100 Years

Last weekend I had visitors in town and we had a lovely time. One of the highlights of the trip was a stop we made on the way to Grand Central: the main branch of the New York Public Library! Settled on the eastern edge of my favorite midtown park, the library is a huge and gorgeous building guarded by the dedicated lions, Patience and Fortitude. And there are always things to see in the library—including the toy set that inspired A.A. Milne to write Winnie the Pooh! Those stuffed animals have been well loved. This visit was extra special because the library is celebrating its 100^th Birthday! They’ve gathered special items from all of their collections into one fantastic exhibit. There is something for everyone! My favorites: original illustrations from The Wizard of Oz, a handwritten manuscript by George Elliot, ancient maps, and historical documents. The collection they have is worthy of any museum! So, whether you’re a New Yorker or a tourist go ‘check out’ the library!

Summer Fridays

Today is the first official summer Friday.  For many who work in the publishing industry this means Friday afternoons off. I am looking forward to soaking up sunshine in the park, writing, and long weekends away from the city. So far, my afternoon has been delightful: lunch with my boyfriend, reading, napping. I’m about to work on my WIP before heading to dinner and a dance performance with some of my Harper colleagues. Perfection.

Here’s what one publishing insider says about the policy, and I couldn’t agree more. Yay for Fridays!

BEA by the Numbers

My FIRST time attending Book Expo America, a publishing tradeshow:

1 day at BEA (it runs for 3-4 days)

7 hours spent at BEA

5 hours spent overwhelmed but excited

2 hours spent at lunch

My bounty:

14 ARCs (including Forever and Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvator, and Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos)

1 F&G (Grandpa Green by Lane Smith)

2 books (including The Penderwicks at Point Mouette by Jeanne Birdsall)

1 chapter sampler (Modelland by Tyra Banks)

6 of which are signed

2 posters

1 pen

Various postcards, broadsheets and bookmarks

6 times I was told a variation of “it’s obvious it’s your first time at BEA because no one in their right mind carries around that many books all day!”

1 panel attended (YA Buzz- exciting books pubbing soon!)

1 celebrities encountered (Tyra)

15+ authors encountered

3 awkward encounters (I know you! You do? Ah, yes. You are? Didn’t we? No. Oh.)

100s of books I now want to read!

NYC Teen Author Festival

This past week was Teen Author Festival here in NYC and there were TONS of great events to go to. I (ahem) made it to one event- free theater tickets, my job, and errands unfortunately got in the way- but the one event was definitely a great one!  It included music-themed readings from top YA authors, plus performances by Tiger Beat, a YA author band comprised of Libba Bray (vocals, piano), Dan Ehrenhalf (guitar), Natalie Standiford (bass, vocal backup) and Barney Miller (drums, vocals). Even with two fractured elbows Libba was energetic and working the crowd! Check out a past recording of Tiger Beat playing their original hilarious (and somewhat inappropriate) tune “YA Song”. You'll be sure to smile!

Discounts, Extras and More!

One of the best parts of living in New York City is being able to take advantage of what the city has to offer: delicious food, world-class museums, entertaining performances.  But on a tight budget, it’s hard to indulge in all the offerings all the time. Luckily, there are plenty of discount coupon companies that make enjoying all NYC has to offer possible: Groupon, Restaurant.com, Living Social, etc. I take advantage of these discounts regularly, which is why I’m also so happy to introduce Bookperk.com, HarperCollin’s own “Groupon for books.” Books easily add up, but sometimes borrowing a book from the library just doesn’t cut it. That’s when you should check out Bookperk, which not only offers discounts on books and book related items (like a classic children’s book collection), but also has lots of extras, like tickets to Justin Beiber’s 3D movie Never Say Never, when you buy his biography.  While I’m just highlighting the awesome children’s perks- there’s something for everyone! Check it out- everyone loves a good discount!

Author Talks: Part 2

Hey everyone, you know my thoughts on author talks, but do you know how to find which authors will be talking in your area?  This new website I discovered recently will show you just that.  Normally I would have to check event listings at all the major bookstores (namely B&N, Borders, Books of Wonder and The Strand in NYC plus Symphony Space, a cultural/performance arts center) at least once a month, but now it’s all done for me! It even finds readings at places I never would have thought of.  (It's never a bad idea, though, to keep on checking your local bookstore listings, especially for children's book related events.) Pretty cool, huh?

Happy listening to those awesome authors! 

Apartment Saga

This employed book lover is now an ‘adult’.  And with adulthood comes some awesome things like a job (although that might also make you an adult- quite a chicken or the egg argument), a paycheck from said job, independence and your own place.  Well, getting and having an apartment has been kicking my butt for the past two months, hence the crazy/busy life I’ve been leading.

