Hey remember that time I wrote a book and then revised it and then revised it again and then did line-edits and D went on a business trip and there was no one around to tell me to sleep so I didn’t which gave me all this extra time to do line-edits, and then I finished them and had three minutes left to throw all my clothes in a suitcase to take to New York for BEA, but I missed some of the clothes and didn’t check the weather report and it was raining there, but it wasn’t raining here, but I just assumed that the weather would be the same and it wasn’t and then it was time to run out of the house with my haphazardly-packed suitcase of inadequate clothes and that’s how I wound up in New York in the rain, with a suitcase full of exclusively sundresses and no socks and that hollow-eyed incandescent look that I get when I don’t sleep.
Then.
Well, then everything slowed way, way down.
(Which yes, in retrospect, that’s kind of a strange thing to say about Manhattan.)
(Also, it’s a strange thing to say about a week in which six people are staying in 800 square feet filled with luggage and books and laptops and one bathroom.)
But everything DID slow down. I stopped having to juggle all-the-everything. Which was really nice. Usually, I only had one thing to do each day, and sometimes after I was done, I took a nap. I had coffee with my agent, and met Editor Jocelyn for lunch and we talked about what I should write next, which is always the most exciting thing! I rode in taxis and went to The Strand, and one night we all went and saw a play, which was Newsies. I had Chinese food, which is always better in New York than any other place I’ve ever been.
Lerner did some amazing stuff for The Curiosities, starting with the blogger breakfast, and afterward I got to sign ARCs with Tess and Maggie and the line at the booth was really long, which was exciting, and everyone was so nice and Editor-Andrew put a picture on Twitter and I stole it from him and posted it here:
And as she does, on the last night, Jackson coerced us into making a video. Also, we were pretty delirious by this point in the trip, and she didn’t have to coerce very hard.
It’s worth mentioning that this is about as comfortable as I ever look on film, and it’s taken me literally years to get to a point where I don’t simply go silent and hold very still when someone points a video camera at me. I’m counting it as a success!
Also, that’s the Psyduck dance I’m doing. In case you were wondering.
Brenna Yovanoff 
Oh so awesome. I’ve been dying to meet my CPs for years, and there you are hanging out again, and signing your joint book with yours. That is just so rad, and you all look like you have so much fun together. :)
Also, NEWSIES. <3<3<3 idk what it could possibly be like live (ie, unable to rewind and replay, again and again, ect), and without Christian Bale, but I bet I'd love it anyway.
Oh, it was SO much fun live! The dancing was great to watch, and the sets were minimalist and amazing, and the guy who played Jack Kelly had a really good voice. Also, this may make you judge me, or at least shake your head sadly, but it probably comes as no surprise to anyone that as a kid, I really didn’t have any patience for Newsies (although, okay fine, I did have a small amount of patience for Christian Bale). But it wasn’t a gangster movie and no one was Jack Nicholson or a zombie, so I just did *not* understand the appeal.
(Grown-up me recognizes that I was totally over-thinking it, and the actual thing that all the girls on my soccer team were infatuated with probably boils down to “very fit boys in short pants”)
haha, or perhaps if Tarantino had directed the Newsies movie, it might have had more appeal :D
And hahaha, I love how you were over-thinking it… My teen love for it pretty much matched your soccer team’s… but then, that ‘very fit boys in short pants’ description matches exactly the reason I’m a big fan of watching rugby today, so I guess I’m just as shallow as ever. :D
Oh, rugby! I love it so (not least because of the boys), but my original infatuation started when I was 14, for *incredibly* Tarantino-esque reasons. Which is that I was watching it by accident in a hotel room because I couldn’t find the ESPN channel that had the soccer game, and as I watched, this guy got his ear really, really mangled. And instead of carting him away and stitching him up they taped his ear to the side of his head and sent him back in. Well, I was in love.
hahaha, fantastic. That is exactly what happened to my hubs in a game not too long ago. His ear got half-ripped off, and eventually he did have to have to go to the hospital and have it stitched, but not until AFTER the game was over. Gross for me to look at, but you have to admire the perseverance in their sport! Well, at least I do…
And funny enough, I was just talking rugby with a friend the other day, who was looking for a quote he’d heard, about rugby being a beastly sport played by gentlemen, and I came across a quote about Welsh rugby coaches (I’m in Wales right now, and my hubs is Welsh, so it caught my attention) and the quote was: ‘The job of Welsh coach is like a minor part in a Quentin Tarantino film: you stagger on, you hallucinate, nobody seems to understand a word you say, you throw up, you get shot.’
haha, I think this quote should be for the players, as well – at 14, you were definitely perceptive! :D
You’re back!!! Yay!!
