{"id":1014,"date":"2011-07-08T20:50:25","date_gmt":"2011-07-09T02:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/?p=1014"},"modified":"2012-01-30T22:47:54","modified_gmt":"2012-01-31T04:47:54","slug":"new-york-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/08\/new-york-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"New York, New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caution: Long blog post coming up. Image-heavy too. \u00a0And I apologize in advance for my camera’s totally inaccurate time stamps.<\/p>\n

1. Pre-Departure<\/h5>\n

Everywhere I look, I see authors with other artistic talents. \u00a0They can paint, draw, sew, knit, quilt, garden, graphic design, compose, play instruments, and whatnot. \u00a0I play casual games and have nothing to show for it. \u00a0(Well, \u00a0lots of good memories with the kidlets but His Hawtness and I debate on whether that constitute as quality time. \u00a0 I say yes. *g*)<\/p>\n

But ever since the shea butter<\/a> episode, I’ve developed an obsession with hand-making beauty products. \u00a0Not for myself, but as promo items. \u00a0For RWA Orlando I did bath bombs. \u00a0Facial scrubs for New Jersey RWA’s conference and RT Los Angeles. \u00a0In between I also made solid lotion bars as belated Christmas presents.<\/p>\n

By the beginning of the year I’d already decided to make lip butters for RWA. \u00a0I’d really, really hoped that by June I’d have a cover for the first book in my 2012 trilogy, but since the release is still 11 months out, no. \u00a0All the same, my enthusiasm remained undimmed. \u00a0I love giving away good swag. \u00a0I love doing repetitive chores, especially fresh from deadlines.<\/p>\n

Here’s the lip butter chronicle, for Janine especially, starting with empty jars.<\/p>\n

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And now they are being filled.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Next the caps go on.<\/p>\n

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The above batch is for Courtney Milan. \u00a0Next batch is for me.<\/p>\n

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This is the image I used:<\/p>\n

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My name appears a bit off center since I had to correct for the idiosyncracies of my printer.<\/p>\n

And this is the bottom label:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And yes, those are the tentative titles and release dates for the trilogy. \u00a0We are set on the first title, but the other two hadn’t quite finished the testing process yet.<\/p>\n

I had a blast. \u00a0Made 900 of them and took about 800 to NYC. \u00a0They went really fast. \u00a0And now I have to think what to do next year. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

2) The conference<\/h5>\n

Even more fun and more exhausting than usual, since it is NYC.<\/p>\n

I went to the Alexander McQueen exhibit, which is macabre and stunning. \u00a0On my way back I passed this house on Fifth Avenue. \u00a0I recognized it as the template I used for Camden’s New York townhouse in Private Arrangements<\/em>. \u00a0Like seeing an old friend.<\/p>\n

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This picture is from Random House’s offices, overlooking Central Park.<\/p>\n

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Le sigh.<\/p>\n

And here’s my roomie Shellee, also known as one third of Ivy Adams, author of The International Kissing Club<\/a>, before the New York Public Library. \u00a0Some chicks are born to pose. \u00a0So jealous.<\/p>\n

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The trouble with RWA? \u00a0Not enough time. \u00a0I didn’t get to see enough of Meredith, of Kristan Higgins, or Julie James, of…The list goes on and on. \u00a0I didn’t even get to see enough of my roommates!<\/p>\n

But still it was a good one, I have to say.<\/p>\n

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HIS AT NIGHT won the RITA\u00ae for Best Historical Romance. \u00a0It was such an incredibly tight category that I didn’t even bother prepare notes for a speech. \u00a0The thrill was all the sweeter as His Hawtness flew in that afternoon to be with me. \u00a0He’d been kicking himself for missing the RITA moment in Orlando. \u00a0But I wasn’t so sure that it would be a good idea for him to come, since the chances of repeating was next to nil. \u00a0But woot, he got his way and it was awesome.<\/p>\n

We stayed in New York over the weekend and went all over Manhattan.<\/p>\n

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I love greenery on balconies, especially balconies overlooking Central Park.<\/p>\n

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Look at those spikes. \u00a0So that’s how a Manhattan townhouse protects itself from cat burglars.<\/p>\n

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I wish my garbage can was half so pretty.<\/p>\n

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LOL.<\/p>\n

And of course, this.<\/p>\n

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I would not have gone had His Hawtness not wanted to see it. \u00a0 The Statue of Liberty is an over-familiar sight and I usually stay away from long lines crowded places. \u00a0Besides,\u00a0I stepped onto American soil not via New York but San Francisco, five thousand miles to the West and across a different ocean.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0I’m so glad we went. \u00a0The moment Lady Liberty came into view, I had tears in my eyes. \u00a0Unlike many immigrants into the country, I did not come to the United States to escape persecution or a life of hardship. \u00a0I had a happy, safe childhood in China, surrounded by friends and a tightly knit neighborhood community.<\/p>\n

But this is where I have made my home. \u00a0This is where I vote in every election, big or small. \u00a0This is the birthplace of my children. \u00a0And I am part of the fabric of American life.<\/p>\n

3) Foreign Covers<\/h5>\n

You didn’t think I was going to forget them, did you?<\/p>\n

First up, Turkish Private Arrangements<\/em>. \u00a0I am so often a NYT bestseller overseas. \u00a0Why not here too? \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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Google Translator tells me the title means Signed with Marriage. <\/em>I can totally get behind it.<\/p>\n

Spanish paperback edition of Delicious<\/em>. \u00a0I squeal every time there is food on a Delicious <\/em>cover.<\/p>\n

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Italian Delicious. <\/em>Love the pearls.<\/p>\n

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Russian Not Quite a Husband. <\/em>Retitled Can Not Forget. <\/em>Be still my heart, is that a streak of white I see in her hair?<\/p>\n

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And last, but definitely one that gave me a whole day of lols, German Not Quite a Husband, <\/em>retitled Dangerous Passions.<\/em><\/p>\n

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When I saw the image this morning I immediately did a double take. \u00a0Is it…? \u00a0Yes it is. \u00a0The stepback from Joanna Bourne’s The Spymaster’s Lady<\/em>! \u00a0\u00a0I don’t know why but I’m still giggling.<\/p>\n

(By the way, I had the great pleasure of sitting next to Jo at the RITAs, and more adorable and witty company I could not have hoped for.)<\/p>\n

And this concludes the report on the first part of my summer. \u00a0\ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caution: Long blog post coming up. Image-heavy too. \u00a0And I apologize in advance for my camera’s totally inaccurate time stamps. 1. Pre-Departure Everywhere I look, I see authors with other artistic talents. \u00a0They can paint, draw, sew, knit, quilt, garden, graphic design, compose, play instruments, and whatnot. \u00a0I play casual games and have nothing to … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[30],"tags":[21,73,66,72,56,14],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1014"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1256,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014\/revisions\/1256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sherrythomas.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}