It all started on a wonderful and exciting late November afternoon when I received a call from HarperCollins offering me a job.  With a job, I could move into the city on my own rather than a tiring and slightly against-the-rules arrangement of commuting from CT and staying with my boyfriend in his subsidized grad student housing.  Since I had been trolling Craigslist for ages (like, since April because naïve-me thought I’d have a job by graduation in May), I knew what was out there, what I could expect to pay, and where I wanted to live.

I jumped right into viewing apartments that I had found listed on Craigslist and through my boyfriend’s school.  Some were small, some were in sketchy areas, some involved climbing far too many stairs, one was seemingly being rented out by an Eastern European prostitute for an alarmingly large amount of money.  Some were also big, beautiful and out of my price range (why, oh why, did I ever let myself view apartments that I knew I couldn’t afford?).  But then I found a room in a four bedroom apartment for a reasonable price and close to the subway, grocery store, and bank.  There was a dishwasher, exposed brick and one and half baths!  I had found my apartment.   I went home for Thanksgiving with the promise that I could meet the other roommates (only the girl moving out had been around when I viewed the apartment) and if everything was okay, I could move in.  The day before I was supposed to meet them, though, they emailed (very rudely) that they had found someone else.  My ‘dream’ apartment was snatched away from me.

So I had to jump right in again,  this time viewing apartments after work.  It was exhausting.  I was adjusting to my awesome new job during the day and running all over my neighborhood during the night.  Eventually I found another four bedroom place, slightly further north than I wanted, but with a huge kitchen (great for my baking!) with a dishwasher and dining nook, two bathrooms, great light and near the subway.  I viewed it twice before deciding it was right for me.  But it was, and is.  The floors are tilted, the subway might rattle and the radiator might clang, but that’s city/old building living!  And besides, I realized the other day that if I wanted to become a recluse, I could spend my entire life on my block- there are three pizza/Italian restaurants (including one of the best in the city), three Chinese food (one part sushi) places, a Mexican restaurant, an Irish pub, a burger joint, a deli, a grocery store, a liquor store, a laundromat and a dry cleaners all on my block.  There’s even a consignment store if I get desperate for clothes.  Not bad!

So this was right before Christmas.  I got my keys, but didn’t plan on moving in until after the New Year.  I didn’t have any furniture after all, and didn’t relish the idea of sleeping on a leaky air mattress when I could share my boyfriend’s comfy bed and well furnished apartment.

Returning to the city just before New Years, I headed to Ikea after a half day of work to get nearly every piece of furniture I needed.  It went smoothly, until I got lots of sass for needing help getting huge and heavy pieces of furniture from the warehouse onto my cart.  Geez, my boyfriend would have been there to help me if he had been in New York City, but they can’t possibly expect every weak (that’s me) or average-strength girl (or guy!) to bring someone to help them!  Although it was a bit frustrating (and the lines were long), I successfully bought my furniture and set up delivery for the next day.

Fast-forward to the end of the next day, Ikea never showed up.  Turns out one hour after my delivery time slot was over, the delivery driver was still four hours upstate.  I was NOT happy, but rescheduled for later that weekend.  They made me wait five and a half hours the second day (the delivery time slot is four), but my mattress, box spring, dresser, nightstand and bookcase were successfully delivered.

Then there was the issue of actually putting together the cheap Ikea furniture.  It went smoothly, although I was warned about couples getting into “Ikea fights.”  There was a little disappointment when I discovered that my dresser couldn’t fit into the closet like I had hoped, but we tucked it in the other closet (yes, I have two closets in my bedroom) and we were all set.  But then we got to the bookcase.  Since my floors tilt in every direction imaginable, it was important to secure the bookcase to the wall.  But what we thought was a stud behind my drywall turned out to be a brick wall.  A frustrating setback, but at least a trip to Home Depot a couple days later solved that problem.

And then there’s my absent desk.  I want one like this, which is similar to the type of desk I had in college.  But I cannot afford a Pottery Barn price tag (duh), and you would think that cheaper retailers would sell something similar.  Not true.  I thought I had found one I liked from Target, only for my boyfriend to look at the measurements and point out that it was a kids’ desk.  Ooops.  And then I found another at Staples, only for it to become backordered (and possibly discontinued) the moment I tried to order it.  I would love it if anyone had ideas on where to find this (seemingly simple) desk.

