Hi and welcome to my journal. About half of the posts are friends'-locked, but feel free to friend me and I'll try to do the same in return. (If I forget, just send me a note, it happens).

Thanks everyone for playing!!!

It's time for a Vlog!

AND my first contest!

First, the vlog:



The Contest!

Rules are simple.

1. Watch the video.
2. Marvel at my selective anal-retentiveness regarding book order in my room.
3. Pick a book you'd like to have.
4. Leave a comment, telling me which book.
5. Spread the word for an extra entry!

Contest ends Friday at noon. That afternoon I will put names into a hat (yes, a REAL hat) and draw a winner. If there are enough entries, I will draw more winners.

The point: Sharing is caring.

A few of the books in the video: Beautiful Creatures, Forest of Hands and Teeth, Cracked Up to Be, Lament, Ballad, Maze Runner, Wicked Lovely, Strange Angels, Deliverance Dane, American Gods, Soon I Will Be Invincible, Prophecy of the Sisters, Wake, Evermore, Neverwhere, The Book Thief, Blue is for Nightmares, Tithe, and many more!

Warning: I am about to whine.

So, almost everyone knows I'm not terribly good at the WAITING part of the process. I love the writing, even the revising. In fact, I love almost every part of the journey. But not this part. It doesn't get easier, whether you're waiting for an agent, or an editor, or revisions, etc.

Waiting bites. Waiting turns me into an unpleasant little knot of emotions, ranging from frustration and nervousness to flat out cranky.

Yeah, I'd say cranky is the strongest one.

Right now I'm waiting on several things. On contracts, agent feedback, round two of edits, and it is turning me into a seriously cranky girl.

I'm also noticing that by saying the word cranky this many times in one post, it's beginning to look funny and wrong the way words do with repetition.

I need to find a way out of my funk :\ I've knocked out a chunk of my reading pile, and I've mused a bit about my new book (the one I gave a short teaser from in the last post). The problem is, this waiting is a kind of Purgatory. I would love to work on ATB's sequel, but don't want to until I get feedback on ATB itself. I would love to tackle the challenge of the new book, but don't want to burn out with edits on the way. I would love to talk more about NEAR WITCH, but I can't because it doesn't come out for so long. I would love to feel confident, or inspired, or be brimming with good/exciting news but I don't have any :( Hence, the CRANKY.

So, I'm waiting. If you have found ways to make the waiting less cranky-inducing, DO SHARE. Please. If you don't have any ideas, but just want to give a virtual hug, that works too :p

In GOOD news, I finished my grad school applications!

In BAD news, I'm afraid to go to the NaNoWriMo site.

I was doing so well! And then I needed to do some edits. No, not my OFFICIAL edits, but edits nonetheless. And I looked away for what I swear was only a few minutes, and suddenly a few DAYS have passed :\ So, a little suckage on that front.

I just really want to get ATB all squared away before OFFICIAL edits, also known as NW Round Two (Ding Ding), arrive.

So, in BAD news, I have to stop Book of Sparkly Stuff for a short time. Just until I get a few things in order, some feedback, etc.

In GOOD news, I have another project I can work on, one I'm very excited about. I don't want to say much about it yet, since it might still fall apart, but I can't wait to get to work. This project has been bouncing around in my head awhile, and I have some groundwork, so that will help.

In GOOD news, I have a small teaser!

It’s just a rock. A sliver of the cliffs half a mile north from here, where the cold tide forces itself up against the walls of Maine. A piece of cliff, broken off and fastened on a leather string. But when it twirls, back and forth in a white-flecked haze, there is something utterly enchanting about it, lulling, just like his voice.

In my dream he’s made of the sea. All water and waves and far off sounds. I’m running to him but when I throw my arms around his shoulders he splashes and falls apart at my feet. The tide sweeps in, then, so vile and quick, and takes him away with a rush and hiss, and I am left with the sand and the place where he had been, the memory already fading like footprints on the beach. I wake up and forget that he is gone.

FACT: I am not a Twitter Quitter. I made it the whole week! I don't know about you all, but this was a surprise to me!

FACT: I got 10k written on Book of Sparkly Stuff during my Twittercation. Just saying.

FACT: I read 4 books this week. City of Ashes, Strange Angels, Wicked Lovely, The Magician's Elephant.

FACT: I am taking over the internets, bit by bit.

So my website won't launch until the new year, in honor of all the fun we're going to have in 2010! But in the meantime, I've begun my slow and steady journey of taking over the internets! [insert malicious laugh]

FACT: I missed Twitter!

