By Michelle Andreani
As you may have seen, Mindi and I turned in our pass pages recently. (This means TWBTY is one step closer to being a book-book! YAYAY.) Picking up and dropping off the pass pages gave me the privilege of visiting the HarperCollins offices and our editor, Alex Arnold — which was something in a long list of somethings that have made this Author Business seem real. (Because I have to say, 99% of the time, it does not feel real.)
So, yeah! I went to HarperCollins! To meet an editor! And not because it was a job interview! I was like an author in the movies. And I had this vision of strolling up to the security desk and being all, “Good day, I’m here for HarperCollins. The fancy book publisher. To meet my editor. Because I’m an author. Of a book.” But that didn’t happen because, while the security desk man was very good at his job, I don’t think he cared why I was there? Also, to be honest, he has probably seen authors like Ann Patchett and Gail Carson Levine and The Pioneer Woman breeze through that lobby, so a big shot, I am not. And anyway, saying all of that in my own head was enough.
The Harper offices are basically a utopian society built by readers. THERE ARE BOOKS EVERYWHERE. I snapped some photos, because hugging the bookcases would have been inappropriate.
While there, I got to chat with Mindi’s and my editor, Alex Arnold! Alex’s guidance was a big part of TWBTY, so chatting all things Cloudy and Kyle, getting some inside info, even just seeing all the fun stuff she has in her workspace — it was all so lovely! And hopefully I behaved well enough to be invited again?
So, while I’m maybe a Real Life Author every day now, it certainly doesn’t feel real. Except on some days, when it kind of goes out of its way to prove that it is. :-)
