Poetic License
July 14, 2004
Last Friday I met with my new editor, LB. As I've written before, I was worried about getting her involved because she actually appears as a character in the very book that I've asked her to help me with. But we talked about it, and she assured me that she'd be able to maintain a professional detachment, so I threw caution to the wind and gave her the manuscript.
She made notes for the first half and so we decided to meet over drinks to discuss it. I waited in the lobby of her building until she came down with her oddball little dog. "You don't mind if we walk the dog around the block before we find a place to have a drink, do you?”
The dog was pee shy, so the short walk took longer than expected, but once we made it around the block, we settled at an outdoor table of a little neighborhood restaurant. Next to us sat a girl with a broken arm and what appeared to be a date or boyfriend.
"See that girl?" LB asked, nodding toward the girl with the cast.
The girl was an attractive blond showing a lot of leg, so cast or no cast she was impossible to miss. "Yeah," I said.
"She put the moves on a boyfriend of mine once."
The two of them nodded to each other. "How are you?" the girl asked. "I'm fine, how are you?" responded LB. And that was that.
LB and I made some small talk, ordered drinks and then got to work. Even though, as I flipped through the pages, there seemed to be a lot more editorial comments on the pages where her character appears than in the rest of the book, I didn't really pay it any attention.
LB took a few calls and made plans for later in the evening. She asked if I wanted to go with her to where our friend Tom was bar tending. I had been planning to check out a party on my rooftop later in the evening, but since that party would most likely be going on all night, I wasn't in a rush. LB took her dog home, and we caught a cab to the bar. We were only there for a few minutes before her cell phone rang again. After she hung up, she told me,"My friend Rio is coming by. He's really humble so he won't tell you this, but he just got back from Iraq. He's a photojournalist and he just won a couple of awards for the photos he took over there."
I was legitimately impressed so when he showed up, it didn't take long for me to start asking him about his job. We talked about cameras and Iraq and the practical matters of taking pictures in a war zone until a couple of his friends arrived. They were two attractive young girls who quickly absorbed the attention of Rio and myself. Soon another friend of LB's came and it was a regular party.
A few drinks deep, LB began referring to the things I'd written about her. "Apparently , I'm crazy." Things like that. I rolled my eyes and reminded her of how certain qualities had to be exaggerated for the sake of dramatic interest. "I know, I know.," she said. At midnight I decided to head back to Brooklyn and check out the roof party. LB walked me outside to say good night. Her other friends were already out there, smoking. LB mentioned to everyone that I had a blog and soon they were all speculating on what I might have to say about them.
"It's an excellent blog," LB said. "You should all check it out."
I got embarrassed and pointed out that it wasn't the only thing I did. I mean, here was this guy Rio: an award winning war photographer and he was humble about that . I didn't feel like a blog was much to brag about.
"Oh please " LB said, "I'm proud of you. You shouldn't be embarrassed. It's a great blog."
"I'm just saying, I mean, I do other things too."