FACT: This is not a fact but I didn't want to ruin the motif. I don't do linkage often, but I really, really want to link this blog post by Courtney Summers called On Mean Girls & Writing Some Girls Are.

Wait. What do you mean Twittercation is only half over???

:\

In other news:

-Reading Strange Angels, and really enjoying it so far!

-NaNoWriMo is going surprisingly well! Even though I ditched my outline temporarily and started writing the scenes I wanted to write, even if they're not important for twenty, or fifty, or a hundred pages :p

-I am fighting a cold with all I've got. So far I've managed to skirt it and avoid the worst, but it makes me think of zombies. Namely, that being the only healthy person in cold and flu season is a lot like being the only living person during a zombie apocalypse. I feel like I should be armed.

-WIP Wednesday. I'll share just a few brief bits of BOSS (Book of Sparkly Stuff) from NaNoWriMo:

"Hyde School is green. Green makes you think fresh. Makes you think new. But here the green is a top coat of paint on the dusty grays, rusted reds, and dead browns. Beneath layers of ivy, Hyde school is a web of old stones and mortar and earth. According to the brochure, it’s even got a hedge maze."

"When I was young we lived in a house with a white marble floor. I spilled something dark and acidic, grape juice I think, onto the marble one morning. I tried to clean it up, as quickly as possible, but it has already eaten away at the white, had already left a stain. That’s how I feel. Like the red that splashed onto me at the end of my summer was strong enough to eat right into my marble finish. Like I'll never be clean again."

So, a confession.

I am (so much more than) addicted to Twitter.

So Nova Ren Suma and Suzanne Young (I don't know which one started it) decided to do a Twitter vacation, where they left Twitter for a week, Nov. 1st-7th. And lo and behold, people followed, myself included.

Someone recently complimented me on my level of productivity, and my response was that I couldn't bear to consider how much MORE productive I would be if I didn't live on Twitter. Well, here's a chance to find out.

So, a little over a day in, and I must admit it's much harder than I expected. I use Twitter as my break between bouts of writing. I use it to catch up on the lives of my friends, of authors, and of the publishing industry. I use it because I like sharing random and most likely inane things, and commenting on other people's random (and sometimes inane) things, and commenting on/complaining about/"offering insight" into the writing process :p I use it to waste time, and I fully accept the fact I'm wasting time.

It's hard not being on Twitter. I won't say it's not productive. I wrote right around 2,000 words yesterday, and hoping to hit the 5,000 mark (total) today. But it definitely requires a level of discipline I don't believe I possess. So am I giving up? Nope. Not yet, anyway. If my edits arrive, and I need to turn to my twitter-friends for support, I most certainly will. But right now I will not surrender! Because I have applications to finish, and books to read, and books to WRITE, and none of those things are (technically) dependent on Twitter.

I will admit, however, that I have basically hooked up a feeding tube to my inbox, and am harassing many of my friends mightily in Twitter's absence. But hey, I can't give up EVERYTHING.

...in which Victoria goes from admitting she needs a break to over-committing in the course of a day.

Alright, so here's the deal. I'm going to TRY to do NaNoWriMo. That means, I am going to have fun and do my best. That also means that if I don't finish, I am NOT going to feel bad. I don't expect to finish, what with edits and apps and life. But I'm willing to give it a go.

Because I DO have a new book to work on, and I might as well try to keep my fingers busy. It's either write, or compulsively click REFRESH on my email. So let's go for the more productive of the two.

I'm there as veschwab, in case you're there and want to be buddies.

I know I will probably regret this. But I DID take a day off writing. Yesterday.

~V

PS. It would appear I have a fairly abusive relationship with my writing. But drained as I am, I just don't feel *right* when I'm not doing it. So it's worth a TRY.

Been in a strange funk the last couple days.

I always feel a little lost after finishing a project, mostly because the hours and days before finishing it are jam-packed and I put so much intensity into it that I expect to feel a moment of elation (see last post) followed by an inevitable drop of into MEH (see this post).

What's strange is that this time around I was completely ready to jump into my next project. As in, had a synopsis, a really good idea of character and plot, etc. Ready, right? Not so much. My friends told me to take a few days off, and I was like "No way! I'm good, I'm good." My agent told me to take a few days off, and I said the same thing. I sat down to start, still high from finishing ATB...and the funk hit.