The following weekend my boyfriend and I did an exhausting but luckily easy transfer of all my stuff that was still at my home in CT.  We took the three-and-a-half-hour door-to-door train up Saturday night, loaded my mom’s car, drove the two hours down, unloaded my belongings, drove two hours back, and then turned right around and took the train back into New York.  From start to finish, it was a twenty-four hour process.  Yuck.  But it’s been nice having ALLLL my clothes in one place and my books and cooking supplies and (I’ll admit it) stuffed animals.  It’s beginning to feel like home.

So that’s about where my apartment stands.  Are you exhausted?  I know I am!  But don’t get me wrong, either; as tiring as this process has been, I am SO happy to be able to officially call New York City home.  And it has been fun picking out comforters and curtains and my aunt and grandmother made me beautiful pillowcases that brighten up the mostly white bedroom.  Everything is nearly settled and I couldn’t be happier with the way it’s turned out…or the fact that it’s almost done!

Giving My Regards to Broadway

One of my favorite parts about living in New York City is that Broadway is at my doorstep.  Having participated in musical theater growing up, I have a huge affinity for the theater.  Those show-stopping numbers in classical musicals keep me smiling for days on end and I can’t help but wish that my neighbors would start singing as I walked down the street a la Avenue Q or RENT, even though I live further north (perhaps they do really sing in Alphabet City?).

Keeping up with theater trends, lately I have noticed how many musicals, and especially those for children, have found their source material in books.  This obviously isn’t unheard of, although many book-based musicals are actually book-based-movies-turned-Broadway-show, like Mary Poppins or Spider Man.   However, there are a few new shows out that have skipped the movie step and gone straight to stage (although perhaps in off- and off-off-off Broadway). 

The most famous of these (and VERY VERY highly recommended by moi) is Wicked, adapted by Gregory Macguire’s novel of the same name.  While it is technically a book for adults, and the storyline of the novel is bogged down by political commentary*, at the  heart of the musical is a story of acceptance and finding out who you are.  Elphaba’s journey, along with G(a)linda, the Scarecrow, Tinman, and Lion are something every teenager can relate to.

For the younger crowd, Freckleface Strawberry: The Musical, based on Julianne Moore’s picture book recently opened.  I got the inside scoop on this book while interning at Bloomsbury Children’s Books and if the musical is anything like the book, it’s a gem.   I only wish I had a few kids to take to see the show, so I wouldn’t be the only adult unaccompanied by a kid in the theater.

In London, Roald Dahl’s George’s Marvelous Medicine recently opened, and perhaps it will make it’s way to New York like so many shows do. 

And Scholastic just announced the traveling show, Clifford the Big Red Dog: A Big Family Musical, which will be performed in sixty cities around the country. It’s just in development stages, but it’s something exciting to look forward to!

So, for kids young and old, there are plenty of choices for a theater experience.  Read the book, then see the show.  It’s a match made in musical heaven.

* And for the record, although Wicked wasn’t my favorite ‘fairytale’ adaptation of Gregory Macguire’s, the strongly plotted sequel, Son of a Witch, makes reading the first one worth it.

Literature and the MTA

 Here is a fact for Friday, but today it is not fun: starting more or less immediately, literary placards on the subways will be replaced by ads.

As stated in the New York Times article from 12/20/10, the program called Train of Thought, which had replaced Poetry in Motion, will be discontinued.  These two programs have been running for a combined eighteen years.  Train of Thought shared literary quotations from Kafka and T.S. Eliot.  It was a great relief from the ads for bunion doctors and immigration lawyers that decorate subway cars.

The rational behind this change?  The MTA needed space for their promotional campaign.  And while it’s true that the MTA needs to do everything it can to make New Yorkers happy with the public transportation system, more advertisements do not provide the respite that a bit of poetry or quote might provide to someone traveling home after a long day.

I guess now we’ll just have to rely on the subway musicians to brighten our day…

eBooks and an Awesome Building

Because I spend so much time around books, I’m constantly discovering new and fun facts about books.  But try as I might, I can’t always find a way to turn those tidbits into a full blog post.  Therefore, I am introducing FUN FACT FRIDAYS, during which I will share any interesting book related discovery from the past week.   Here my are my two for this week:

* Perhaps I’m behind the times, but did you know that you can borrow eBooks from the library? I was in a bit of a snag last weekend- I needed to read some books to prep for my interview on Tuesday but the library was closed by the time I could reach it on Saturday, closed on Sunday, and I didn’t have a means to get to the library on Monday.  I really didn’t want to go buy the books (not to mention it’s a 25 minute drive to my nearest bookstore in CT-I know, it’s a travesty).  Anyways, so I had this problem and was fiddling around with the NYPL website and I discovered eBooks!  The two books that I wanted to read, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead and Hoot by Carl Hiaasen were there and I downloaded them onto my computer within seconds.  Of course, not all books are available in eBook form and you have to read them on your computer screen (eye strain-yuck!), but when you’re in a bind like I am (or just lazy), being able to borrow eBooks from the library is pretty darn AMAZING!

