Friday Five - Whoa, September? Reeally? Already?

1. I'm sure that this is beginning to sound like a broken record, but I turned in another revision on Sunday, around 11:45PM. That makes three revisions completed in three months. Woot! (And yes, I'm a bit worn out.)

2. I did get some fun reading done this week: One was Leviathan, by Scott Westerfeld. The thing I love about Westerfeld is that he writes fantasy/scifi like realism. His world-building skills are epic. The way he writes, you know that he has every detail of his world plotted out, that you are only seeing the tip of the iceburg. For this one, that had to involve a bunch of prior knowledge of biology and mechanics, and then he had to translate all of that into reader friendly material. I am so impressed.

He also had two different POV's going on, which I normally dislike to the point of not reading. This one worked for me. I think it might be because it combines two plots that are near and dear to my heart: a) an underdog prince on the run, and b) a turn-of-the-century girl disguising herself as a boy to follow her dream.

3. The other book was Mistwood, by Leah Cypress. I have to be completely honest. I love fairy tale stories, ie. medieval type landscapes with princes and princesses and pretty dresses and court intrigues. Robin McKinley (author of Beauty, Spindle's End, Rose Daughter, Deerskin, and Chalice - all are fairy tale retellings) is one of my all-time favorite authors, and I have a feeling that she had a major influence on my writing without me realizing it. I have a very worn copy of Sherwood Smith's Crown Duel, and when Kristen Cashore's Graceling came out, I couldn't stop talking about it/making all my friends read and adore it.

Mistwood belongs on the same shelf, guys. It's that good. It has it all: the moody, evocative landscape, the well-defined magic, the twists of a complicated plot, a swoonworthy prince, and a heroine that's trying to figure herself out. I loved it like whoa. I checked it out from the library, but eventually (ie. after I stop moving around every three months), I'm going to get my own copy.

4. My laptop came back, safe and sound, but sans software. (Well, and sans files, but I had those on my backup disc.) Microsoft Word is the most major loss, but they're coming out with a new Mac upgrade next month. I'm trying to make due until then.

Besides that, all files have been transferred (um, as far as I know). About half of my music needed to be transferred manually - basically, any song that I hadn't purchased from iTunes (songs uploaded from CD's and free online mp3 downloads). I don't think that this is a coincidence, but maybe, I'm getting too conspiracy theory about it.

5. I am going on a trip, starting Sunday!! (I kept thinking I had another week before I left, but no, it's already September.) First (Sept 5-9), I'm headed to NYC to visit with friends (both the college and publishing crowd), and from there (Sept 9-13), I fly to DC to visit with more friends (both college and high school crowd).

It's not really a vacation, because I'm bringing my laptop with me. But I get to see people I haven't seen for YEARS! So exciting!!

Trip to NYC!!!!!

Guess what? I went to New York this week. 

• 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!!!

A fantastic, busy trip - I think I'm still recovering.  Whew!