April 9th-April 13th, 2014
I decided that I needed a change in atmosphere to try and get more headway into my final project for the program, and so I called up my mom to announce I'd be coming home this weekend.
She said that the weekend would be gorgeous--so meet her at the beach!
...
I did not get very much work done. But I did enjoy the weather, food, location, and company. Plus, it was certainly a relaxing weekend, which is lovely. And happy Palm Sunday for those who celebrate it! I look forward to it every year. Because the church gets armloads of palm branches that I can fold up into crosses. I do about twenty of them compulsively through the service, show a few curious folk how to make their own, and hand out the rest until I go home with only one, or none. The pastor saw my trove of palm crosses after church and announced in good humor that I have a problem. Which is possible.
Wednesday was my last day at Torn Page studios. There was not much to be done, but collect evaluation forms and try to see if they need my help with any other last things before the evening was out. I ended up doing some dishes that had been left in the communal sink from the night before. Mundane, but I'm glad to be helpful, and I still got out early.
DAW had me working on my sales pitch to the editors about a manuscript I love. I got feedback on my write up for it, and will practice it for the supervisor in a pretend-round next week before the editors hear it. I pretty much have to give the highlights, and be familiar enough with the story that I can answer any question about it, and know a good bit of background on the authors too, if I can. I have to have a summary, and tell whether the story is standalone, or in a series, what to expect in the coming series, what will need to be edited that was less than grand, etc. This is absolutely going in my portfolio when I'm done with it, and I'm really excited to talk about this manuscript! Even though another big publisher already bought it, fun fact. But the editor said that just means I picked a good manuscript, so I'll count that as a win.
While I'm practicing my pitch in my free time, the other intern and I did get to have the big Q&A with the editor, and had lunch in her office. A lot of our questions pertained to how scheduling a season works, what factors need to be decided in the line up, how does an editor gauge how much time he or she has to devote to new authors, etc. The editor is supposed to be that person who looks at a manuscript and says bluntly "this thing doesn't work, so how about you try...?" To which the author needs to respond something along the lines of: "Hmm. Actually, that reminds me of something else we can try that might work even better!" And so on and so forth. It was really interesting to get her talking about her personal experience in the field, and even though that was the official Q&A, we're 100% free to come in and ask her questions if we think of more.
I tied up the weekend with a walk on the High Line with one of my housemates--the actor from my school. It was a coat-less night, despite the wind, and there weren't a ton of people out, and the city was all lit up on the water--it was really cool. I'd never been there at night, and all those wacky architecturally designed apartments were more visible than I thought they'd be, and actually took on some new "personality" with all their lights on against the dark. And now I can say I've walked from one end of the High Line to the other! It actually isn't that much farther than I'd walked on it before, I'd just somehow only stayed in the middle of the walk every time before. Now I know.
On for this week: the Smile High Comedy Club with the actor friend; pretend to sell a manuscript to DAW editors; work on final writing project; don't die.
It's a good list. I like that list.
I decided that I needed a change in atmosphere to try and get more headway into my final project for the program, and so I called up my mom to announce I'd be coming home this weekend.
She said that the weekend would be gorgeous--so meet her at the beach!
...
I did not get very much work done. But I did enjoy the weather, food, location, and company. Plus, it was certainly a relaxing weekend, which is lovely. And happy Palm Sunday for those who celebrate it! I look forward to it every year. Because the church gets armloads of palm branches that I can fold up into crosses. I do about twenty of them compulsively through the service, show a few curious folk how to make their own, and hand out the rest until I go home with only one, or none. The pastor saw my trove of palm crosses after church and announced in good humor that I have a problem. Which is possible.
Wednesday was my last day at Torn Page studios. There was not much to be done, but collect evaluation forms and try to see if they need my help with any other last things before the evening was out. I ended up doing some dishes that had been left in the communal sink from the night before. Mundane, but I'm glad to be helpful, and I still got out early.
DAW had me working on my sales pitch to the editors about a manuscript I love. I got feedback on my write up for it, and will practice it for the supervisor in a pretend-round next week before the editors hear it. I pretty much have to give the highlights, and be familiar enough with the story that I can answer any question about it, and know a good bit of background on the authors too, if I can. I have to have a summary, and tell whether the story is standalone, or in a series, what to expect in the coming series, what will need to be edited that was less than grand, etc. This is absolutely going in my portfolio when I'm done with it, and I'm really excited to talk about this manuscript! Even though another big publisher already bought it, fun fact. But the editor said that just means I picked a good manuscript, so I'll count that as a win.
While I'm practicing my pitch in my free time, the other intern and I did get to have the big Q&A with the editor, and had lunch in her office. A lot of our questions pertained to how scheduling a season works, what factors need to be decided in the line up, how does an editor gauge how much time he or she has to devote to new authors, etc. The editor is supposed to be that person who looks at a manuscript and says bluntly "this thing doesn't work, so how about you try...?" To which the author needs to respond something along the lines of: "Hmm. Actually, that reminds me of something else we can try that might work even better!" And so on and so forth. It was really interesting to get her talking about her personal experience in the field, and even though that was the official Q&A, we're 100% free to come in and ask her questions if we think of more.
I tied up the weekend with a walk on the High Line with one of my housemates--the actor from my school. It was a coat-less night, despite the wind, and there weren't a ton of people out, and the city was all lit up on the water--it was really cool. I'd never been there at night, and all those wacky architecturally designed apartments were more visible than I thought they'd be, and actually took on some new "personality" with all their lights on against the dark. And now I can say I've walked from one end of the High Line to the other! It actually isn't that much farther than I'd walked on it before, I'd just somehow only stayed in the middle of the walk every time before. Now I know.
On for this week: the Smile High Comedy Club with the actor friend; pretend to sell a manuscript to DAW editors; work on final writing project; don't die.
It's a good list. I like that list.
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