That video…oh man. :) haha.
We had a ridiculous and marginally scandalous time making it (also, I’m sure that Jackson had to sort through hours of of totally unusable footage in order to find these gems)!
Brenna,
It was so great to see you again! Being 3rd in line to see you, Tessa and Maggie was amazing! And guess what? I just noticed that I am the one taking the picture of you in the picture above..pink breast cancer bracelet and all. I am savoring every minute of “The Curiosities”..and I cannot wait to read “Paper Valentine” when it comes out. I respect all of you Merry Sisters of Fate very much, and the highlight of BEA for me was to meet all of you once again. Take care and I promise to keep in touch!
<3 Kristin
Hi, Kristin! Yes, thank you so much for coming to our signing—it was fantastic to see you again and I’m really glad you were right there at the front, ensuring that you’d get an ARC, because WOW we ran out!
Oh, man, that’s awesome that Andrew’s picturing-taking just happened to capture your picture-taking. And I’m really glad you’re liking The Curiosities. I feel like I don’t always do an adequate job of talking about the actual book, because in a way, it’s still really surreal that it even exists—like this strange transformation from one thing (blog) to something entirely different, and even though I was there for all the work and the planning and discussion that went in to it, in a weird way it still feels like it just sort of … happened. Like it hatched from an egg or something and we didn’t know what it would even look like until it just sort of appeared.
So glad you had such a good time in NY with Tess and Maggie. :D I’m totally looking forward to reading Curiosities. :D
Oh, it was an excellent time! And I’m really glad you’re excited for The Curiosities, because I’m excited for it too. Which is weird to say about my own book. But it doesn’t FEEL like my own book—it feels more like this strange, magical thing that emerged from the internet with the help of some electronic pens.
Welcome back! I don’t have anything brilliant or insightful to say, but I’m glad to see you again in blog land and to hear that you’ve finally gotten a bit of a breather. That video is super fun and fab! In early May, I shared a small condo among five women and one bathroom in southern Cali as part of a girls’ trip, and I know what you’re talking about — the closeness leads to some interesting time management and tons of fun stories. Glad you had a blast & wish I could have been in that ARC line at BEA! :)
It’s so nice to have those happy, chaotic gatherings! It’s like a sleepover that lasts all week, only there’s more wine and less truth-or-dare and a very low likelihood of getting drawn on if you fall asleep first (not that this has personally ever happened to me. mostly because even as little sprout, I never slept. but hypothetically!)
(Also, I kind of glossed over it in the post, but the BEA signing was really, really exceptional.)
YAY YOU’RE BACK! I’m so glad you had fun in New York with the other Merry Sisters. It is a goal of mine to someday meet the three of you. And I love Jackson’s videos. They’re always funny.
Also, I can’t wait for PAPER VALENTINE!
I’m BACK! (As in actually back, for real, not just terribly, terribly sort-of.) Also, Jackson is awesome. Tess asked her how she was going to get anything coherent or usable out of our hour and and half of raw antics footage, and Jackson just looked at her and was like, “Tess, this is what I do.”
WAIT! HOLD THE PHONE! YOU WERE AT BEA?! WHAT. WHAT. WAHHHAT!?
HOW DID I MISS YOU?! I CHECKED THE WEBSITE! GAHH.
I’m upset now. =[ But I hope you had a fun time there!!!
Okay, SO. While I can’t speak to exactly what happened or how, what I do know is that I heard from more than one person coming through the signing line that my name wasn’t in the program, and so I was basically like a surprise guest. The refrain mostly seemed to be “I thought it was weird that only two of you were coming to sign a three-person book!” Which means that I’m really sorry I missed you, and I should really (really really) get better about using twitter to announce these things :(