CPC: Weeks Three and Four

A lot has happened in the past two weeks. Mainly, I survived the fabled book workshop. It was strenuous and sort of inexplicable, but I’ll try for a satisfactory overview. Disclaimer: Everything in the following paragraph is completely made up.

I was the CEO/Publisher of Binocular Books, a children’s book imprint of Telescope Press. (Our company takes its name from an eccentric ornithologist who was tragically trampled to death while on safari in Africa.) We brainstormed and batted around a ton of ideas for our books, turning in 15 then 12 then 10 then 8 then 6. (Some of these titles are lost to the annals of publishing time and space, but they are not forgotten. R.I.P. Cindersaurus/Snow White and the Seven Raptors.) Once we had them finalized, we created publicity/marketing campaigns, devised subrights/sales strategies, and designed covers for each title. We also ran numbers for production costs and profit&loss statements. All of this was accomplished from 2PM on Friday to 5PM on Thursday. Ex-hau-sted.

After the workshop wrapped, I read three books. (The commute to Brooklyn is long. More on that later.)
---an ARC of Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
---The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
---Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
Microreviews: Daughter is going to be huge. It was so, so fantastic...Luscious prose, deep mythology, and totally swoon-worthy romance. Windup is for hard sci-fi fans only, but it’s totally worth it. Sisterhood was the mostly satisfying conclusion to one of my favorite series. (As a Traveling Pants fan, I was more willing to make some crazy leaps with the characters.)

We’ve moved into the magazine part of the course, which has brought a new slew of excellent lecturers. (Shoutout to Lea Goldman of Marie Claire, who was so cool in my breakout session.) Highlights? I won a cookbook from the Food Network Magazine team by answering a question about Paula Deen’s favorite ingredient: “BUTTER!” I also discovered a surprising source to feed my cozy naturalistic design aesthetic: Country Living. Holy crap, that magazine is cute as a button. (Conclusion? My entertainment choices mark me as an old lady.)

Last but not least! After some intense real estate warfare, my roommate and I found an adorable little unicorn apartment in Williamsburg. It’s got an eat-in kitchen (with enough room for a dining room table) and a separate living room! There’s exposed brick and hardwood floors and at least one window in every room! It’s only a four block walk to the subway/library and just a 1.5 block jaunt to the laundromat! (Exclamation abuse!) There are certainly enough scattered bodegas and delis to keep me fed, and I’ve scouted out some cute coffee shops. I could not be happier.

Heading into HP weekend and the magazine workshop. Here goes everything!