Sunday, May 17, 2009

My trip to New York

Last week I took the train down to New York.

I visited the office of my publisher, Farrar, Straus & Giroux:



Which is very conveniently located next to this!


With the most amazing cupcakes I've ever seen. (Take note, Grace Lin.)


And this is pretty handy located next to a children's book publisher:



I loved snooping around my editor's office. This is an amazing painting by the brilliant Peter Sis, who thought she needed a window (back when she had a windowless office):



I loved seeing all of the books in various stages of production, tucked away on a shelf, waiting to become real books and fly out into the real world.


Of course, I was particularly interested in these two:



Here I am (right) with my brilliant editor, Frances Foster.



And I finally got to meet Lisa Graff (left), associate editor, author, and blogger (Longstockings). (See how much fun Lisa is having?)


Frances and Lisa and I had a wonderful lunch. First we debated the possible shape of cavatappi. Then we had some great conversations about writing, books, and the importance of dressing well when taking airplane trips.

After saying goodbye to Frances and Lisa, I went to my son's senior thesis photography show (Parsons School of Design). It was wonderful. (Those art school kids work hard!)


And I was very proud.

10 comments:

jama said...

Sigh. Such wonderful photos! Glad you had a great trip.

Janet said...

Thank you for taking us inside a book publisher's office. Maybe someday I'll take such a trip.

Kimberley Griffiths Little said...

LOVE the pictures, Barb! So fun! And you're just so cute, too!

TamraW said...

Aw, what a wonderful Mother/Son photo!

I also love the editor's book bins, all lined up like ducks in a row. Thanks for sharing . . .

Anonymous said...

who is that hunk of a man standing next to you and what has he done with Bicker 1??

Congrats

Diddy

Kirby Larson said...

Oh, you have a son in New York, too. If I knew this, it didn't stick in my puny brain. Congrats on his accomplishments and thanks for sharing your whirlwind NY visit with us.

Except where's my cupcake?

Barbara O'Connor said...

Kirby, you're scaring me. I think we may be the same person.

Anonymous said...

What a lovely trip!

Karen said...

what a fabulous trip you had!! The cupcakes look divine, I'm sure I would love that bookstore, and the trip inside your editor's office was enlightening.

Of all the things I took from your post though, it was were the three of you discussed how to dress for plane travel. I just had this discussion recently. Too funny! :) We'll have to chat sometime about where everyone in your group stood on this topic.

Congrats again on your son's accomplishments!

Barbara O'Connor said...

Karen: We all agreed that it was important to dress nicely and we tsk-tsked about people who dress like slobs in sweats and flip flops, etc. AND, I related a story about flying to Ireland with my husband and son and we got upgraded to first class. When my husband asked the ticket agent how they decide who they are going to upgrade, she said, "Well, to be honest, one big criteria is the way you're dressed." Ha!