But instead of taking the hint and GIVING myself a few days off, I tried to push through it. And much like the lightning sand of the fire swamp* IT DID NOT WORK.

Because the fact is, I went straight from my book deal to my edits, and straight from my edits to ATB, because I really wanted to get the first draft done before my second round of edits. And meanwhile my brain is still thinking about NW and the impending second round, and it's thinking about ATB and what my agent will think and the changes I already know I need to make, and it's also trying to process my grad school apps, and which courses to take at SCBWI, and what I'm supposed to do on Jacketflap, and how I want to spend next year, AND the new book.

So. It wasn't working. It's not working. And I'm finally going to admit here, publicly, that I might need to take a day or two off writing between books.

There, I said it. Now I just have to do it.

*Princess Bride. If you didn't know the reference, 1. Be ashamed, and 2. go rent it.

ALL THINGS BETWEEN is finished! Yay.



This book took a lot longer than NEAR WITCH, and is different, and darker, than anything I've ever tried to write. I started writing it in April, right in the midst of senior portfolio and graduation (I obviously enjoy doing this myself, since I almost always begin a new project at the worst possible time). Anyway, I worked on it through graduation, and all summer, and while NW was on submission, finally putting it aside to do the NW edits this past month, and now it finally has those glorious two words, "THE END" stamped on the last page.

In case you don't know what ATB is about, here you go:

Mackenzie Bishop is a patchwork of scars. She is a Bridger, a person who can read an object's History just by touching it. But objects aren't the only things with Histories. People have them too. People's Histories are kept in the Vault, like books on shelves, except with skin.

A person's History, commonly mistaken for a ghost, is a record of that person's life, their memories and moments. Most Histories just sleep, but sometimes they wake up. Sometimes they escape. And if they do, it's Mackenzie's job to hunt them down and send them back, before they begin to change. Histories hide in the Space Between, and the longer they stay there, the more material they become. Long enough, and they could pass into the real world. Not that Mackenzie has ever let one last that long.

Now seventeen, she's been a Bridger since she was nine, and she's always been good at her job. But something is causing an exponential rise in the number of escaping Histories, and her new home, an old hotel-turned-apartment building, seems to be a beacon for the bad ones. Things begin to look up when she meets another Bridger, Wesley--of the tall, dark, handsome and playfully narcissistic variety--and the two become immediate friends.

But when Mackenzie begins to fall for a History named Owen, and makes the dangerous decision *not* to send him back, she sets off a chain of events far worse than she realizes. Is her crush the exception to the rule, or has she put her life and the lives of everyone around her in danger by letting him stay?

ALL THINGS BETWEEN is the first in a series, and I am so, so excited for it. You can see a few short glimpses by clicking on the "atb" tag.

Hooray!

Small note, since several people have asked: No, I won't be doing NaNoWriMo, because

1. I should be getting my next round of NW edits in November, and between that and grad school applications, I just don't want to commit.
2. I wrote two books already this year (NW and ATB), and while I can't wait to get started on the sequel to ATB, I want to do it at my own pace.

BUT I will be cheering everyone on, I promise!

Wow, I kind of disappeared there. Sorry about that.

With Halloween right around the corner, I've been thinking about something I call, the Scare Scale. Going from Teletubby (though some would assert that these belong in the "horror" zone) all the way up to Self-Wetting.

I fall somewhere in the middle.

My stories tend to have an element of creepy. At least a cup of it in the overall recipe. But anyone who knows me knows I frighten REALLY easily. As in, I shy away from scary movies, and if I watch them, I have to watch cartoons after, so I can sleep.

Nonetheless, I can't seem to write a book without reaching "creepy" on the scale. I don't write fluff, or cheer, or anything approximating. My first project involved Death (note the capital), NW involves disappearing children, and my new project involves Histories, which come pretty close to zombie + ghost + murderous intent.

I think there's a fine line, or several lines, between creepy and horror, between back-of-neck-hair-raising, and oh-god-I-can't-sleep-because-X-will-get-me-even-if-X-is-entirely-fictional.

I try really, really hard to stay on the creepy end of it. And I do have the benefit of being the author. Which does NOT mean my own creations don't creep me out. But it DOES mean that they can't worm their way off the page and into my head, since they started out there. Some people love to get the crap scared out of them, but as the kind of person who doesn't, my enjoyment begins to ebb as things climb the scare scale.

I like to write things that make you wriggle in your seat a bit, or wonder about how empty the shadows across the room are, but I *try* not to cross into "Boo!" or nightmare-inducing.

