What's More Important?

A major family emergency last week meant I had to cancel two interviews that I was really excited about - the editors were very nice and understanding, but unfortunately did not offer to reschedule.

So this week, back in New York a little the worse for wear, I'm wondering about whether or not it's worth it to skip an interview in order to deal with something important that's going on in your life.

Obviously, I wouldn't have been my best at these interviews - I was upset, and I wanted to be with my family. But now I've missed two opportunities that I'm not going to get again. Should I have sucked it up and gone to the interviews?

It's frustrating because I'm feeling resentful now, both towards my family and towards the editors who weren't more accomodating. Obviously my family couldn't help what happened, and obviously the editors wanted to fill their open positions, and were under no obligation to help me out. So I guess really I'm angry at myself, for not being able to make a decision and stick with it.

What do you guys think - would an interview be more important than a personal issue to you?

Digital Digital Get Down

Well, like I said, I'm on vacation - hurrah. Currently this post is being written from the balcony of my hotel room, overlooking the ocean, a bunch of very attractive lifeguards, and a bunch of not-so-attractive seagulls who are fighting over someone's discarded funnel cake.

But even though I'm on vacation, I've already applied for a job this morning, and now am checking my work e-mail. And as usual, one of our celebrity authors is causing a fit.

One of the things my job always makes me wonder is: why on earth do celebrities want to write books so badly? The advances we give them, which are huge for the book industry - six figures to maybe the low millions - must mean nothing to them. The sales of the books are usually nothing compared to the sales of their movies, or albums. It doesn't increase their level of fame.

Yet every week in our editorial meeting at least three editors bring up the fact that "X" celebrity is shopping a book around. Most of the time they don't even know what they want the book to be about - they just know that they want to do one. If it's a big celebrity, sometimes we try to think up an idea for them. Insane, right?

So, thinking about celebrities this morning, I think I've realized why they have a fascination with books. It's the same reason I hem and haw every time someone asks me why I haven't started applying for online jobs yet.

There's something alluring about seeing your name in print - it's a feeling that's different and thrilling in a way that seeing your name on a computer screen is not. For the celebrities, they like being able to say, "I'm a published author." For me, it's that desire to go into Barnes and Noble, pick up a magazine, and say, "look, there's my name!"

I'm not knocking online publishing - obviously there's a lot of great stuff going on there, and to be honest I worry that soon EVERYTHING will be online - print doesn't exactly seem to be doing well as of late. But I remember doing my internships and being told that one of my pieces was going to be in the magazine, instead of on the magazine's website. It was the best feeling in the world. So now, I have a little more sympathy for those celebrities, despite the fact that they make my life a living hell.

Ed's Girl Says Relax

Yikes. Obviously in my last post I meant the Holland tunnel, not the non-existent Hudson tunnel. The heat, combined with too many margaritas and too much stress, is obviously frying my brain. I've been making little mistakes like that non-stop lately. This morning I ran out of my apartment feeling like I'd forgotten something. I got halfway down the stairs before I realized - I was still wearing my slippers! I'd been holding off on putting on shoes until the last minute, since my feet were sore from my 60+ block walk uptown in heels yesterday. A few days ago, I happily gave a delivery person a $5 tip, wrote down the total, and signed the receipt. A few minutes later he knocked on my door. "Um, miss," he said a little nervously, "Maybe you meant to put something else?" I looked at the receipt - I had subtracted $5 instead of adding!

And, most egregiously, yesterday I sent out a cover letter with a mistake in it. I put a possessive aspostrophe "s" where it wasn't needed. My heart isn't broken over this - it was a job on the fashion side of things, instead of editorial, which is really where my heart lies.

But still. This is all a sign that I need to take a step back, breathe deeply, and relax for a little while.

Good thing I'm going on vacation next week!

Summer summer summer time!

You guys - the words of support, commiseration, etc. on my last post were awesome. Seriously, thanks.

As I'm sure most of you know, it's August. And August in the city is so miserable I can't even begin to deal with it. Sticky subways, sticky air, and since I live pretty close to the Hudson Tunnel I have to watch all the rich people sitting in traffic, trying to get out of the city to their awesome summer homes.

But I have some things to look forward to in August. Firstly, I finally got in touch with a friend of a relative who has a very high position at one of my favorite magazines. He's on vacation for a while (of course!) but when he gets back he's going to get together with me to talk. Could this lead to a job? Who knows. I'm definitely already fantasizing about it, and saying to my friends, "Could you see me at x magazine? Don't you think I'd be perfect for it?" Probably counting my chickens before they hatch, but it's nice to hope. Plus, talking to someone who has really made it in magazines in a huge way can never be a bad thing.

Secondly, the publishing industry is ridiculously quiet in August. So I can basically sit at my desk and read jezebel.com if I want to.

And thirdly, New York in the summer may be miserable, but there is so much free stuff to do. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing Prince's masterpiece "Purple Rain," at McCarren Park Pool. Maybe I'll see you guys there?