Our old stomping grounds… How i miss this city
On Tuesday, I flew to my old stomping grounds in New York City to meet with my publisher about the new business book I will be working on for the next year. I had not realized how much I missed New York City until I got back into the City. I realized along the way that this would be the first night I had ever stayed in a hotel in New York. Obviously, when we lived there for four years, we had our apartments about ten blocks North of Gramercy Park on 27th and 2nd, and since we had an apartment, we were the hotel for all of our friends who visited from out of town. So, I loved just walking around again in some of the old neighborhoods near my husband’s old office at “Avenue of the Americas” on 52nd, and walking around the Time Square area and just remembering.
It’s always odd when you go back to a place that you have loved but have not been to for years. I had not been back since 9/11, and I was amazed really to see how little the city had changed. Although I did experience a pang as we flew in to LaGuardia, and those familiar Twin Towers at the Southern end of Manhattan weren’t there, it’s very odd to come up from a subway stop and look up and not see the Twin Towers there, to see an entire part of the landscape missing.
My meetings went really well though, and it was wonderful to be able to meet the broader Random House team, many of whom I was meeting for the first time. On Tuesday night, I had dinner with Michael Palgon and Roger Schultz, and Roger will be my editor on the business book assuming that this moves forward.
Wednesday, I spent some time in the office meeting some of the different people and giving a presentation to the sales team, just so that they could get to know me and the previous books that I had written. For all intents and purposes I am working with an entirely new team of sales people — the previous sales force was centralized in the offices, whereas this sales force is centralized out of New York. So, the same people who sell the business books, and the same people who sell the general market books are the same people who sell the Christian books; and since most of them have not met me, this is a chance to connect with them, which was a very valuable thing to do.
On Wednesday night, I had a real treat. I got to spend the evening and the night with some friends from graduate school and this wonderful couple is trying to help arrange an event with some of the churches and ministries in New York City for perhaps early next year. We’ll see how that works, but it would be wonderful to be able to come back with Jeff and the kids.