Anyway, random thought as Halloween draws near.

Which do you prefer? The kind of stories that make you wonder, that crack a window in your mind to the more impossible things, even if they go bump, or the kind that make you want to leave all the lights on?

So, Victoria. You're not editing right now. And you don't have a real job. And I'm pretty sure those grad school applications still say "unfinished." So, what are you doing with your life???

Well, how nice of you to ask, non-existent person.

1. I went to my old high school and talked to the Creative Writing Club. I still have nightmares...I mean lovely dreams, about the plaid-skirted wilderness that was my high school, but it was surreal, and fun, and I hope I get a chance to go back closer to the release of the book!

2. I finished my edits, and decided to don some real clothes and stop by the Southern Festival of Books! While there, I ran into four of the most amazing book bloggers (Vania, Kelsey, Kate, and Eli) and we chatted, and then decided to grab lunch together. In true snowball effect fashion, while getting lunch we ran into a charming author named Kathryn Williams, and the six of us sat and ate and chatted about books and all things awesome. It was a surprisingly WONDERFUL day.

3. I'm starting back in on ATB. I was so incredibly close to finishing my first draft when my edits came for NEAR WITCH, and going back to it now, re-reading what I have, I am falling in love with this project all over again. I can't wait to get the last 4-5k written.

4. A website! I don't have one yet, but I'm working on it! I honestly don't expect it to go live until the very end of this year, or January of next year, but I'm having a ball. Mostly because my dad is a computer software engineer, so I'm designing, and he's doing all the coding. I have a sneak peak for you!

This is the main page, in progress:



And this is part of the bio page:



It's all hand-drawn, then cut out, and scanned into the computer as one piece (or as few pieces as possible).

So, that's what I've been up to. And now, I suppose I should start item #5, my grad school applications :\

Warning: I can't promise this makes sense.

Editing is like...

...A longtime relationship, right after the proposal, when the bride gets cold feet, or the groom has a swell of doubt, and they fight, but the bride knows she loves the groom/book desperately and want to make it work, so they go to couples counseling, and work through all the things they like and don't really like about each other, and talk about how they promise to change, and at last they reconcile, and hopefully they have a healthier, more stable relationship.

...Those CSI/murder investigation shows where the cop spends the entire episode trying to work through false leads, has a nervous break where they think the case will NEVER be solved, but in their gut they know they can't give up because it's their job and the answer is there, somewhere, so they keep going and then a lead comes out of nowhere and the pieces begin to click and click and click and then case is solved and the whole office drinks coffee and toasts to the cop's skills.

...Baking a cake (you knew I'd go here). Except you have no idea if the ingredients you're using are the right ones or how it will taste, so you sniff it and taste it and break a ton of eggs and spill flour on yourself and maybe have to start over because the oven was too hot and you burned the edges or the middle fell down, but you can be damn sure that by the time anyone has to see or eat the cake, they'll never know what a beast it was to make.

...Surviving the fire swamp (you knew I'd go here, too). Because Wesley and Buttercup know that it's going to be almost impossible ("We'll never survive." "Nonsense. You only say that because no one ever has.") but they do it anyway because they are being chased and don't have a choice, and they learn the pitfalls and how to avoid them, and after getting singed, and nearly drowning, and attacked by ROUSs, they finally get to the end. And it doesn't matter that Wesley is captured, because they survived the swamp and they'll survive all those other things by the end of the story.

So, yeah. Editing is like a lot of things. It's NOT easy. But it's also NOT impossible, and the end product, whether it's a loving marriage, or a case solved, or a yummy cake, or surviving the fire swamp with only a few burns and bites, is worth it.

So, I've been cleaning and organizing my bedroom and office, since both have fallen into a state of utter shame and disrepair during these last couple weeks. At one point, I went through my books (I've said on numerous occasions that I have a pitifully small supply, compared to most writers, somewhere in the 100-200). But as I was going through them, I came upon something very special.



Yes, almost everyone I know owns at least one of the HP books...



But this one's signed.

I don't have anything from my grandparents. Nothing treasured and passed down. But I do have this. My mother was in a bookstore one day, a little over a decade ago, and called me to say a woman was signing books there. I hadn't heard of J.K. Rowling, or of Harry Potter yet, but my mom decided to go ahead and get me a copy. There was hardly a line. And that's one of the reasons it's so precious. It was just a matter of luck and timing, at a time when Rowling was just another up and coming author.

So, what's your most precious book?

