What I Did at Bookcon 2018

Happy Friday, everyone!

So this month I had the chance to go to Bookcon in NYC. Frankly, this is a con I wanted to attend for the past five years, but I never had anyone to go with and I’m kind of terrified of the city and public transportation (you know, things I didn’t grow up with, since I spent my childhood in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania). But this year was different. I finally have an author friend, Ann Dayleview, to do these events with, and she is so much braver (and more city-saavy!) than I am!

She is a wonderful, wonderful person who just got her agent (!), and you should definitely check her out on her website, Ann’s View (don’t mind the wonky look right now… she is in the process of updating). She has so many helpful tools there!

But I digress.

So Ann arrived at my house late Friday night, we looked up the train schedule, and then we woke up super early (all the sleepies) to make it to the train station in Jersey early. And then drove to the next one farther north, since parking was a mess in Trenton.

And so the adventure began. And I really should have taken more pictures.

So we caught the train and made it to a few blocks away from the Javitts Center. And we started to see the people. Our people! Book people! They were everywhere! It was glorious and exciting. What an adventure! We stopped on our way for delicious, delicious toasted bagels and coffee (hint: if you go to NYC, avoid the touristy places… the small corner stores are where it’s AT!), and then checked in at the Con to get our badges and enjoy everything they had to offer.

And wow, was there a lot!

We spent tons of time meeting people, like Morgan Matson, Jenny Han, and Siobhan Vivian (who had a photo opp and ice cream on the main show floor… they were so happy and so pleasant!):

We went to a ton of panels, such as this one with Holly Black, Neal Shusterman, and Charlaine Harris, dealing with dangerous characters and dangerous themes in fantasy:

And we got a special sneak peak of the new The Darkest Minds movie in a panel with Alex Bracken herself (who I got to meet later on the show floor) and Amandla Stenberg:

And so. Much. Swag. Seriously, I went home with a bunch of books, samplers, book-themed items like jewelry and totes, and all the pins. Most of that was free!

We spent two days going to the panels, playing games, meeting people, and exploring the booths on the show floor. And let me tell you: it was one of the best cons of my life. I’m so glad I faced my fear (I almost declined the invitation because of the city and number of people) and went to this event. I have finally kicked Bookcon off my bucket list, and I’m sure I’ll be back.

Did any of you go to Bookcon this year? Tell me your favorite part! For those of you who couldn’t attend, do you think you ever will? Do you even want to? Talk to me in the comments!