Well, hello! My. Don’t you all look simply smashing. YOU got taller. And YOU are growing out your bangs (looks great). YOU went away to college–study hard, enjoy eating Top Ramen. And YOU got a new tattoo of a llama superhero. Uh-huh. No judgments.
Okay.
Good to see everybody.
Yeah. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
Before you buy that sympathy card and figure out whether you should place daisies or tiny animal erasers on my grave (animal erasers, FTW), you should know that I’m not technically dead. I’m not even mostly dead.* I’ve just been very, very busy, every time I would think, "I should blog," the convo in my head would go like this:
Me: I should blog.
Also Me: It’s 10 pm. Do you know where your brain is?
Me: No. Not a clue. Haven’t seen it since it tried to figure out a surgical strike on that scene on p.282. Then it got mad and yelled, "You don’t understand me!" and slammed the door on its way out.
Also Me: ‘s what I thought. So you are operating brainless right now.
Me: Pretty much.
Also Me: Okay. Be honest here. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being "I could blog about whether Rainbow Brite ever gets PMS" and 10 being "I am at that point in the evening where all I can do is stare straight ahead and make up small, wavering songs in which everything has to rhyme with "pee," amusing no one in my house except for me," where would you rate yourself?
Me: 11.
Also Me: (taking computer) Yeah. I’m cutting you off.
But I think my brain is starting to bounce back just a little. At least it’s stopped telling me that a reality show about Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs would be "awesome TV."** It’s been a wild ride the past month. School started for The Boy, of course, which is always a bit like being thrown into DDR if you’re color blind. Getting back into the routine–never pretty, for any of us. But now we’ve all been worn down by the mercilessness of the routine into a fine, chalky powder, and life is good.
But hey! There’s lots of good news! I finished BEAUTY QUEENS! Huzzah! Look, I am using lots of exclamation points! I am! that! excited! I hope to have a cover to post very soon, and, in the coming days, some scenes that didn’t make it into the book. I’ve also jumped into the writing and (additional) research for The Diviners. (Talk about writing whiplash.) I participated in the Zombies Vs. Unicorns throwdown/debate at Symphony Space. Tiger Beat played The Brooklyn Book Festival and the B&N Back to School Bash. And there are some super sekrit projects I’m working on as well. (The next project I should take on is cloning so that I’d have time to catch up on my five DVR’d episodes of "Glee.")
BUT…(In the immortal words of Pee-Wee Herman, "Everybody’s always got a big old but!") here is something I am also very excited about: The Battle of the Children’s/YA Publishing Bands to benefit New York Public Library. As you may (or may not) know, public libraries across America are hurting. Budgets slashed. Librarians laid off. Libraries closed. This at a time when libraries are needed more than ever. (I would argue that libraries are always needed, but in a time of economic downturn, they are especially helpful.) New York Public Library is not immune to these cuts.
It’s time for a fundraiser of epic fun proportions: The Battle of the Children’s/YA Publishing Bands!
Where: New York Public Library main branch, 42nd Street @ 5th Avenue
When: Friday, October 15th 5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Featuring The Effin’ G’s, Mr. McGregor, and Tiger Beat. Who will win? Who will almost win? Who will take the mic and say, "I’mma let you finish but Beyonce had one of the best NYPL fundraisers of all time?" Who will bite the head off a (plastic) dove and pledge his/her soul to Judy Blume? And…there are celebrity judges: Maureen Johnson, E. Lockhart, Ann Brashares, & Jennifer Belle. People, can you afford to miss this? I ask you.
We hope to fight library-budget-slashing-evil*** with gobsmacking guitar greatness, dangerous drums, bitchin’ bass, and microphone madness. I did it. I pulled out the alliteration. It just got serious.
So, if you live in the New York City area, and you aren’t washing your hair–and really, your hair could use a break–PLEASE come down next Friday night and rock out with us to support the New York Public Library. You can make a difference.
See you there!
* It doesn’t get much better than "Princess Bride." It just doesn’t.
** I actually tried to write this. Why is no one here to stage an intervention?
*** Things that are evil: plaid pants. alarm clocks. Jersey Shore. And slashing at libraries.