Authors Move In Groups For Our Mental Well Being

The best part about being a writer is meeting other writers.

People ask me all the time what my favorite published experience has been, and this is always my answer. Yes, seeing my name on a book for the first time was awesome, but much like Christmas, the best part about publishing is when it has nothing to do with what you're getting.

This past weekend I had the awesome experience of meeting some really amazing ladies. Joseph-Beth hosted the first of a two-part YA Beach Bash featuring myself, Mindee Arnett (THE NIGHTMARE AFFAIR, AVALON), Melissa Landers (ALIENATED), Kristen Simmons (ARTICLE 5), Saundra Mitchell (MISTWALKER), and Julie Kagawa (THE IRON FEY, THE BLOOD OF EDEN).

Authors are a different sort of people. If you are one, or if you've ever met one, this probably isn't news to you. The week before last I had the chance to sign with both Rae Carson (THE GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS) and Ann Aguirre (RAZORLAND, MORTAL DANGER). During the course of normal conversation I mentioned vomitoriums (as one does) and I didn't have to explain what those are. It's worth nothing that neither one of them blinked, either. I knew I was among my people.

So, meeting other authors is always welcome. It's an expansion of the realization that I'm-Not-So-F'ed-Up-After-All hangover from high school. Or at least, if I am F'ed up, I'm not the only one. Meeting people and maintaining friendships has become more of a driving factor to me when I agree to do events than selling books. Most authors will tell you that when we do a convention, festival, or signing, we do so not because we think we'll be moving copies, but because our friends are going to be there.

I like friends. Friends are good.

Just Me And My Canoe (Also The Boyfriend & Wildlife)

I have been writing like a madwoman.

I'm also writing about a madwoman, but that's a different blog post.

In the past week I wrote over 25,000 words. In the past two days alone I added 34 pages to the YA novel that will be releasing from Katherine Tegen in the Fall of 2015. My brain is rolling, my fingers are flashing, and this book is very nearly at its close.

But so is my social life and ability to function in the sunlight.

So, the boyfriend put me in the canoe for the Fourth of July and we just went away for about five hours. The novel has hijacked my brain and demanded all my time, so I haven't been paying as much attention to the blog as I usually do.

I'm making it up to you with pictures of animals. This is how we make things better on the internet.

One of the  awesome things that happened was jumping a few deer. They didn't think it was awesome but I did. The first was a buck, that came busting through the woods down to the stream. He must've been super thirsty because he hopped out into the water without taking any notice of his surroundings whatsoever. When he finally did look up, I swear to you that deer's face actually registered shock. I don't know if he'd seen people in a boat before, because he debated for about twenty seconds before snorting at us and bolting.

That's my hand while I show the boyfriend a really large mollusk. Meanwhile something awesome is happening behind me.

So that was pretty cool. The only other time I've seen an animal actually look shocked was back in high school when I came driving over a hill too fast and took a skunk by surprise. That story didn't end as well, and you don't want to see the pictures.

This kitty no want pet.

Further on down the line I got to see a very feral member of my favorite species. I assume he was fishing. I wanted to go to the bank and say hi, but judging by the look on his face I think he might have tried to kill us. 

Oh, but it gets better. Just when I thought life couldn't be more awesome, I totally got hit in the chest with the canoe while I tried to move branches out of the way. I got them out of the way. The canoe was so very grateful that it conveyed this by a surge of forward motion that knocked me down. It was actually kind of cool because I have canoe-bow shaped bruise on my chest now. There are no pictures either of the incident (boyfriend thought I was drowning) or the bruise (boyfriend said that's in bad taste).

My last critter picture for you is a baby beaver. Yep, a bitty baby beaver who I believe was also quite shocked at seeing people in a boat. You can see in the picture he's got his tail up, debating whether or not slap. He didn't, and I was thrilled because then we got to surprise his mommy and daddy downstream, who DID slap and I'm sure he got a pretty serious talking to about stranger danger later on.

So, that's what I did this weekend, along with a ton of writing. I could blog to you all about my writing, but that wouldn't have cute pictures involved. A writer at work is not a pleasant picture. There's a lot of staring at nothing and occasional grunting. I also tend to gesticulate while I work out dialogue so I appear to be quite insane.

Not that you didn't already suspect that.

My Bucket List: Celebrating SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY by Julie Murphy

Next week brings two very exciting things on the same day - my birthday and the release of SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY by Julie Murphy. In honor of Julie and her debut, I'm putting together a bucket list of my own.

So what's on my bucket list? I have ex-boyfriends, but I think I get along pretty well with all of them so I don't anticipate getting any kind of revenge there. I don't really have an arch nemesis, although if I did it would probably be an elephant poacher or someone who litters a lot. But I do have a few things I'd like to accomplish that I can think of off the top of my head, so here goes.

1. Go To Ireland - This one might seem easy, but in true fashion I'm going to make it more difficult than the average hop across the pond. My goal is to trace my ancestors back to Ireland (I'm close) then trace that line forward to living relatives that I can go visit. Maybe they'll pick me up at the airport and let me sleep on their couch.

2. Ride A Mechanical Bull - Why? I don't know. I think it's because I saw Urban Cowboy too many times when I was growing up because I had a Charlie Daniels addiction. For whatever reason, riding a mechanical bull seems like the biggest way to express your lack of inner concern. Also a grew way to damage your spine permanently, which is why I should probably do it sooner rather than later.

3. Throw My Drink In Someone's Face - I've never really had this opportunity. I generally get along with people and have never had anyone insult me to my face to the point that I felt like dousing them with alcohol. Mostly when people do get really mad at me, I'm so amused at their reason that I mock them. Besides it's a waste of a drink.

4. Way Overdress For A Trifling Event or Way Underdress For A Really Important Event - This just seems like something I would do. I don't know that it would be a smart move, it just seems like a Mindy move. Like I'm going to wear my wedding dress (is there such thing as an ex-wedding dress?) to a book signing and wear jeans to the Oscars (because obviously I get invited every year and just haven't gone yet).

5. Make A Dress Out Of My Book Covers - It would be interesting. I could wear it to the Emmys (which of course, I'm also invited to every year and just haven't made room in my schedule for) and sit next to Lady Gaga.