches was the last panel I went to.  And basically their advice was to using your professional experience and always ask yourself the question Who is the book you are reviewing fit for?  And to make sure your blog has a unique perspective.

The absolute best thing about today was that I was given a ticket to the Children's Book and Author Breakfast - but not just any old ticket, but one the Reserved Premium Roundtable tickets. So Thank You so much, Lisa Tener, I loved sitting there.  And if anyone ever needs a Book Writing Coach, she is the lady to see.

Thursday:
The exhibit hall opened at 9:00, but somehow I managed to get there early enough to get tickets to two author signings - Walter Dean Myers signing Darius & Twig and Brandon Sanderson signing The Rithmatist.  I could have gotten more but I had other priorities.

I got to speak to lots of publishers who have books coming out that I was interested in and so have lots of promises of galleys in my future.  I was especially pleased to meet the representatives at Sleeping Bear Press, who are doing some wonder historical fiction for younger readers, for example Welcome to America, Champ! reviewed here.

I had to turn down an invitation from Scholastic which pained me no end to hear Suzanne Collins and Walter Dean Myers discuss Writing About War for Young People.  Back in 2011, Suzanne Collins wrote an interesting article in the New York Time Sunday Magazine about the same topic, an article which I cut out and saved.  But you can also read it HERE (if the link doesn't work the first time, try it again - it's a quirk with the NY Times)

Friday: a big day for me

Octavia Spencer, Mary Pope Osborne, Rick Riordan and Veronica Roth

The first big day event was The Children's Book and Author Breakfast.  It was great, except everyone thought they would be getting galleys of Allegiant by Veronica Roth and instead we were given copies of Divergent.  Apparently no one near me read her blog.  I gave my away to a girl later on since I already have a copy.  We also received a T-Shirt for Rick Riordan's new book The House of Hades (the cover of which was revealed during his talk), and a nice cup for the new 50th Magic Tree House book, Hurry Up Houdini by Mary Pope Osborne.  Our Master of Ceremonies was Octavia Spencer, the actress and now novelist, who did a great job.  We were give a copy of her book The Case of the Time -Capsule Bandit, which looks like a nice Middle Grade novel.

Elizabeth Wein (L)  and Amy Tan (R)

The next big day was meeting Elizabeth Wein and getting a signed copy of her new book Rose Under Fire.  What a nice lady!  Everyone on line was a Code Name Verity fan, so that even standing on line was fun.

Third big day event was sitting and listening to Amy Tan talk about her life and her writing for an hour. She is one of my favorite authors and I enjoyed listening to her so much.

Day 3 was an early day for me because I had things to take care of so I ended up leaving early, with a bag full of books to read and write about, including these:

Books about WWII (click to enlarge)

Saturday:
I can't believe this, but I decided to stay home.  There was nothing special I wanted to do and would have ended up with more books that I didn't have a real interest in, so I decided to sleep late and take it easy.  Besides, I pretty much did everything on my Top Ten list.

So here ends my BEA adventure for 2013.

Top Ten Tuesday #10: Top Ten Things I Want to Do at Book Expo America

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

It's been a long time since I did a Top Ten list, but this week's topic is a freebie and so I thought I would do the top ten things I want to do at my third BEA:

1- Have fun and learn something new at the Book Blogger Conference

2- Meet Elizabeth Wein, who wrote one of my all time favorite WWII books Code Name Verity and who will be signing ARCs of her new book Rose Under Fire.

3- Attend at least one BEA Conference, preferably Jenny Brown's The Journey of a YA Book - from Writer to Reader with author Sarah Farizan.

4- Take the time to sit and enjoy some of the Uptown and Downtown Stages this year.  I did that my first year and really enjoyed them, but didn't last year and was very sorry.  They are interesting and informative, and a good place to sit and relax, away from all the hustle and bustle of the exhibit floor while listening to favorite authors.

5- Try and get to the Children's Book and Author Breakfast on time this year.  I am so excited to see/hear Octavia Spencer, a favorite actress, talk about her book, as well as Veronica Roth (I really can't wait to read Allegiant, the third book in the Divergent series)

6- There's a Book Blogger Picnic in Central Park on Friday, May 31st from 6:00PM to 8:00PM on the lawns near the Heckscher Playground at the southwest corner for anyone who wants to go, you can find more information from the organizers: Alexa (Alexa Loves Books), Andrea (Overstuffed Bookcase), Jen (YA Romantics) and Katelyn (Kate's Tales of Books and Bands) or follow hashtag #BEABloggerPicnic

7- If I didn't live in NYC, I would be sure to do some sightseeing, or at least buy some cheap theater tickets at TKTS in the heart of Times Square.  You probably won't find any for Matilda, but shows like Annie (Jane Lynch is in it now) or Pippin are good possibilities.

8- NYC is a culinary delight - I know eating can be expensive, but stay away from McDonald's and other chain restaurants.   Joe Allen's at 326 West 46th Street is one of my favorite theater district restaurants (and I have sat near more than one famous person there).  If you are feeling a little bit in the money, I would recommend Todd English's Food Hall at The Plaza Hotel.  It is a food hall like no other.  But, for ecomony, there is always Junior's on West 45th between Broadway and 8th Avenue (be sure to have their world famous cheesecake) or the Cafe Edison in the Hotel Edison at 228 West 47th Street (I'm partial to the pastrami)  And do enjoy an NYC bagle (the difference really is in the water) and the many street food vendors or  the food trucks that are everywhere.

