Last Day at the Columbia Publishing Course

It's hard to believe that today was my last official day as a Columbia Publishing Course student. It has been the most incredible 6 and a half weeks and it is finally coming to a close.

The past few days of "wrap up" activities have been a lot of fun and very busy.

If it wasn't already packed in one of 17 million suitcases I have, I would add a photo of it, but I received my official graduation certificate of the program last week! We had a short graduation ceremony followed by a beautiful and delicious dinner banquet.

(Above: Some of my friends and group members from Book Workshop week!)

Tonight we were invited to the home of Christopher Cerf, a major musical contributor to Sesame Street and a creator of Between the Lions (for anyone who knew me as a kid you would know that I was obsessed with this show and it really helped me learn how to read when I was little.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubH4LDcKRyE

His late father, Bennett Cerf, also started the Random House publishing company. The party was one last hurrah for all of us to see each other one last time, talk to some alumni who were also invited, and have the incredible experience of seeing Mr. Cerf's beautiful home on the Upper East Side, which just happened to be filled with shelves and shelves of books and several Emmy awards. (Once again I felt myself pretending to be much fancier than I actually am).

There are no words to describe how grateful I am for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. I have learned so much, not only about publishing but about myself and what I am capable of. I have been challenged and stretched beyond what I thought my limits were both as a writer and a person. I met so many wonderful people from all over the world who will remain my friends and future co-workers for years to come. I heard from the best and the brightest in the publishing industry and was inspired every day by their stories. I got to experience city life for the first time on my own and realized that I LOVE it. I am so glad that I put all of my initial nervousness aside and took the leap to attend this course. It is undoubtedly one of my best decisions, and I know already it was a defining period of my life for more reasons than I can count.

So THANK YOU...
   To my mom and dad who supported me every step of the way financially and otherwise...
 
   My amazing friends and family at home who encouraged me to apply, attend, and continuously told me I was meant to be here...

   All of my new CPC friends who made this experience fun, even in times of stress and challenge   *cough* book and magazine workshop *cough*...

And everyone who took the time to read this blog and follow my journey at Columbia! I had so much fun and am so happy I have a "diary" of my time here :)

On to the next adventure! 

The Man Behind Harry Potter and a Rooftop Party at Time Inc.

Yesterday I pretended to be way fancier than I actually am. 

It was Professional Development Day at the Columbia Publishing Course and I, as well as 16 other people, had the opportunity to have lunch with Arthur Levine of Arthur Levine Books imprint at Scholastic. To put in very simple and exciting terms, this is the man who was J.K. Rowling's editor for the Harry Potter series from start to finish. The lunch was held at the Scholastic offices in SoHo, which was an amazing experience in itself, but even more exciting was getting to listen to Arthur tell stories about his journey through the publishing industry, why he was drawn to children's literature, and of course, some funny anecdotes about his time working on Harry Potter. Since I just finished the entire series, movies included, a little over a month ago, I was extremely starstruck by this man and can honestly say he is one of the most brilliant people I have ever met. 

(Of course we had to take a photo with the giant statue of Harry in the lobby of Scholastic!) 

After this once-in-a-lifetime lunch, our next stop was Time Inc. which is located at the very end of the island just steps away from the Freedom Tower and 9/11 memorial. It definitely made the walk  from the subway worth it as I got to stop and see the memorial, which I haven't had to the opportunity to do in a few years. It really is just as breathtaking as it was the first time. 

At the Time Inc. Headquarters we received a presentation from a woman who works in the Virtual Reality department as well as a panel of Time Inc. employees. They shared their stories of life navigating the publishing industry pre-Time Inc. and were really helpful in providing advice and bits of wisdom! After the talk was over they hosted a rooftop party for us with drinks and snacks and it was absolutely incredible. It overlooked the Hudson River (making me think of Marist of course!) and I got a chance to talk to some people in the program that I haven't had a chance to meet yet! 

(Here is a photo of me, once again, living a momentarily fancy life) 

After the rooftop party was over it was still early and we were given the night off of lectures, so a bunch of us decided to check out Clinton Hall Beer Garden. This was only a half mile from the Time Inc. building and has actually been on my NYC bucket list since my mom recommended it to me not too long ago! (Thanks mom!) It ended up being so much fun. Aside from the delicious food and drinks there were so many games you could play. I played corn hole (which I won a couple times) and ping pong (which I lost miserably every time) and there were table games available too like Connect 4. It was definitely a great way to end a busy day of traveling around the city! 

~ 

Last weekend was our Magazine Workshop which, If you read my post about Book Workshop, was very similar. I was placed in the "Food" group as a Digital Features Editor, and after many...MANY hours of hard work, my group created a really awesome magazine! We had our evaluation today and it went well so we're all feeling really accomplished :) 

It's so hard to believe that we're in the home stretch of the course. Tomorrow is our last day of lectures and then Friday is our final banquet and "graduation" (which I will post about of course!). This has been one of the most awesome experiences of my life and although I don't want it to end I am really focusing on making the most of every guaranteed minute left living in the city! 

