As I expressed yesterday, I arrived in New York City overheated to a dangerous degree. In fact, I didn’t realize how much I was suffering (because I kept drinking water) until I arrived at my hotel and saw my face. They’d turned off the air conditioning in the hotel in order to conserve energy. Fortunately, the fan was still on in my room and once I had the shades down I would put the temp at a very comfortable low eighties, which, though warm, was nothing compared to the 100 degree heat on the streets or the probably closer to 120 degree heat in the airless metal train car.
I took a cold shower and after about 15 minutes, I finally felt a bit better. Now, I’ve been out in a lot of hot climates — I grew up in Florida, I’ve spent a summer in the jungles of Costa Rica, and I’ve lived in tropical outback Australia — so I’m pretty savvy when it comes to being aware of how my body is handling extreme temperatures. I think staying hydrated probably kept me from getting sick that afternoon. Note to all: DRINK WATER! And of course, like all people when the weather gets hot, I was in a rotten mood. I’d convinced myself that the TV interview had gone poorly and that all I wanted to do was go home and go to bed. Partying was the last thing on my mind.
But I was committed, so again, I hydrated up (I’ve never been so thankful for a cold shower in my life!) got dressed and went to meet my parents at their hotel a few blocks away. From there we went to midtown, where we’d planned to meet Little Brother #2 and his fiance for dinner. However, when we got to the street on which the restaurant was located, all we saw were manhole covers with fire shooting up. We wended our way around the flames (as if we needed more heat!) and headed into the restaurant, but, as expected, the joint was closed. By this point, I was in a REALLY bad mood. Bro and fiance showed up and we went to a Japanese place around the corner, where they were serving, and though we didn’t recognize anything on the menu, we ordered, and ended up liking our meals quite a bit.
I left my family at the restaurant and headed downtown to the club district in Chelsea. The man at the door of HOME was setting up a velvet rope when I asked him if I could go inside. “I’m Diana Peterfreund,” I said. “I was supposed to be here early and I think they’re waiting for me in there.” “That means nothing to me,” he replied. I tried again. “I’m the author of Secret Society Girl, and you guys are holding my book party tonight.” That one got me in.
But after the comedy of errors my day had been, I’m had no idea what to expect from the evening’s events!
HOME is gorgeous, all red walls and black leather cubes that serve as couches, mirrored tables and black accents. Best of all, it was positively frigid inside, and I felt better immediately. I knew then that everything was going to be okay.
I met Shawn and Kerri to sign my giveaway books, Brant from Random House, and Jesse, the L Magazine staffer who helped arrange the party. I met the Get Lit! girls, who are all so lovely and wonderful, and I just want to give a big shout out to the whole team. Thanks!
And then they opened the doors and people started pouring in. The party was a smash. My family was there, as mentioned, and Sailor Boy of course; so was my critique partner Marley, my web designer Mike, several New York writer friends (Hi, Kwana, Elizabeth, Yolanda, and Blossom and Michelle of “China Dolls” fame!), Margaret Crocker showed up, but I barely got a chance to say hi to her, a bunch of buddies from Florida (Megan, Liz and Lindsey, the Whitings), Annie from OC and her friend Nicole (who came all the way up from North Carolina), Scott Westerfeld and a few of his SF friends, a bunch of my friends from college (Lauren, Dan, Josh, Colin, Christina, Rachel, and Ted), friends from DC (Ken and Ava), everyone Kerri has ever met, Tracy Devine, and my agent, who surprised me by flying up from Georgia just for the party! Thanks, Deidre!
We stayed until well after the party was over and the place had turned into a real club, then Kerri and her boyfriend took us to one of their local joints for a little after party, which we also shut down (around three), then proceeded uptown. There, Sailor Boy and I took our leave and grabbed a bite to eat before walking home to our hotel, where we went to sleep around 4:30 a.m.
Yes, we got a late check-out. And by the next day, the heat had broken…
Here are some pictures from the event! Thank you so much to Random House, the L Magazine, HOME Club, and Dos Equis for making this such an incredible party!
By the way, are you getting as tired listening to stories of my travels as I am of constantly traveling? I’m exhausted and I have one more to go. And lets not mention my deadline! I feel like I haven’t had a good industry-focused blog since my book has come out. It’s all been party party party. Never fear. I’ll be back in September, like school, with my deadline met and all this summer spectacular behind me, ready to tackle serious, hard-hitting industry issues. I’m just… diverted right now.
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