I love New York—New York City, to be clear, not Albany. Not that I have anything against Albany, it’s just that Albany wasn’t a big part of the setting of my second (and favourite) self-published novel, Last-Minute Love, nor was it the place full of so much foodie goodness, that my fellow foodie BFF needed a 5-page Word document outlining all the food we were going to eat during my last trip there in 2018. That was all NYC, baby, not Albany.
But enough about Albany.
New York, New York
I had been wondering when I’d return to good ol’ NYC, musing about the concrete jungle during random daydreams, so imagine my surprise—and sheer delight—when deep into the stressful drafting of the sequel to 24 Hours in Paris (24 Hours in Italy—coming next summer!), my publisher invited me to attend NYC Comic Con for panel and book signing, if I was free, of course.
Let me tell you something—with a full-time advertising copywriting job and a full-time author job and not enough sleep on too many nights, I was not free. But guess what: I WOULD MAKE MYSELF FREE!
And so, just a few short days after turning in the draft of my sequel to my editor, I was off to NYC for a whirlwind 28 hours with a fellow Toronto-based author from our publisher (who is a freakin’ delight and hit YA author by the way; Jessica Cunsolo, look her up and buy her books!).
(The remainder of this newsletter will mostly be pics, because that’s the content we’re here for, amirite?!)
28 Hours in NYC begins…
First things first, I had to get my Lower Manhattan fix, and even though I didn’t get to do the full jaunt through the West Village to admire those lovely townhouses, I still got to peep some nice facades in Soho. I also discovered what is now my NY cheesecake obsession.
And then Comic Con!
From the Artist Alley sign alone, I felt such a rush. We’re artists! What is this life?!
I kept being told that NYC Comic Con is quite small compared to the famous San Diego one, but I still managed to get lost several times. There were times I didn’t even know when we’d changed from being on one floor to another, I swear there was a mysterious slope.
At our WEBTOON and Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group booth, I got to spin a wheel for swag, and…I don’t know, I felt that was a pertinent thing to showcase.
And then there was a book signing, featuring myself and two fellow authors from our publisher! Being in the huge signing hall and talking to so many wonderful people and running out of books so quickly (!) was all so surreal in the best way. Also, one woman in line, a POC woman, said she loved that I was not only representing POC women, but also representing left-handed individuals. A landmark moment.
And then we did a panel too! It was so great to discuss all things romance, from tropes, to POC representation, happy endings and so much more.
(I really did enjoy it, don’t let that face below fool you, I was just concentrating on Kate Marchant’s answer—she’s the author of Float, which is being turned into a movie! Filming just wrapped. How cool is that??)
Before I knew it, our time at Comic Con was done and we were out having dinner with our Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group colleagues—it was all a blur, but at the same time, I remember it in so much detail. Overall, I’m just truly grateful for such an incredible experience.
A little NYC before the journey back
It may have flown by, but thanks to the incredible weather, I was glad I got to squeeze in over 20K steps of gallivanting around the city, all the way from the Upper West Side to the Brooklyn Bridge (with my favourite monstrous cookie to boot).
I’ll leave you with a food porn cookie shot, but first, some housekeeping items:
Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram, as that’s the place where I share the most about day-to-day author life.
Don’t forget to tell your friends about 24 Hours in Paris, because my marketing efforts for book 1 are now merging with the sequel (yes, a merger!), and the best way to make a splash with the sequel is to sell more copies of book 1 before it releases (no pressure, she said to herself). Also, if you enjoyed the book, please take a few minutes to leave a review on Amazon, Indigo, or Barnes and Noble—or encourage someone else to do so! It really helps and it’s really appreciated (here’s a hub with all the links).
From the East Coast…to the West Coast! A.k.a. there’s a bookish trip to LA coming up in about 5 weeks. Follow my social media for updates!
Before the end of the year, I’ll be sharing an excerpt of 24 Hours in Italy to my subscribers; hope that’s an exciting prospect! :-)
Until next time,
R