- I had lunch with my editor at the MOMA, which I never actually visited when I was in New York, even when I worked only three blocks away. I really enjoyed it. I wasn't nervous about this one, because I worked with her before I left the City. Basically, we talked about the projects we were working on together, and I told her about my agent extraordinaire. It was lovely to see her and catch up.
- My good friend Maria Gomez and her boyfriend Josh had their first Alice's Tea Cup visit ever...and I got to see Maria's face when she realized how huge the scones are. Pumpkin is the best kind, just fyi. (We had an epic sushi dinner in Astoria afterwards. I was sooo full that I couldn't walk, and we had to take the bus back. But Maria and I agreed that it was totally worth it.)
- Lauren Oliver's Before I Fall hit the New York Times bestseller list in its first week!!! (insert squealing here) I'm so happy for her! Let everyone witness that I blogged about it before it was famous. (Yes, I do keep track of these things. I also read Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me before it won the Newbery, but I wasn't quick enough to blog about it before the annoucement. Sigh.)
- At Wine and Roses, I had an abbreviated drinks with old co-workers, including the other editorial assistant who used to be on my team and has since left New York but took a train into the city a day early to see me. Yay!! (She was coming in to the City to go to Lauren Oliver's book release party on Friday.) I was so glad to see them and soooo sorry that I had to leave early to rush over to a dinner engagement.
- My editorial letter for the manuscript I submitted in January was hand-delivered on Tuesday. Since I spoke to my editor on the phone in early February, I knew most of what it said already, but still, that warrants its own blog post too.
- I stopped by my old workplace twice to catch up with my old co-workers. One of them took me out for soy chai lattes, and I heard about all the office gossip. She actually got me all excited for her new titles, and I made her promise to send me galleys. Unfortunately, since some of them were new acquired, I have about a year to wait.... Sigh.
- Lunch with author/editorial assistant Alexandra Bracken and our mutual friend Maria Gomez turned into an epic quest for Red Mango in the Rockefeller Center. For those who are curious, it is above NBC Studios's gift shop and probably only intended for tourists, not for determined publishing peeps. Discussion topics included random whatnot that editorial assistants are forced to do, how working as an editorial assistant while aspiring to write can drive you batty, and the upcoming publication of Alex's debut novel, Brightly Woven, next week!! I haven't read it yet, but I'm totally buying it when it comes out. :-D!!!
Trip to NYC!!!!!
Guess what? I went to New York this week.
