the pictures!
Posted by in this & thatAnd now I can regale you with BEA: A Photo Essay. (I used to have my students do a photo essay assignment when I taught 10th grade English. I am sure they LOVED it.) First up: This is my street the morning before I left. (Daphne, if you are reading this, please let me know if you want me to remove this picture of your very lovely home.)
This is Central Park while I was in NYC. Not a bad trade.
And here we have me, Don Weisberg (the President of Penguin Books for Young Readers), and Jodi Reamer, my agent. And a giant poster of MATCHED. These two people, along with (of course) my editor, Julie Strauss-Gabel, are the ones who have been behind MATCHED all the way and who have put their faith in this book and in me. It’s an incredible honor to work with them.
The line at BEA. Jodi, who took this picture, assures me that it is actually the line for MATCHED at BEA. I would think she were lying to me to support my delusions of grandeur, but Penguin has been so great at getting the word out about the book that I am tempted to believe Jodi. And then I remember the last signing I had a month or so ago, where I signed five books, and I doubt again. Authors. Why are we so insecure? 
(For the record, I never actually doubt Jodi. That would be stupid.)
A pile of beautiful, beautiful MATCHED ARCs. I found out at BEA that the model in the photo and the photographer are the same person. Her name is Samantha Aide and she is incredibly gorgeous and talented (obviously).
And the grand finale. A photo of the YA Buzz Panel. From left: Rebecca Maizel, Erin Bow, me, Sophie Jordan, and Kody Keplinger. This was a really, really fun panel and the moderator was fantastic. I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s books. These were all very lovely women with extraordinary imaginations and I felt very lucky to be in their company.
And so ends BEA, the Photo Essay. The writing in this photo essay was not nearly as good as my students’ was when they did this assignment. I’m going to blame it on the fact that I am trying to write a sequel and potty-train Boy 2 AT THE SAME TIME. What? That’s no excuse? How about the fact that I am also heading off to present at the WIFYR Workshop this afternoon and I can’t find my handouts? I can’t teach without handouts! They are my security blanket. I don’t know who stole them. Probably the same person that made me lose my camera after BEA.
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I'm Ally Condie, author of the MATCHED trilogy: MATCHED, a #1 New York Times Bestseller, its sequel, CROSSED, and a third book to be released in November 2012. In my former life, I taught high school English (and I still keep my license current, just in case!). In my current life, I write, read, run, and hang out with my husband and three boys. I post here on Tuesdays (and other days if the mood strikes me) and I'm on twitter (@allycondie).
You HAVE to be talented to be in your own picture and make it look that good!
BEA sounds like heaven on earth. I’m gonna get there someday.
P.S. If you come ’round locally again, you can be sure that I’ll be in your line!
I wish I could come to the conference today and support you. Bummer. I’m sure you’ll do awesome with or without handouts. Good luck with the potty training. That’s always a blast and a half.
Love all the pics, glad you got your camera back!
I’m glad you got your camera back — all these pics are lovely, and thank you for sharing them with us.
WIFYR Workshop sounds amazing, and I’m sure you’ll do fabulously even without handout. I hope you’ll have a lot of fun. :]
LOL! Oh, you are so funny. I can just HEAR your voice as I read. Great pics, thanks for sharing them, and at, like, 6:30 in the morning. Nothing like being a young mother/author with no sleep.
Good luck with the potty training. Presenting at the workshop has got to be easier than that… with or without handouts. The crowd is a lot less prone to “accidents” there. That is, of course, unless you have them laughing too hard and then you’re back to square one. Best of luck to you!
Hi Ally!
Just dropping you a note to tell you how AWESOME your presentation was today. A friend and I talked about it the entire car ride home. Thanks again for all your kind words and I can’t WAIT for your book to come out. =D
–Laura
That’s way more clever than I was expctieng. Thanks!
Enna Isilee, it would be so great to meet you!
Sandy, thank you for the well-wishes. I found the handouts and everything went just fine. Phew!
Ali, you make me laugh. And yes. No “accidents” at the workshop. Success!
Laura, wow. Thank you. That makes me feel great. It was such a pleasure to see you again and I wish we could have chatted more.
Great pictures Ally! I loved them, I love the snow, something I miss very much about Iowa. I have to say I wish I could have made it to BEA I was dying to be in that line to receive an ARC copy of your book, I am very excited about and was greedy and wanted a copy pronto!
I know you’ll get some great sales, definitely a lot of hype happening over around my blog and others about your wonderful book!
1. Love that you matched the color green on the cover with your shirt. Was that planned?
2. That is some line! Who gets to go to BEA?
3. I am sorry that only 5 people showed up the last time you had a book signing. Remember that when there are 500 (or more) that come to your first signing for Matched.
4. I love that you are on panels and presenting…you deserve every bit of success!
Jen-Awww, thanks! I appreciate you hyping my book. And looking forward to it. That means a lot to me.
Sarah. Totally planned to wear the green shirt. Are you embarrassed for me? BEA is booksellers, book bloggers, librarians, etc. And teachers. You should go.
love the green
congrads girlie!
I had already heard all the buzz about MATCHED, so I was even more impressed to listen to you at WIFYR and realize how realistic and down to earth you are. Great job on your presentation! You gave me a lot to think about.
Thanks, Shelli!
Melanie, I’m really glad you felt like the presentation was useful! I meant for it to be more of a discussion and then I just kept talking. Thank you for coming and for your comment. Good luck with your writing!!
Really wanted one of those Arc’s. :’(
*cries*
fun to see these pictures. Thanks for sharing. it must’ve been amazing.
I love that picture of Central Park. It makes me miss it so much!
I’m the lead bookseller for the children’s and teen department at my B&N here in Peoria, Az. I just finished reading the advanced copy of Matched and I loved it!! I can’t wait for the sequel! The story is well written and heart wrenching. It was so good I read it in one day. Never mind that I had to stay up till midnight to finish it even though I have to be at work early tomorrow, it was worth it. I will definitely be hand selling it, putting it on the staff recommends display, and featuring it as a teen favorite in my teen department. Best of luck to Mrs. Condie and I’ll keep an eye out for books from this promising author.
Sincerely, Isela