This past weekend I went to New York City to have meetings with my publisher and attend Comic Con. It was a blast and a dream come true, even if I didn’t have much fo a voice through most of the weekend.

On Thursday, I flew into town and met my agent Kristin and publicist Lindsay at the Blue Market Grill for a delicious seafood lunch of mahi mahi. I’ve passed by the Blue Market Grill a million times, but never got to try it out. So that was a treat! One thing I miss about NYC is all the restaurants. There are good restaurants here in Austin, too. But I because I’m not a TV producer anymore, I don’t get to go behind the scenes into their kitchens and cook with their chefs, then get invited to come back to eat as the chef’s guest.

After that, I met up with my friend Jamie, who I was crashing with, and we had drinks and then went back to her place and watched a cool movie. I wish I could remember the name.

The next day I headed to my old work to see everyone and get my hair/makeup done. I was supposed to do a Better TV interview later that day, but by the afternoon my voice was so bad, I had to reschedule.

Anyway, after hair/makeup, I headed down to Soho where the Penguin Books offices are. I met up with my editor, Kate, and she took me around to pass out “vampire-in-training” kits to all the sales and marketing staff. They were like kids in a candy store - it was awesome. I was so happy they were so enthusiastic about my series and all my work promoting it. So that made me feel really good. Publisher support is like the number one thing you need to have a successful series. So I’m glad Penguin’s got my back!

After my meet-and-greets, I went to their studio to shoot a video interview for Project Paranormal, a web series that Penguin produces. They will cut it together into a segment and put it online and send it out to bookstores, etc. So that was a great opportunity and I can’t wait to see the finished product. Hopefully my voice sounds okay!

Then lunch with my editor - we sat outside cause it was such a nice day - at Cowgirl Hall of Fame, which is a fun tex-mex style restaurant. (And according to Jacob the only place in NYC to get a decent chicken fried steak…) We talked about the future of the series and I should have more news about that very soon. :) 

Then I headed to Comic Con to meet my agent and wander around with her. We found the Penguin booth, where I’d be signing the next day and took photos. It was cool to see my books represented at the booth since they can only promote a very limited amount of their titles. The last time I walked through Comic Con and saw their booth, I remember wistfully wishing one of my books would be successful enough to be promoted at the event. Now it’s happened! Something to check off the bucket list. ;-)

That evening I spoke at a panel with other Penguin authors. The moderator was great, so it was a lot of fun, even though I had basically had to whisper into the mic at that point. And yes, I tried tea, cough drops, etc. etc. nothing helped.

The next day I woke up and walked all the way from 88th and 2nd to the Javitt’s center - 34th and 11th. It was like a 3 mile walk, but such a beautiful day I couldn’t resist. I wandered through Central Park and remembered living here. If only every day was this kind of weather and apartments were cheap and didn’t have bedbugs. ;)

That afternoon I did my signing in the Penguin Booth, which was very exciting. They sold out of my books, so I’d say successful as well! That night I went and had drinks with former Dorchester sales manager Brooke, who now works at a comic distributor called Diamond and then dinner at Ruth’s Chris with Chris. After dinner we met up with Liz at the wine bar that’s below my old apartment on the UWS. I love that place!! I wish I could transport it in its entirety to Austin. That’s one thing you don’t get living in an actual house - a wine bar downstairs. (Course we do have a wine fridge…)

Anyway, then bright and early Sunday I flew home. It was a really fun trip and a nice taste of NYC to refresh me. I don’t miss living there, but I do still love visiting.

Now I’m back and enjoying the new house!

Marianne