Thursday, August 09, 2007

“Please do not exit on that side of the taxi, you will get killed”

(Updated when I figured out how to get the photos off my phone)

On Tuesday I went to NYC to visit Catherine, my BFF from high school in Alabama. She’s the artistic director at The Moth. She showed me her office in Manhattan and the beautiful loft space with a rooftop garden where she’s getting married in September. Then we walked around the city in the twilight.

Catherine: And here’s the shop where a friend recommended I get my wedding veil. But I’m not sure a veil will look good with my red wedding dress. I was thinking a tiara.

Jenn: I was just going to suggest that.

Catherine: And have the hairdresser arrange it so I can take the tiara out after the ceremony is over, for the rest of the party.

Jenn: I think, with wedding hair, once the tiara goes in, it’s pretty much there to stay.

Catherine: I need to be able to take it out. It might get in the way when I spin fire on the roof.

Jenn: You talk like you’ve spun fire wearing a tiara before. *chuckle*

Catherine: *dead serious* I ALWAYS wear a tiara when I spin fire.

Jenn: Oh, I beg your-- Hey, a rat, my first New York rat! How adorable! *following rat into alley for a closer look*

Catherine: Watch out, they jump.

Jenn: Ack!

Finally she showed me her apartment.

Jenn: It’s so cuuuuuuuute!

Catherine: It’s tiny. But you have to call it something. Here’s the skylight the girl fell through when the Rockettes threw a party on the roof.

I have to say I would not want to live in NYC myself. I had claustrophobic dreams and woke with a strange need to walk all the way to the edge of the island to make sure the water was still there. (It was.) But Catherine loves the city, and it was wonderful to see her so happy and share her life for a few hours. I can’t wait to go back in September!

Yesterday I had lunch with my agent and my editor. My next book is BOY IN BLUE, about a 17-year-old who avoids prosecution for a high school stunt by spending spring break on night patrol with the 19-year-old rookie cop who arrested her. It will be published by MTV Books in February 2009. You will be happy to hear I did not spill anything or trip over anything at the meeting, and I did not smear chocolate on my suit until I got back to LaGuardia.

3 comments:

Micol Ostow said...

JEN! I was at a Liar Show a few weeks ago and heard Catherine tell the Rockette story. HILARIOUS. And also--how small is this world?

Jennifer Echols said...

VERY small world! She told me she'd formed that into a story and told it recently, but I didn't get the Moth story version. I only got the "OMG a girl fell through my skylight last night" version on the phone. :)

Jennifer Echols said...

And oh yeah--after she told the story, the audience had to vote on whether on not she was lying, and no one believed her, right? I think she gets that a lot. ;)