9- As long as you are feeling bookish, take a walk over the the NYPL at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, sign of one the docent led tours of the library, then take a walk down library way East 41st Street between 5th and Madison Avenues) and look at the book quote plaques that are embedded in the cement.  You can also see a slide show of the plaques at the New York Public Library

10- The thing I am really looking forward to, however, is seeing old friends and meeting new ones.

It's been an interesting BEA/BCC

Friday was the Book Blogger Convention, a nice way to end a bookish week. This proved to be an interesting day. I missed the breakfast and part of the opening remarks by Sara Wendell (Smart Bitches, Trashy Books)

After that, there were two sessions offered simultaneously – from 10:00 AM to Noon:
“Ask a Publisher or Publicist” and “Practical Challenges of Blogging.” I went to the Ask a Publisher/Publicist, which was very interesting. Some of the more important suggestions they had for bloggers were

1- Introduce yourself when you contact them. Tell them who you are and the kinds of books you write about on your blog

2- Be nice, but don’t be grabby. In other words, don’t ask for everything under the sun

3- After your review goes live, email the publicist who is your contact person with the link to the post.

We broke for lunch, which was a buffet style. There were large round tables so lots of mingling could and did happen. This was good, because people tend to be very social at a meal. There was a green salad, a nice tasty variety of sandwiches (for example, I had ½ roast beef with cheddar cheese and lettuce and ½ of Italian cold cuts with brie and lettuce) and chips.  Dessert was simply large chocolate chip and oatmeal raison cookies, and, naturally, there were plenty of drinks. There were also freebies – books and stuff.

In the afternoon, the first session was from 1:00 PM-3:00 PM and the choices were “Navigating the Grey Areas of Book Blogging” and “Author Speed Dating.”

I chose the first one, whose panel consisted of fellow bloggers. Some of their suggestions were

1- Use Social Media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

2- Don’t ask for everything

3- Be honest, if a book isn’t good, so it isn’t good

4- It is ok to use galleys in giveaways, a question that seems to come up a lot on places like Book Blogs

From 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM, you could go to either “Blogging for a Niche Market” or “Technology for Blogging.” I went to the Niche session because you can’t get much more ‘Niche’ than my blog. This was also a panel of fellow bloggers and it was interesting to hear how each of the 10 panelists came to find their particular Niche.

Before I went to BEA/BCC, I read a few tips about what to do to have a successful week, so I would like to give a shout out and a big thank you to these people:

The Girl from the Ghetto who wrote the first list of tips I read;

Genevieve at Something Bookish, whom I met while waiting in line for book early one morning (I think it was Haven by Kristi Cook ;
and Candace at Beth Fish Reads not only for hosting my favorite weekend meme “Weekend Cooking” but who provided the single most important tip, which was “be polite, ask.” I never took anything without ask “May I have one?” It was like magic. Sometimes there person said sure, sometimes they even gave me more than I asked for and each time I ended it with a smile and a “thank you very much.”

So now I have a little stack of business cards in front of me and I will be visiting everyone at some point today. I am looking forward to seeing all the different blogs out there.

I also want to give a special thanks to all the authors who signed my books, to all the people I chatted with on long lines, all the new people I met at the Book Blogger Convention and to everyone from the Kidlitosphere that I finally got a chance to meet for making this a really terrific first BEA/BCC.

 HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL NEXT YEAR!

A Very Bookish Week

This has been a very bookish week, and ironically, I haven't managed to get much reading done.

On Sunday, I had some work to do in the New York Public Library on 42nd Street and it happened to be one of the days they were celebrating the library's 100th anniversary.  Outside the library, there was a Lego sculpture of the famous library lions, Patience and Fortitude.  Who knew you could do that with Legos?  For that matter, who knew there were that many grey Legos to do this with, but here is the picture of both a Lego library lion and a real deal library lion:

 

On Tuesday, the BEA (BookExpoAmerica) opened its doors for us to peruse and sometimes receive the latest from publishers and authors.  Every author I spoke with was so open and friendly, it really made it a nice expereince.  I want to just sit and read all these new books right now, but I know I will get to each one soon and yet, where to start?

Lisa See, who wrote Shanghai Girls, was there reading from the sequel Dreams of Joy, which I am looking forward reading myself.  Father and son, Michael and Patrick McMenamin, are writing a thriller series together involving Winston Churchill that looks very enticing.  They gave me the first and second books, The DeValera Deception and The Parsifel Pursuit, which naturally involves a holy relic. 

I also can't wait to read the YA novel The Apothecary by Maile Meloy, who was so charming.  The novel The Emperor of Lies by Steve Sem-Sandberg, which is about the Lodz ghetto, look like a fascinating book, as do In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson, about an American family in Hitler's Germany, and Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy.

It also was so nice to meet so many bloggers whose blogs I have been reading for a while now, and meeting some new bloggers, whose blogs I will be visiting in a few days. 

Tomorrow is the Book Bloggers Convention and there are a few sessions on blogging I am anxious to attend.