Welcome Back!

It feels so good to finally be blogging again! The past week and a half has both flown by and dragged on. It was filled with travel, hard work, challenge and a little bit of fun, of course...but it's nice to be back at Columbia ready to take on my final two and a half weeks of the course!

Last week we completed the highly anticipated "Book Workshop Week" where we were put into groups of about ten people and given the challenge to create our own publishing company. We were responsible for every detail, from coming up with the company's name and mission to creating six original, nonfiction book ideas and developing them completely. The process was SO complex. A big part of it was that in our assigned groups each person had to take on a "position" in the "company". I was fortunate enough to be the Publicity Manager, which is something I am really interested in and enjoy doing but also something I knew would challenge me a lot. I was right.

Once my group came up with our six original, nonfiction book ideas (that were continuously scrapped, edited, re-edited and inundated with constructive criticism) I was responsible for formulating publicity & marketing plans, writing press releases and pitch letters and creating three media kits.

  *Media kits are basically folders of extra promotional materials that could be sent out in addition to a press release and pitch letter*

This job ended up being super fun because I was able to use creative writing skills but also think in the business mindset of what television shows, newspapers, magazines, etc. to pitch our books to! Probably the coolest part of the entire book workshop process was getting to work with publishing professionals. We got to have one-on-one meetings with them, work in small groups, and ask advice about anything and everything throughout the week. Tomorrow we are being evaluated by publishing professionals that did not see our work during the process so that should be a really fun and constructive process as well. I really like how everything here is treated with such professionalism with the sole intent on preparing us for potential careers in publishing. It is truly amazing and invaluable.

The downside to "Book Workshop Week" was that most days lasted about 14 hours, with breaks basically only to eat meals or get (much needed) coffee. The bad news is I didn't sleep much last week or have time to blog. The good news is I had an amazing experience, learned so much, AND discovered a new coffee beverage that I love. It has so much caffeine in it I'm actually ashamed of myself, but it did the trick.

This week we are moving on to learn about magazine and digital publishing, and will be doing a similar workshop week but this time geared towards that type of content. Today we heard from the starter of an online magazine, the Editor-in-Chief of Bon Appetit and had small group sessions with various editors in the magazine publishing field. It was an awesome first day back and I love how we are completely shifting gears to learn about an entirely new side of the industry.

~ 

On a more serious note, last week my family unfortunately experienced the unexpected passing of "Noni Och", my great-grandmother. I think it's important to write about that in this post because I am so happy and proud that just about three weeks ago my Noni got to come to my book signing and purchase a copy for herself. 

This will always be such a special picture to because my Noni was so excited and supportive. I'm so happy she got to read my book and be part of this important event in my life. 

<3

~

After a much needed, fun 4th of July long weekend spent with family and friends I am ready to take on these next two and a half weeks at the Columbia Publishing Course. I can't believe how fast time is going but I plan on embracing every minute of it!  

Max Meets a Bully

It seems appropriate that I am writing about this subject today, because (thanks to Facebook) I realized that today marks one year since I started my journey creating Max Meets a Bully. On June 20, 2016 I met with our family friend, Dennis Vanasse, who helped me start this project.

(I included a picture below from that day!) 

Writing my first children's book was a dream come true. I learned so much about the process, from creating the manuscript, to working with an illustrator, navigating layout design and marketing. Most importantly, however, I learned the value of community. 

I have been fortunate enough to grow up around incredibly supportive network of people who are unfailingly kind, generous, and encouraging. Needless to say the second word got out that my book was available for sale on Amazon, I found that I was getting multiple shares on Facebook and congratulatory text messages from people saying they had purchased my book. I was overwhelmed with the immediate support I got, especially when, to be perfectly honest, I was nervous about putting my work out into the world for the first time, especially in such a public setting. 

Soon after the book's release, I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in the Connecticut Family Festival in New London, where, in addition to reading my book, I spoke to a group of kids and their families about the necessity of being kind to others. I was able to sell and sign books as well. 

(Illustrator Paul Santiago and I at the Connecticut Family festival on June 3, 2017)

Then came my first book signing at Filomena's, only a day after the Connecticut Family Festival experience. Friends, family and even people I had never met before came to support me at this event and showed such genuine excitement for the book. The most rewarding part of the book signing for me was seeing a few of my former English teachers that have inspired me throughout my life. It was a humbling reminder of how I grew to love words and stories which ultimately led to this book's inception. 

About a week later I was fortunate enough to do another book signing at Muddy Waters Cafe in New London. It was a special experience being able to promote my book at two important places in my community. 

