Greetings, readers, friends, colleagues. I’ve been away from blogging for a while, and I finally miss it. I needed the hiatus. I’ve been blogging about books, authors, and publishing for nearly six years, and these past six entry-free months have cleared some cobwebs from my brain’s cluttered attic.
Of course, I haven’t been inactive. I’ve been tweeting furiously (as you probably know if you’re reading this, since the only people reading this will be friends who have stuck by through my Twitter Era). I’ve been on Facebook a little bit more than usual, and I’ve been out and about in real life, too.
However, it’s time for me to crank up the the old Word Press machinery and jump back in.
OUCH. I don’t want to jump! I have blisters on blisters after Book Expo America 2010…
I’ve been attending these conventions since BEA was ABA, you whippersnapper bloggers, you. Why I’ve even gone to BEA pregnant (and being pregnant in Chicago in the June heat while walking a far more massive trade-show floor than now exists is not my idea of a good time). But my years have not added to my wisdom, alas.
It’s true: I am still too vain to simply give in and wear tennis shoes with socks to BEA. Yet my feet are so sensitive and my back so cranky that there is virtually no shoe other than the tennis shoe (the puffier, the whiter, the more moon-boot-resembling the better) that can help me avoid blisters while still supporting the rest of my body weight. Every pair of shoes I’ve tried causes a new set of pain points. (May I mention now the agony of open/peep toe shoes at a trade show? Blisters on TOP of toes are awful.)
Friends who have accompanied me from show floor to dinners and parties know too well the cries of “Wait! Wait! I can’t walk that fast. You don’t mind if I take off my shoes and walk ten blocks on dirty NYC pavement, do you? My feet hurt too much! I need a cab! Ouch! OH my God, you are so lucky to be a man/be wearing flip flops/have no foot issues.”
Fortunately for me, my friends, and the industry at large, I can soon shut up forever about my aching feet, because I’ve found the solution: These Thierry Rabotin black ballet flats. Yes, they cost a pretty penny — but they are beyond comfortable, causing no blisters yet also supporting the back and arch.
I’m afraid that the maker will discontinue this style, so I may have to buy two or three pairs to stockpile for my ever-faster-approaching dotage. Simple, classic, comfortable, but more important? They’re NOT TENNIS SHOES.
Vanity, thy name is Bethanne Patrick.
I’d love to hear your own tales of BEA Shoe Madness — or perhaps you have a) found a great solution b) given in and only wear Dansko Professional clogs or c) become a man due to their far more sensible approach to footwear.
I have huge feet (with orthotics a 12.5, which doesn’t exist in women’s sizes), so mostly wear men’s shoes. My BEA wardrobe is built around my shoes–Lands End slip-on suede mocs (only $39!) in red and dark blue. Black pants with red shoes, olive pants with blue. Even though the shoes are rubber-soled and cushy as can be, I wound up with screaming feet and lower back. But no blisters. And I never had to beg anyone to slow down for me.
I swear by the Frye Carson pull-on boot. Wore them all day at the show then tromping around New York later. Feet felt good at end of day. And I, too, walked around a Chicago BEA 6-months pregnant. I talked a lot of people out of picture book they weren’t supposed to give away that year.