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I spent the afternoon here. Here being Harold's Square in Manhattan. I thought I had my BEA clothes set. But no. No. It required trips to: Macy's, Forever 21, H&M and a 3.1 second visit in the Gap before I was like, umm, sorry but no. Just not my style. FINALLY found what I wanted at the very last store, Forever 21, (thank you, Aly!!) and now have clothes. Still deciding how to pair them. Being a girl is hard sometimes, LOL. Am hauling said clothes over to Kassie's in the morning to be like, "Help. Me. Pick."

I'm working on getting my thoughts/general notes together for the BEA panel on Saturday. Am also working on sending a few emails here and there to New York and New Jersey schools about visits for the fall. If you know of any schools who are looking, please send them my way!

My list of authors to stalk is growing by the hour. Plus, um, I heard that a certain superfavoriteOMGIhearther author is attending a party that I'm going to. What if I fan girl out and squee or fall at her feet? Seriously. I have to be cool. Ahem.

Tomorrow, I've got the carnival (sooo packed with big authors that it's making me super nervous!) and a quick trip to pick up my BEA badge. Friday, it's BEA all day. Or until my arms fall off from too many books. There's also a Friday night party, but I'm not sure if I'm going. Saturday is my panel and two parties. Very exciting!

Off to bed to read NIGHT WORLD.

*All* of my potential BEA panel clothes are on my on my bed and the shoes are tossed on the floor. Everything! Is! Wrong! Ack! It's too casual or too professional or too girly or too blah or just NO. I might be going to BEA in pajamas.

*takes calming breath and goes back to outfits*

I'm so excited (read: nervous) about Book Expo America! But first, I'm doing the NYC Teen Author Carnival next Thursday from 4-6 pm with awesome authors including Lauren Barnholdt, Taylor Morris, PG Kain and more! Lauren and I, dubbed "Barnhart" by Editor K, are going to be veeery scandalous. We invite you to come join us! :) I'll be giving away: two copies of TAKE THE REINS, two copies of CHASING BLUE and two copies of BEHIND THE BIT. Plus, there will be signed postcards.

Back to BEA. There are so, so many people I finally get to meet! I'm trading numbers with people so we can text if things get crazy and we don't end up running into each other. So, if I'm supposed to meet up with you at BEA and you want to trade cell numbers, shoot me yours. I think the convention center is going to be huge and the odds of just running into people seems slim. Meg Cabot already sent me her number so we can meet. :) Kidding.

I'm going on Friday to pick up my badge and to track down Kaleb Nation at the Sourcebooks booth. I will attempt to ask for (read: steal) a copy of Kaleb's Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse.

My panel with Robyn Schneider, Maureen Johnson, Julia DeVillers and Sarah Mlynowski is on Saturday morning and so many of my friends have said they're coming. Thanks, guys! :) It'll make me less nervous to have friends in the audience in case I start to babble and/or embarrass myself during the panel. (Um, did you see the big names on my panel? Eeep...very intimidated!) The friends can then cause a disturbance so I can slink away in shame.

I'm going into Manhattan today to get a sparkly haircut for BEA. Going to the place of awesome--Soon Beauty Lab West. Love it there. I really want hot pink streaks for the summer, but...I won't. Yet.

Keep fingers crossed that I do not get into any sort of trouble on this trip. It would be a first. I really can make it from home to the city and back without incident--I *know* I can! I'm still so jealous of the people who can listen to music and read or sleep (!) on the subway. I'm the girl clutching her HopStop instructions and checking off every stop like a total dork. The one time I tried to listen to music on my iPod on the subway? I almost ended up in Queens!!

Happy Friday!

I know I posted that I'm going to BEA, but I don't think I posted the full details. I'm soo excited about going and it will be a lot of fun to meet up with friends.

Here's the info, straight from the Website:

Saturday, May 30
9:30 – 10:30 am
Room 1E16

Driving Success with Teens & Tweens: Authors Share Online Success Stories

Sure, you've got a blog, but so does everyone else. What makes your online brand stand out? With so many networking, lifecasting and social media outlets available to authors, having a dot com, a myspace page, and a regularly-updated LiveJournal are only the bare minimum. This discussion will focus on non-traditional online marketing to teens and younger readers: ever thought about creating a Ning network, a Twitter feed from the perspective of your protagonist, or complimentary online content such as a YouTube channel, fashion blog, embeddable meme or downloadable EP? This discussion features a variety of perspectives from young adult and middle grade authors as well as handouts containing tutorials on how to make your own online book trailer, create an embeddable quiz, start a Ning network, and think outside the textbox.

Moderator: Robyn Schneider, author, Knightley Academy series

Presenters: Jessica Burkhart, author, Canterwood Crest series

Sarah Mlynowski, author, Magic In Manhattan series

Julia DeVillers, author, How My Private Personal Journal Became A Bestseller