* The Random House building in NYC is designed with a short tower, three tall towers, and then another short tower- 3 books between two bookends!  How cool is that?  The picture book Skyscraper by Susan E. Goodman and photographed by Michael Doolittle has a good picture of the creative design if you can’t get to NYC and see it yourself.

Hope you find these fun facts interesting…there will be more next week!

The Things You Do For Research

The best writing of all comes from personal experience: “write what you know” is advice I’ve heard way more than once.  But sometimes you have to admit you don’t know everything.  You may know how your character would react to a break up…but not necessarily the way ancient Romans would express heartbreak.  Or, you might want to set your story in Dickensian London…but don’t know the vernacular of the time.  Sometimes, you just need to research something.  And writers today are lucky; at the tip of our fingertips you can research just about any topic out there. You name it; you can find something about it on the internet, and lots more things you never even thought to think about. 

When writing my YA novel, The Rose of Coracus, I’ve done my fair share of research online.  Although my novel takes place in a fantastic quasi-medieval kingdom, I want some elements to be relatively historically accurate.  Or, at the very least, I need the right vocabulary to describe types of dress, medieval warfare or architecture.  I spent one afternoon looking up medieval castle floor plans…you’d really be surprised what’s on the web!

Sometimes, though, research takes you a bit further than a simple Google search.  I’ve made more than one boyfriend jump when they see “babynames.com” in my research search history.  Calm down guys, I’m just researching character names! (Side note: I really do love character names that have an additional meaning or ones that help further detail the setting/culture of the novel.  For example, I named all the characters of a particular ethnic group linguistically similarly: female names end in –a or –i, and often come from Eastern European or Balkan backgrounds.  Details count, even ones that your readers might not be consciously aware of!).

This past weekend, though, my research reached a new high…or low…depending on how you want to look at it.  I attended the Medieval Festival at Fort Tryon Park.  Now, I’ll admit, my not-quite-entirely-inner nerd has always wanted to attend a Renaissance Faire, just to see what it’s like.  But when I realized that this past weekend’s event would actually be beneficial to my manuscript, I had to attend.  I was most keen on seeing medieval combat in action; it’s pretty darn hard to describe action realistically and dramatically if you don’t even know what it’s supposed to look like in the first place!  The highlights were that some people were dressed in what I imagine to be realistic costumes, I heard unique music (with instruments I’ve never seen before and might now include in my manuscript), and saw medieval blacksmithing techniques (key because that’s the trade of my main character’s father). Overall, the Medieval Festival was interesting, although geared more towards kids than I would have liked, not all that authentic (there was a Quiddich match…cool, but probably didn’t exist in medieval times) and I missed the jousting…but I did see a real live unicorn!  All in all, it was a cool experience on a beautiful fall day that at least got me thinking in the realm of medieval-ness.

The next book I write, though, I think I’m going to set in an ancient Scottish castle or Prague or an exotic Polynesian island.  Cause a research trip couldn’t hurt. ;-) 

Books + NYC + Map = Love

I’m a Book Lover, obviously.  I <3 NY and am eager to move here permanently.  It is, after all, the second best city in the world (after London, naturally).  But what you may not know about me is that I’m obsessed with maps.  When I was little my mom posted a huge world map on the wall and I would impressed my extended family with my ability to find any country they could name.  Today, I’m lucky I now have a boyfriend who thinks he drags me into map stores, when really, I want to be there just as much as he does.  (Really really cool) Old maps, new maps, world maps, city transportation maps…they fascinate me.  Thus, when I found something the other day that combined all three of my loves, I just had to share it:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/khtml/2005/06/05/books/20050605_BOOKMAP_GRAPHIC.html

This is AWESOME.  Of course, the map doesn’t include a lot of recent MG/YA books that have Manhattan settings.  Laurie Halse Anderson’s Revolutionary War era Chains and Forge, Rebecca Stead’s Newbery winner When You Reach Me, Anna Godbersen’s turn of the century Luxe series, or Cecily von Ziegesar’s Gossip Girl series, for example.  And there are plenty of others; authors past and present have always been pulled towards NYC and the amazing setting the island provides.  So use this map as a start for your Manhattan literary wonderings, and add your own, too.  I’m sure you’ll find something around every corner.