I woke up early. I put on my favorite navy blue plaid dress and brown sandals. I had breakfast with Katy in the apartment she was subletting on 23rd St. and 2nd Ave., where I was staying too, and I walked down to the 23rd St. stop of the N/R -- the only subway line on which I felt comfortable -- for the downtown train to Prince St. I exited the station, walked the half-block to 555 Broadway, and for the first time, passed through the doors of Scholastic Inc. as an employee of Arthur A. Levine Books.
This morning, I woke up with the alarm. It was cold and gray, so I wore my usual autumn uniform of black pants, a light shirt, and flats. I ate Raisin Bran at my table while reading the utterly marvelous Tooth and Claw, and took the F train to Broadway-Lafayette -- my home train line, my home station. I walked down Broadway thinking about what needed to be done today: finishing the first-pass corrections to So Totally Emily Ebers, a reject letter for this, a writeup for that. And then I went in and did it all, thanks to the confidence and experience gained through six years of interesting, challenging work.
Hurrah!
Monday, August 28, 2006
Six Years Ago Today
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I can only imagine what it felt like to walk into Schoalstic six years ago. That would be my dream job. I know this sounds stupid, but I honestly do admire you. I can't wait to go to college and get my degree in English. Being an editor is something that I have always wanted to do.
ReplyDeleteCool milestone, Congrats!
ReplyDeleteAngela
Happy Anniversary
ReplyDeleteTreat yourself to a new book or something :)
M
Thanks for being so open about sharing your learning and growth experiences, Cheryl. It's so nice for writers (whose lives are sometimes all too exposed, however dull they may be!) to see an editor's world from the "inside" this way. Helps us see that editors are "people," too--and not these all-powerful something-elses who seem to hold so many writers' fates in their hands!
ReplyDeleteScholastic and its writers are lucky to have you!
Seven more years to your bas mitzvah!
ReplyDeleteI just read Tooth and Claw and it ROCKS. And then I read His Majesty's Dragon and it rocks EVEN MORE.
ReplyDeleteWho would have thought that the world had room for not one but two strongly Jane Austen-influenced fantasy novels featuring dragons, written and published within the same two-year period, and both completely different and both wonderful?
The way I know a really smashing book is that as soon as I'm finished I want to go back and read it all over again. I felt that way about BEEK, I felt that way about T&C, and I'm feeling that way about the Temeraire series (right now I'm reading the third book very slowly so as to make it last -- I don't want it to be over and have to wait for the next one!).
And if you haven't read the Temeraire books yet, you must, must, must, absolutely must. Really.
Austen-influenced dragons! How marvelous. Tooth & Claw and His Majesty's Dragon just went on my reading list.
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary, Cheryl, and many many more!
Congrats on six years. Lucky Scholastic.
ReplyDeleteBTW... Don't get the seven year itch!
And many of us are glad you got that job. Congrats!
ReplyDelete