by hatfield13

29 Hours in New York

I think I may have been the only bookish person in the world heading to New York City on Friday of the holiday weekend, after BEA was over, but it was a great, quick trip all the same. A few quick Tuesday-morning highlights before I head off to school…

1. I got to meet with my agent, the wonderful and funny Jennifer Laughran, who did not want her picture taken. Instead, I will show you what I had for dessert at our little rendezvous.

2. My husband somehow managed to get tickets to Glee Live at Radio City Music Hall.  Even with six teenagers screaming in my ear from the seats behind us, it was fantastic – such talented performers.  "Defying Gravity" was my favorite.

3. We spent some time exploring Greenwich Village, had dinner at Lupa (order the gnocci if you go), and wandered around Washington Square Park, where many kinds of artists were enjoying the night, too.

And later on…

4. A highlight of the trip for me was meeting up with my publisher Emily Easton at the Flatiron Building, home of Walker/Bloomsbury. 

Since my family hadn’t been to the building before, Emily was kind enough to give us a tour that started with one of the slush piles. 

…continued through the editorial, publicity and marketing, art director’s offices, and the room where acquisitions meetings take place. We took a detour by the Bloomsbury/Walker bookshelves-of-awesome, which she let my kids raid…

…and ended in the boss’s office at the tip of the building, which has a picture on the wall to give you perspective…

…and a view that probably makes up for all the stress of being the boss.

My husband loved the tour, too, and was amazed at how busy and full of works-in-progress, books, and papers the offices were. His comment as we took the old elevator back down to the ground floor?  "That whole place looks like your desk."

One more thing happened on the Bloomsbury/Walker tour  – I picked up the E.B. White Award for THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. that Emily accepted at the ABC dinner at BEA last week.  It’s living happily on a shelf over my desk now and is very, very shiny.  🙂

27 Replies on “29 Hours in New York”

  1. You had me at the dessert … but the rest was pretty excellent, too! Hooray for a great trip and a shiny new award over your desk!

  3. The top photo made me say, “Whoa!” Then my oldest teen had to come see what I was whoaing about. We both now have dessert envy.

    And I enjoyed the beside-the-scenes photos of Bloomsbury/Walker. 🙂

  4. Fun! Love that dessert too! I always wondered who worked in the Flat Iron building, it’s my favorite building in NYC. Must have been fun to hold that award in your hands for the first time!

  5. You sure do know how to pack in a happy weekend. And I like your souvenir now on your shelf very much.

    And I smiled at your husband’s remarks. Meeting him I felt his love and pride in you, which it’s so great to know you have.

  6. Flat Iron Building

    Being a native New Yorker and a history buff, I envy your tour of the Flat Iron building: the first “modern” sky-scaper in America. And yeah, that dessert looks good too!

    -Jon Brooks

  7. I’d rather look at that yummy dessert than your agent any day! I haven’t visited Walker’s office since they moved. Congrats again on your E.B. White award. You can show a picture of that, too!

  8. The dessert looks AMAZING … and the photo of the slush pile made me weep. 🙂 (I’m kidding.) What a wonderful trip you had. Congratulations on your award! Happy end-of-school-year to you.

  14. Thanks, Karen. It was very exciting – Emily asked, “Do you want to take that home with you now?” and I just nodded and grinned like crazy.

  22. Really enjoyed this pictorial post! I used to live in NYC and, while I am a Boston girl at heart, I do miss the city (or The City, as my Brooklyn-born husband refers to it).

    And that dessert? YUM.

  24. I’ve never lived in the city but love thinking about what that must be like – it’s sooo different from where I live now!