When you walk up to the Javits the morning of Book Con, knowing you're a blogger and these people are just readers ....
When you see the line of people waiting to get their badges ....
When you first enter the floor and are greeted by thousands of people ....
When it takes you 5 minutes to move 5 feet ....
And the same person has been mouth-breathing on your neck the entire 5 minutes...
Then you turn to talk to the friend you walked in with and they're gone ....
So you take a shortcut along the back wall to avoid the crowds and hope no one sees you ....
And find the security guards sleeping ....
When you're told by 3 people that there are 3 lines for 1 author ....
When you realize you were woefully unprepared for this chaos ....
When you direct the 53rd person to ask where to get signing tickets ....
When you see people taking a dozen copies of the same book ....
When you wind up becoming a BookCon staff member because you feel bad that they're overwhelmed and need help ....
When you call it quits ....
And seek sanctuary on the BEA side of the floor to make sure you still have all vital appendages ....
Then you find your friend you lost hours earlier ....
When someone mentions the words "John Green" and "panel downstairs" ....
But because you're curious, you lean over the railing to see the people waiting to get into the panels downstairs ....
You go to leave and see people taking random display stuff from all the booths and publishers trying to stop them ....
When you finally leave the Javits Center ....
When you make an entire GIF post devoted to the hells of Book Con and realize you're planning to give it another go this year ....