Midnight might be the Witching Hour, and fall might be the Witching Season, but there's no doubt 2011 will be the Witching Year!

In case you haven't heard, there are THREE YA books (so far) (two from FLux, one from Disney*Hyperion) slated for 2011 with "Witch" in the title.

Scott Tracey's WITCH EYES

Karen Mahoney's THE IRON WITCH

and my own THE NEAR WITCH!

Now, what makes this Witching Year so awesome is that all three books are SO different. We've got gay witches in a romeo and Juliet scenario, a teen girl labeled a witch because of the markings on her, and a village where witches are those who can control the natural world.

2011 is going to be magical :)

Alright, a couple weeks too late (sorry, edits have been EATING MY SOUL) but here are almost all of the answers to the amazing questions you all asked!

What was the most interesting thing you saw on your road trip across the country, other than people or friends?

I stayed in an old hotel in Rapid City, SD, and there was a festival going on that night. Apparently most of Rapid City showed up for it, including a couple hundred tweens, and over the course of my excursions to and from the hotel, I met several of them. A small group had chosen to spend their night riding up and down the elevators chatting with anyone who would listen. They were pretty cool. One told me to "stay awesome" and I will carry those words with me always.

If you could be any mythological creature, what would you be and why?

Probably a witch. I’m not just saying that because of THE NEAR WITCH, but because I think the concept of witches can be versatile and fun and spooky and playful and all-around pretty awesome. In THE NEAR WITCH witches’ magic has to do with nature, and the magic inherent in the wild world. But witches’ magic can also be spells, or potions. It can be dark, or mischievous, or light. I just love the idea of magic, of being able to connect to something in the pulse of the world, whether energy or material.

And if you could start an urban legend about anything in your hometown, what would it be?

I’d like to start an urban legend that if you go onto one of Nashville’s bridges at midnight and look down you’ll see the faces of dead musicians in the water. Maybe even hear their music. I’d also love to start a rumor that hallowed ground has the best acoustics, because I think a cemetery would be a pretty fun place for a concert. And I think we should celebrate life rather than constantly dwell on death.

What is your favorite color?

Slate blue.

What is your favorite cupcake flavor?

Chocolate with peanut butter frosting.

What would you pick as NW's theme song?

Transylvanian Concubine by Rasputina. Specifically this would be the wind’s theme song in the book, but it encompasses the vibe of the world of Near.

WHERE did you write most of your book?

I wrote THE NEAR WITCH in a coffee shop in St. Louis called Kayak’s. Between the hours of 8 and 11 pm (when they closed) or whenever else I could squeeze in an hour. They have the best bran muffins, and a wonderful flavor of herbal tea. And excellent taste in background music. I miss it :(

What do you when you get *stuck*?

The first thing I do is look away, next I break out the loud dancing music. Baking is a last resort. I also exercise pretty religiously, and that always helps me clear my head/work through problems.

Do you pull the top off your cupcakes & invert them so the frosting is in the middle? I highly recommend this :)

No, but I will try!

Favorite line? Scene?

The first lines I wrote, which as of now are still part of the first page. They are:

The wind on the moor is a tricky thing. It can bend its voice and cast it into any shape, long and thin enough to slide beneath the door, stout enough to seem a thing of weight and breath and bone. The wind has always been exceedingly clever. But the wind is changing.

How did you keep from going crazy during the submission process?

I went quite mad. I baked A LOT. I’m lucky to have a wonderful family who tolerated me. And I tried VERY VERY hard not to get my hopes up. I turned my attention to my new project, ALL THINGS BETWEEN, really threw myself at it, and limited my email checking to 35 x a day :p And I’ve got a wonderfully supportive writing group who tolerated my shenanigans even more than my family at times!

I know you just graduated...tell us about your degree. And what you plan on studying next!

I graduated with a degree in Design (specifically Book Design) from Washington University. (Because of this I am pretty TERRIFIED of getting my cover :p) I am taking a year off, and then I plan to go to graduate school for an MFA in Creative Writing. My end goal is actually to get my PhD in English Lit, but I don’t have the language requirements yet. I thrive in an academic environment, though, and it feels weird to not be in classes right now!

When did you KNOW you were a writer?

I’ve always had a love of words, specifically of the way they sounded when lined up. I started in poetry in high school, and didn’t start writing fiction until my sophomore year of college. But I’ve always known I wanted to work with words, the way someone else might say they want to work with nature, or science. They are my element, and passion. And I’m incredibly lucky to be able to do this!

