So we have to admit that this whole "having your book published" thing hadn't quite sunk in until we met up in NYC for BookExpo America. Yes, we'd talked about our publishing deal incessantly. But with the release date of our novel, Your Perfect Life, still a year off, it felt like a dream that we might wake up from, but didn't want to. (Like that one Liz had about Chris Pine the other night! *swoon*)
But after finally meeting our editor and agent in person (for the best lunch ever), not to mention countless authors, publicists and bloggers that we've known *virtually* for years, it began to sink in. Holy Shit. This is actually happening! And in case you were wondering, everyone we met was sweet, smart and fun as hell!
So yes. BEA was great. The food? Fantastic! (Can we just take a moment of silence for the quinoa hush puppies we had at Market Table.) The cab drivers? Freakin' friendly! (Even the one who crashed into another taxi while driving Lisa to the airport!) The only problem? Us. We acted like an old married couple. And not that really cute old couple holding hands on a park bench. We're talking about the one that's nitpicking the shit out of each other at the table next to you at dinner.
Even though we email, text and talk on the phone more than a couple of tweens, we, ahem, don't actually spend that much face time together now that we live two thousand miles apart. So to throw us together for 24 hours a day, five days straight? Let's just say we *may* have experienced some growing pains...
We thought we knew everything about each other, but much like the characters in our novel, we discovered that there are always things you don't know about even your closest friend. We learned who can't so much as string three words together until she's hit Starbucks, who doesn't give a shit about sightseeing, who wanted every last New York City trinket and who has a strange humming problem (long story...). We discovered how to "take a meeting" together, who's better at hailing a cab (Lisa!) and who always carries snacks in her purse (Liz!) But most importantly, we found out how to not only be better co-authors, but much better friends. The thing is, any long friendship is going to have it's ups and downs. You are going to argue about things. But what we learned from this experience is that it's how you move on from a disagreement that defines the strength of your sisterhood. (Or at least that's what we're telling ourselves so we don't feel bad about the girl fight we had over a copy of Meg Wolitzer's The Interestings--another long story!)
So, here are the top 5 things we learned about each other. And we'd love to hear your thoughts on friendship too. Leave a comment and you'll be entered to win five of the books we were lucky enough to get at BEA: The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer (of course!), Morning Glory by Sarah Jio, Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire, A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams and The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty. We'll choose the winner on Sunday June 9th after 3pm PST. Good luck!
5 Things Liz & Lisa learned about each other
1. We both like to be in control of things. Now this is not exactly news--we've always been Type A. But we'd never seen this uber-control freak side of each other before. (We blame our nerves!) Whether it was navigating the way to a restaurant on one of our iPhones (someone may have physically grabbed the other's cell (and claimed she could follow the blinking dot better!) or deciding how to respond to an email (and we quote, "the word start sounds so much better than begin"...) we learned we are definitely two beyotches who each like things done HER way. Funny how we can write and edit a book together, yet can't agree on which direction is Northeast.
2. We got first date jitters again. We were seriously acting like a couple of school girls before meeting our editor and agent in person for the first time. Picture one of those sequences in a romcom where the girls try on a thousand outfits to the tune of some glorious 80's tune. That was us--acting like we were going on a first date, our palms sweaty and our hearts beating hard as we arrived at the restaurant AN HOUR early so we could have a glass of wine to calm our nerves. And although one of us over-talked, one of us under-talked and neither of us could eat the glorious food that was put in front of us, the lunch still somehow went better than great!
3. Liz can make everyone on a busy NYC street corner stop and stare
Lisa wasn't paying attention and stepped off the curb, excited to cross the street and get to Market Table to have dinner. After a day of being on our feet for 12 plus hours, she was hungry! So, no, she didn't see the cab barreling her way. But, yes, she did stop in her tracks at the sound of Liz's very firm and loud "Liiiiiissssa!" And she wasn't the only one who froze. Liz is solely responsible for silencing a small section of New York City for several seconds. That's got to be some kind of world record. (Thanks for saving my life, Liz! xoxo)
4. We have a shared superpower. This just in! We have developed a superpower since the last time we saw each other. (Cue dramatic music!) We can now talk to each other without opening our mouths or even moving our hands. We can have an entire conversation with our eyes. And believe us, there was a whole lot of eye talkin' going on last week! Whether one of us was warning the other to shut the hell up or to just say an effing word already, we're excited to have this new skill. It will definitely come in handy on the book tour!
5. Neither of us is perfect. And that's more than okay. Our week in NYC together was a learning experience in so many ways. Not only as business partners, but as friends. As self-proclaimed control freaks/perfectionists, it's sometimes hard to take a step back and realize you haven't been the friend/wife/mom you wanted to be. That sometimes we forget to tell the people we love most all the things that make them great. But it's in those tough moments that we all have a great opportunity to move forward, to take our relationships to the next level. To realize that we don't have to be perfect to be loved or even liked. So for that, we are thankful. (We're also grateful that we'll have separate hotel rooms next year, but that's another very long story...)
xoxo