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.