Hello my muffins!

Sorry I’ve been such rubbish about blogging. I’ve been busy and not really feeling it, quite frankly. The last few weeks I’ve been a bit wandery and disheveled–I think it was time to get back to work. But now work has begun, and I’m already feeling better. Or at least I’m feeling tired, which means “better” in my OCD world.

First things first, the little Texas tour I did with Jaye Wells, Mark Henry, and Liliana Hart was AMAZING. It was part vacay, part promo for our rad antho Carniepunk, and part writer’s retreat.

All in all, it was pretty much heaven.

I’m really lucky to have the friends I have, and this was a reminder of that. I met Jaye, Mark, and Liliana when I first became a writer, right after TR had first sold and months and months before it was actually published. To make a long story short, Devi (my wonderful editor) introduced Jaye to me as she’d also just bought Jaye’s book and Devi knew I was CLUELESS when it came to publishing. I was living in Shreveport at the time, a mere 3 1/2 hours from Jaye in Dallas, and so very soon after meeting, Jaye invited me to Dallas for a convention. One of the guests at the con was her friend Mark, and the con itself was run by her friend Liliana.

So Jaye Wells, Mark Henry, and Liliana Hart were some of the first writers I met. I thought I was the luckiest girl in the whole world to be in an industry where everyone was SO FREAKING FUNNY. And they weren’t just hilarious, they were generous and kind and helpful. They answered all my questions, gave me insight, and I felt so much better about this thing I’d done that I knew nothing about.

They also took video of me playing Rockband and shrieking like a rapey dolphin , and posted it to YouTube immediately, for they are my people.

Anyway, it felt really full circle to come back to Dallas and do this tour with them. We’re all in very different places in our career, and yet the basics are still the same: laugh, eat too much, drink old fashioneds, laugh some more. Laugh and laugh and laugh till your sides ache–I seriously had cramps every morning from laughing so hard. But they’re also real friends, and I felt very loved during and after that trip, and I can’t wait to see them again soon.

As usual, I took completely random photos, but here are a few, just to give you a taste of our tour:

I’d like to give a special shout out to Aunt Bia. You were the best hostess in the world! Thank you so much for everything. xoxo

So that trip was GREAT. And I’ve got some other super fun ones coming at me this year, too, although they’re not all work (yay!)

Next up I’m going on a writer’s retreat with Jaye, Liliana, Jeanne C. Stein, and Heather Osborn, all organized by Molly Harper and her amazing mom, Judy. We’re going to stay at a cabin in Kentucky. I’ve proposed it have an Evil Dead theme and have volunteered to skin the cats.

After that I’m off to a wedding of very good friends in Boston. Then back to Shreveport, to speak at LSUS and drive down to NOLA for Voodoo Fest (yes, NOLA at halloween…..I’m a happy bear).

After that who knows, although I know I’ll be going to Seattle for AWP and NOLA, again, for RT14. So hopefully I’ll see some of you somewhere. 😉

In the meantime, however, it’s my birthday this weekend. I’m making a big deal of it this year, because I’m turning 35 and I want to, because I love my life and my friends and my being 35. Things kick off tomorrow with a fancy dinner, then friends and family come in, and we’re having a big party Saturday.

I’ve done a lot these past five years, and I want to celebrate. But I couldn’t have done it without all of you, so thanks so much for the years of support for Jane and co., as well as my other endeavors. Tempest Rising just went into another printing (I’ve lost track of how many this is) and I owe all of you for that. So I wish you could all come to the party, but my punch bowl just isn’t big enough.

I’ll be thinking of you, though. xoxoxo