New York Hangover

I owe you some major blog posts about BEA 2011! I've been meaning to catch you all up on my adventures--everything from nasty author signings to unexpected author hugs (hugs!!)--but I've been so so so very tired.

The thing about New York that always takes me off guard is the pace. There's no time for breakfast. There's no time to buy food so that you have something to eat for breakfast. You get coffee and you go--fast!

It's also the pace of BEA. It's not just the convention itself, it's being surrounded by like-minded, book-loving, super smart people. I soak it up. I really did spend every night wide awake until after 1 AM, just staring at the ceiling and reliving every second. I don't think I got more than 4-5 hours of sleep on any night of my trip!

And now that I'm coming down from the "high" I'm really starting to miss it. I miss my friends--two very different friends who let me stay at their apartments on opposite ends of New York. I miss leaning across a tiny table at a party, nursing a beer and talking books with a group of young, smart women. I miss pretending I was one of those women.

Maybe I could have been one of those women.

I chose to go a different route. I chose this. And I love writing. I love being in a place with trees and a hiking path behind my apartment. But sometimes in life you come across a person you might have loved or a lifestyle you might have had and you just get caught up in the possibilities of what might have been.

Tomorrow I will have to set that aside. I will embrace the what is. I will go to the bookstore. I will kickbox. I will do some writing. And I will be very happy.

But for tonight, I will give myself a little more time to dream...