Where You'll Find Me

In two days, I will be in New York.

I can't tell you how happy this makes me. A chance to see my agent and my editor, to hang out with author friends, and make new author friends, and attend workshops...it's a short visit, but one I'm really looking forward to. (All except the part where the dress code for one event is "smart casual." Really? Smart casual? Do I wear my glasses? A shirt with the periodic table on it? I am assuming they mean, "Do not wear your pajama pants," but I find this sort of thing maddening.)

Fashion quandries aside, this trip comes at the perfect time. I've been suffering from wanderlust. An urge to go to another city and get to know its day-to-day life, the underlying nature of the place. The subway and the grocery stores and the neighborhoods, the parks and the weird museums and the little restaurants. Not the touristy stuff, if it can be avoided. I'd rather just walk around a city and discover it for myself.

Maybe it's the sliding-into-February blahs. Maybe it's the weird weather -- too warm for winter, too early to believe it's spring -- but I keep envisioning myself in all sorts of places that are not here: Seattle, Glasgow, San Diego, New Orleans. And New York, of course, because that's where Expedia has informed me I'll be by Friday morning.

Most of my time is going to be filled with industry stuff, but I do have a lovely chunk of free time on Friday afternoon that I'll be spending with a dear friend. Our plans right now are pretty basic:

Yarn shopping here, where I shall inflict massive damage on my credit card.
Pizza eating (apparently I must be schooled in how to eat a New York-style pizza)
Shenanigans and hijinks.

I might also try and stop by the Cathedral Church of St. John The Divine, where Madeleine L'Engle was Writer-in-Residence; she has always been one of my favorite authors and several of her books are set there.

But...what else should I absolutely under no circumstances miss? I'm definitely open to suggestions, although the less touristy they are, the better. Hit the comments below to give me your advice.

If you're looking to enter the TORN + TANGLED giveaway, click here. And if you're wondering where else I'll be in upcoming months, you can always check out the Events page of my website.)