New York City, Day Three

Meteorologists got it wrong today for New York City. There was some rain, but not as much as predicted. It worked for me.

Here's a short recap of Day Three:

• Liz and I were fortunate to get seats 11 rows back from James Gandolfini's hilarious performance in Tony-nominated God of Carnage. In truth, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, and Marcia Gay Harden were also amazing. I'm a huge Sopranos fan, so seeing "Tony" in the flesh was just a really cool experience. I'd recommend the show to anyone (above the age of 16 comfortable with the occasional four-letter word).
• We burned some calories walking the Brooklyn Bridge. I'd never done this before, but it jumped to my "must-do" list for all future visits to the city.
• We consumed some calories at Shanghai Cuisine, my Chinatown restaurant of choice on the corner of Mulberry and Bayard. Everything I've had there has been great, but I'd particularly recommend the steamed vegetable dumplings and spring rolls.
• Strand Bookstore is huge! It's a shame airlines are charging for bags now. Let me hop on my soap box and say I'd contribute a lot more to the NYC economy while I'm here if I could actually take stuff home without paying for it all over again!

The Backspace Conference, which is the catalyst for this visit, starts tomorrow morning. It's Agent-Author Day, an opportunity to interact with about 20 agents. Here's to hoping it goes well...

New York City, Day Two

We waited for the rain all day, but fortunately it didn't come. So we took advantage of some time outdoors in the city by packing in lots of walking, Grand Central Station, Central Park, World Trade Center site, and Battery Park.

Again, the walking was probably necessary. We had pizza for lunch and couldn't resist a cupcake at Magnolia Bakery for dessert. I'd kind of like to eat another one right now!

Overall, the day was great, and it was punctuated perfectly.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in the Stanley Cup Finals! Go Pens!

On my way to Macy's this evening, I passed someone wearing a Penguins jersey. I was wearing my Malkin jersey. We shared a "Go Pens!" moment.

We have big plans tomorrow afternoon...but it's a surprise. You'll have to check back then!

New York City, Day One

Last weekend, I spent three great days at the PennWriters Conference in Pittsburgh, and although I haven't had the chance to blog about it, I will soon. I attended some amazing sessions on point of view, pitching, character development, series characters, thrillers vs. suspense vs. mysteries, and crime scene writing.

I'm basically behind because as I was recovering from PennWriters, I was also preparing for Backspace, which is this Thursday to Saturday in the Big Apple.

Liz, a friend and co-worker who's writing a romance novel, and I arrived in the city this morning and met some friends for a trip to Coney Island.

I was stoked about this trip.

A TV program on the best places to get hot dogs had something to do with that, and I was looking forward to a visit to Nathan's. The hot dog was awesome. I'd eat another tomorrow if Coney Island wasn't an hour away on the subway.

The beach and boardwalk at Coney Island were great, but the amusement park wasn't impressive. Apparently, I'm spoiled since growing up less than an hour away from Kennywood, a family park with one of the top wooden roller coasters in the country.

Don't get me wrong, Coney Island was fun. I expected a bigger amusement park, but it was definitely worth the trip.

We rounded out the day with some afternoon rest, dinner in Little Italy (and a chocolate-dipped cannoli for dessert). Then it was time for penance in the form of jogging the stairs at our hotel and walking about a mile round trip to Times Square and back.

More tomorrow....Go Pens!