What is the one thing you would want to pass on to other writers that you've learned during this publication process?

Keep writing. Whether you’re doing it for yourself, looking for an agent, on submission to editors, or an established author. Always be writing. Most likely it won’t feel right to NOT be writing.

Who is your favorite character in any book you've written, to-be-pubbed or not? Why?

I love all my characters :) That said, I have two all-time favorite characters.

One is a man named Oswald Ian Phemeral, or the Demon King. He’s in a MG boys’ book, unfinished. In the book, our heart determines our power, and he wants power so badly that he cuts out his own heart and trades it for a demons, which pollutes his blood. Os, among other things, singes the ground on which he walks, and is just, in my opinion, a pretty awesome villain.

The second is a character in my new YA project, ALL THINGS BETWEEN, that gives me shivers in both good and bad ways. His name is Owen Chris Clarke, and he is Irish, eighteen, of a VERY questionable origins. He is the most volatile character I’ve ever written, and I can’t say more without spoilers, but yeah.

Would you change anything about your experience so far as a writer? Would you do anything differently if you had the chance?

I’d probably have written even more. THE SHADOW MILE, the book that got me my amazing agent, was the first book I’d ever written. I don’t have a drawer of manuscripts. And I think I’ve had a pretty strong learning curve, from TSM, to NW, and even to ATB. My confidence has grown with each book. But other than that, my experience has been my own, and I try not to covet anyone else’s journey. It has been wonderful and terrible and exciting and stressful. And it surprises me almost every day.

What are your favorite revision-foods besides cupcakes? WHy?

Revision food. Pretty much all food. I love fruit, and dark chocolate, and really enjoy healthy food as much as I do unhealthy. I love carrots with hummus, and frozen yogurt with oreos, a great salad and a cheeseburger.

Who's your favorite witch, in history or fiction?

Professor McGonagall. Hands down.

Who are your biggest influences, writing-wise?

Neil Gaiman. Kelly Link. Shel Silverstein. Suzanna Clarke. But every time I read a book I learn something.

If you could meet any writer living or dead, who would it be?

Oscar Wilde. That man seems like he would have been amazing to have at parties or late night café chats. His quotes are marvelous.

If you were trapped on a desert island with only three books, which three books would they be and why?

Princess Bride, because it’s CLASSIC and Jonathon Strange…Hunger Games would make me paranoid, so Graceling.

Which book do you wish you'd written?

I don’t actually have books I wish I’d written, going with my answer to what I’d change, I don’t think I’d ever be able to write my favorite books nearly as well as the writers themselves did. But I DO crave characters. I do wish I’d written Jace, from the Mortal Instruments, and Katniss, from the Hunger Games.

There, that's all for now!

So, I'd like to recap today's editing by showing you my tweets from the past few hours.

sksjflsdkjfaldsjfalkdsfja...@#$@#$. 8 hours ago.

I'm physically afraid to walk away from my edits, in case I have NO idea what I'm doing when I come back. 5 hours ago.

Need an editing break. An episode of Castle seems appropriate. 4 hours ago.

Ah, hello Work. I see you waited for me. 3 hours ago.

UGH. 2 hours ago.

WHY DOES THIS SCENE INSIST ON SUCKING? 2 hours ago.

I love how I somehow think refreshing my inbox will make the scene better. 1.5 hours ago.

Have resorted to hot chocolate. Desperate times. 10 minutes ago.

Yeah. :\

Hell, Fall! I'm so happy to see you. Feel free to announce yourself in Nashville with some cool weather and perhaps even some changing leaves if you feel up to it.

A few cool things to kick off Fall!

1. My friend and fellow writing team member SCOTT TRACEY got a two-book deal today with Flux!! Isn't that awesome? You better go congratulate him, AFTER you're done here.

2. I have started my edits. Yes, that was fast. Yes, I have my work seriously cut out for me, and yes, I did spend several hours wandering aimlessly around the house murmuring to myself "it will be okay." I am still murmuring. But I'm ALSO cheering on the inside, because these edits are going to make this book (hopefully) squee-worthy. Future me, the one NOT facing the edits, is squeeing.

3. I'm still working on my Q & A. I need a couple days to get my head back in the vicinity of my shoulders and then I will post the answers to all the wonderful questions that did not make the cupcake video cut.

4. I am loving this song right now. Thank you, Emily, for suggesting this. (And I am working on a NW playlist, fyi, but that also goes under the category of "Oh dear god let me where has my head gone and is it coming back??")