Though my book has been available for over two months now, the support has not stopped. I still receive texts, Facebook messages and photos of people buying my book and even sharing it with others. A mom of one of my students I teach regularly at Broadway Kids & Company summer camp brought the book into her classroom and had a discussion about bullying with them. This was my goal for the book from the very beginning: to make kids aware of this problem at a young age. 

(Pictured below is my student reading the book in her mom's class! So cool!) 

This was an amazing start to what I hope will be a solid career for me in publishing and maybe even writing as well. Regardless, it showed me that you can not only accomplish anything with the support of good people, but you can be proud of those accomplishments. I am so thankful for my support system back home in Waterford and New London, CT and the people who are always rooting for me to succeed in all that I aspire to do.

~

For anyone who would like to buy a copy of Max Meets a Bully I have included the link below! You can also purchase it at Filomena's :)   

https://www.amazon.com/Max-Meets-Bully-Mena-Buscetto/dp/1543005780/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498017570&sr=8-1&keywords=max+meets+a+bully     

First Weekend in NYC

I'm exhausted.

This was my first full, free weekend as an official NYC resident and I really did my best to fill every minute with seeing friends and exploring fun places in the city! Including the 4th of July holiday I only have about 4 and half weeks left in the program so I'm trying to take advantage of every opportunity. After reflecting on this weekend, I think I am successful in doing so so far!

Friday

Lectures ended early on Friday so I had the entire night free! Lucky for me I have many friends living in the city this summer including these two lovely ladies. 

We got together for dinner in the Upper East Side at a delicious restaurant called The Penrose followed by dessert at Insomnia Cookies! It's nice when a little piece of home is just a subway ride away :)

Saturday 

Looking back, this was an insanely busy day. It started off by me getting some really exciting news that I was asked to be a contributing writer to TheatreArtLife.com, a theatre entertainment digital platform. I will be writing regular articles for them about a variety of topics regarding theatre! I have always wanted to write for a website and this seems like an absolutely perfect place for me! (I have included the link below if you want to check out the site!) 

https://theatreartlife.com

Since the dining hall doesn't provide meals on weekends, my friend Emily and I decided to explore some local places for lunch and stumbled upon this really cute restaurant called Dig Inn. In essence, its an extremely healthy Chipotle! I included a picture of my lunch because a whole day later I am still thinking about it:  

(Herb Roasted Chicken, Lemon Quinoa, Sweet Potatoes & Sautéed Kale) 

I will definitely be back!    

                                                                   

                             

After lunch I was lucky enough to meet up with my friend Andrew for happy hour at a rooftop bar near my building!

Later that night, some of my friends in the program and I decided to go to an authentic ramen noodle restaurant called Totto Ramen. It was SO good. One of my friends who is from Singapore attempted to teach me to use chopsticks but you can imagine how that turned out. After dinner we found a cute bar around the corner called The Pocket Bar that had great music and a really cool atmosphere. It was a perfect Saturday night in the city!

Sunday

Although I planned to spend today in my pajamas recovering from the craziness of the weekend, Emily and I decided that since next week begins our intense, highly anticipated Book Workshop where we will have very little free time, we would take the day to do some more exploring! We decided to go to this bookstore called The Strand, that spans about 3 blocks and holds 18 miles worth of books. They had EVERYTHING there...from YA literature, to children's books, to art history, drama, fiction, nonfiction...you name it it was there. My personal favorite part was the Rare Books section where they had first editions of classic novels on display (and on sale for thousands of dollars) and even some old Playbills from Broadway shows! Surprisingly enough I was able to control myself and only bought a couple of books and a tote bag, but it will definitely not be my last visit! 

After The Strand we tried out a coffee shop called The Bean followed by dessert at the famous Ben's Cookies! 

P.S. I'm including pictures of all of this amazing food because I still can't get over how many great places there are to eat in this city. 

~

It was a very full weekend. I think the best part of it (one of them anyway) is that I finally feel confident navigating the subway which is something I was super nervous about to begin with. I am so thankful for all of these experiences and having the opportunity to explore this beautiful city with great people! Tomorrow starts another week of lectures and I am so excited to keep going on this journey! 

Banana Bread and Book Readings

Risks motivate you because you are determined not to fail.

This is a paraphrase of my favorite quote of the day spoken by an absolutely brilliant author named Tayari Jones. She was the speaker at our final lecture of the evening which ended about 45 minutes ago, and I am still thinking about her words and the unbelievably motivating hour she spent sharing her journey as a writer. 

I have never been much of a risk taker. I have always chosen the safest option in any situation, and if there was any risk involved at all I would think...re-think...evaluate..re-evaluate...overthink and eventually end up sticking with the reliable option anyway. This has been the pattern in my life and it hasn't necessarily proven to be a bad thing. It has driven me to a good amount of success and made me a very realistic and responsible person. Coming to this course is the biggest risk I have ever taken, so I knew exactly what Tayari was talking about when she said this quote.

