I’m back! And I need a vacation from this trip, because So Much Happened!
But before I get to all the awesomeness, I have a winner from last week’s giveaway to announce. Thanks to random.org, the winner is:
Yay! So.Cal.Gal, please email me at jennifer (at) jenniferhillier (dot) ca and I will mail out your signed copy of CREEP.
But for the rest of you who commented with the right answer (CREEP!), don’t worry if you haven’t won anything yet. There will be plenty more chances this summer. In fact, if you comment on this post, you’ll be automatically entered to win.
My trip to NY started with a visit to Simon & Schuster…
… where I got to meet my editor, Kathy Sagan, for the very first time. It’s crazy to think how much impact one person can have on your career and yet you might never have met. Till now.
There aren’t enough words to describe Kathy’s passion and enthusiasm for my book. And look! Doesn’t her office look just how you’d imagine an editor’s office to be? Books everywhere! I left with no less than 12 free books from fellow S&S authors such as Mary Higgins Clark and Lisa Genova.
My assigned publicist, Stephanie, was on holidays last week, but I was well taken care of by Ayelet, another publicist with Gallery. She’s beyond adorable. Seriously.
Ayelet and Kathy took me down to Studio 4 to make my author video.
And here I am getting miked up…
I was so nervous! I’ve never spoken on camera before, and to answer questions about my book in front of two cameras and five people was a little scary! So you have to promise that if you ever see this video, you will not make fun of me (at least not to my face).
And guess who I met after the taping? Fellow blogger buddy Ghenet, from All about them words! She popped in to say hello. She’s adorable, too. I’m thinking that’s a requirement for working at S&S. 😉
Next thing I knew, it was lunchtime. Kathy, Jennifer Bergstrom (editor-in-chief of the Gallery books imprint) and the Gallery sales team took me out to a gorgeous seafood restaurant called Oceana.
Can I just say that for one day, I felt like a rock star? The folks in this picture are some of the friendliest, funniest, kindest people I’ve ever met. I laughed the whole time. I got to hear lots of interesting stories about fellow Gallery authors (many of whom are actual celebrities, so I won’t name them). But clearly, publishing is never boring.
After lunch, it was back to the hotel to officially register for ThrillerFest.
Then later that night, I got to meet my agent for the first time! She’s sold two books for me in the past year and a half. It’s about time I got to hug her.
Victoria Skurnick is the reason all of this happened. I get all warm and fuzzy when I talk about her, but she’s used to it by now. We went to dinner at a Greek restaurant called Ammos, along with two of her other clients, Dan Friedman and Bobby Rotenberg, and the head of Levine Greenberg, Jim Levine.
Bobby brought along a very special dinner date…
The Very Special Guest’s face is kind of hidden, but you can see who she is in the next shot…
Yes. Margaret Atwood. I studied her in school. High school AND university! It doesn’t get better than that! She and Bobby know each other because she was his camp counselor when he was 8 years old. How awesome is that?
After dinner, Dan (@danfriedman81 for those of you on Twitter) and I headed off to meet another fabulous writer for drinks. Here we are waiting for her at the bar, which is kind of a secret bar inside of another bar:
Yes, we’re hot and sweaty. Because New York City in July is hot and sweaty! I am so not used to the crazy humidity!
Wonder who we’re meeting? Here’s her book, sitting beside the world’s most ridiculously strong drink (well, for me, anyway, since I hardly drink):
It’s Lisa Brackmann, author of Rock Paper Tiger!
All in all, a fabulous day in New York! In my next post, I’ll give details about ThrillerFest, where I met so many more amazing people.
Remember, comment on this post for a chance to win a signed hardcover of CREEP!
AND! You can go HERE to my finance blogger buddy GYC’s blog to win one of SIX copies of CREEP if you correctly answer his contest questions!