I have barely been here one week and I already feel like I have absorbed so much knowledge, and that absorption has only led to a thirst for more knowledge about this industry and motivation to succeed within it. I applied for this course because I love books and always have, and I had a desire to learn about the "behind the scenes" aspect of the business (I guess the theatre in me will always reveal itself in one way or another). But in reality, I know next to nothing about publishing. I don't like walking into situations where I am not fully informed and know exactly what to expect yet here I am. Despite my lack of current knowledge I am determined to succeed. After hearing Tayari's lecture today I am so proud that I finally took a risk. I truly think I took the right one. One that will matter.

~

I thought it would be cool to give you guys a glimpse of my everyday life here at the course, so I included photos from my seat in the lecture hall! We sit in alphabetical order so I sit in the same seat every day. The speaker typically stands at the podium and if there is a panel of several speakers they sit in the seats with the microphones.

 

  

I was also lucky enough today to have some time to venture out to the local farmer's market in the neighborhood! They had meats, breads, cheeses, desserts, vegetables...it was really amazing! I ended up buying an entire loaf of banana bread made with organic spelt flour (sounds kinda gross but if you know me, you get it). I tried to take a photo of the farmer's market but it stretched out so far it was difficult. But you can kind of get the idea from the photo below! 

Tonight will consist of eating that banana bread (yay), relaxing, watching Netflix with my housemates and most likely buying Tayari's book online because I am obsessed. She read just one chapter from it tonight and I didn't want her to stop. The story is absolutely captivating and I'm already hooked! I included the summary of her book, Silver Sparrow, below if you are interested in learning more about it! 

~

   With the opening line of Silver Sparrow, “My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist,” author Tayari Jones unveils a breathtaking story about a man’s deception, a family’s complicity, and two teenage girls caught in the middle. 

Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s, the novel revolves around James Witherspoon’s two families—the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode when secrets are revealed and illusions shattered. As Jones explores the backstories of her rich yet flawed characters—the father, the two mothers, the grandmother, and the uncle—she also reveals the joy, as well as the destruction, they brought to one another’s lives. 

At the heart of it all are the two lives at stake, and like the best writers—think Toni Morrison with The Bluest Eye—Jones portrays the fragility of these young girls with raw authenticity as they seek love, demand attention, and try to imagine themselves as women, just not as their mothers. (Amazon.com)

What Is The Point?

It's a question we ask ourselves a lot no matter what stage we're at in life, and one that was presented to me today during a lecture. The lecturer was the President of an independent publishing company and proposed the question "what is the point of publishing?" All of us (about 110 people) looked around thinking the exact same thing- "I sure hope there's a point because we're all here for 6 weeks studying and learning how to be successful in this business." Luckily, this extremely intelligent lecturer gave us an answer that we all seemed to find satisfactory. He said, very simply, that

"the book is the point."

That five word sentence has resonated with me all day. The "book", in a more general sense, is the reason I decided to take a huge leap of faith and apply to this course in the first place. Books are important. They allow us to hear the voices of authors all over the world. They allow us to be imaginative and stretch our minds beyond the limitations of reality. The "book" stresses the importance of words and the impact they have on us whether they are read or spoken.

~

Well anyway, this blog post is coming to you a little later than my usual ones because it was a BUSY day at CPC (Columbia Publishing Course). We had our three typical lectures-one from Oxford University Press and then the other two from Independent Publishing Companies. They were all incredibly inspiring (as you can see from my reflection above).

Another really cool think about this course (besides literally everything) is that sometimes we get free books! Today we got a really well known, popular YA (Young Adult) book that I am super excited to read, especially because of my newfound interest in that area of publishing!

We also had our first Sherry Hour today, which essentially was a networking "mini-party"where all of us CPC students could have wine and get to know each other better! They really emphasize networking and making strong connections here, especially amongst each other since we will all be out there in the industry soon enough working together!

After our evening lecture, it was tradition that this particular speaker took the entire class out for a drink at a really fun bar a couple blocks away from campus.




(FUN FACT: The speaker in our last lecture was Ron Chernow's editor. Ron Chernow was the author of the book Alexander Hamilton. This book inspired the musical Hamilton. For those of you who know me you know this is a very big deal and can imagine how starstruck I was.)

Anyway...

 After a long day it was really nice to get to hang out, make weekend plans and talk to some new people outside of our lecture hall. It is also so much fun getting to know this area (there are so many good places to go for food and drinks around here, its great...but a reminder of how expensive NYC can be :)

(Below: Bernheim & Schwartz-the bar we went to after our final lecture for the day!)

This is getting very long but I can't say enough about how wonderful today was. I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store!