Off to Massachusetts!

*crawls out of writing cave*

*staggers into the sunlight*

*squints* Ahoy, there! *waves to you, wildly* AHOY!

*runs at you* Do you have chocolate?!

... I'll stop with the shenanigans.

How goes it, friends? Is Fall freezing your face off?

Biscuit and I have been tucked away in The Cave of Solitude, working on something new. But I thought I'd pop in today and share some fun updates about A Snicker of Magic. Which is just a bit over three months away now.

Whoa. Banana.

So:

* If you follow this link, you can see my editor (!!!) share a sweet little intro about A Snicker of Magic during Scholastic's Spring 2014 preview. Snicker is the first book in the middle grade section. It's a weirdly wonderful thing to see Snicker hanging out beside so many beautiful books.

* Semi-related: Have I mentioned I want to raid my editor's closet? That's not exactly an update, but she's got this effortless posh-whimsy thing happening for her.

* Whereas I fear my personal style is probably more rockabilly Lisa Frank. I've been trying to decide between a horse-print dress and a heart-sweater for this weekend.

* Let's get back on track here.

* Or not. This isn't exactly an update either, but it matters BIG to me: I have been informed that someone dressed as a character from A Snicker of Magic for Halloween. *muppet arms* That's bucket list territory right there! Over Halloween, when I was buying bags of candy just for myself, I told my mom that I would flippity-jibbit if I ever saw somebody dressed as a character in one of my books. I didn't actually think it would happen for a long time, if ever. Fantasy novels and the like tend to lend themselves to more dress-up opportunities, and that's not what I write (yet). And then - wah! It happened! I am over the moon.

* By the way, it happened because galleys (ARCs) are out in the world, and so quite a few folks have read the book now. I have a whole post about the day I got the galley. I don't know why I haven't shared yet.

But it's so pretty. I can't believe it's real. I can find words (or, more accurately, make up words) for most occasions, but it's surreal when you actually see your story book-shaped. I know lots of you are writing and pursuing publication, too. This I promise you: the moment you rip open the box and see your galley is every bit as magical as people make it out to be. Don't stop imagining that moment, when you see your galley, or when you see your book on a shelf. Imagining all that can get you through some tough times, I think. And then when you actually do see it ... it blows your mind completely. It's better than you thought it would be. The best dreams always are.

* Truth: the fact that galleys are out in the world, and people are reading them, will make me twitchy if I think about it too long. So let's mosey on to the next item:

*  ... I have a few events comping up in the next few months.

Confession: I just spent an absurd amount of time figuring out how to type that last sentence. Because I don't want "I have eventz" to sound like "I am all that and a bag of Skittles, WHAT!" *hair toss*.

But I will be at in just a few fun places nervously talking about A Snicker of Magic and trying to find an excuse to show off pictures of my dog.

This weekend (Nov. 23-24), I'll be at NCTE in Boston!

I'm so darn excited (and so darn nervous!) that I sometimes start thinking about it ... and I bounce a little bit. Slowly.

Like a sleepy Popple.

Or like Sloth, when Chunk gives him the Baby Ruth.

Do you do that when you get nervous?

... not so much?

*nods* Okay.

If you're one of the wonderful English teachers attending NCTE this weekend, galleys of A Snicker of Magic will be available at the Scholastic booth. I have promised Biscuit we won't give her galley away:

Because she is very attached to it.

But we will have oodles of galleys. So if you're there, and a galley interests you, I hope you'll partake!

Galleys are different than final copies in several ways, and I knew that. You know that too, I realize. But the one thing that is in the SNICKER galley, which will not be in the final copy, is a letter from my editor.

I wasn't expecting it at all.

And if you think it made me happy-cry, you are correct.

This weekend, in addition to galleys, we'll have some adorable and snatch-worthy SNICKER surprises. Here's a clue to the cuteness:

I'll show you what they are when I get back. I saw them for the first time when I was in New York, and the squeal-factor was HIGH.

So! Galleys are at NCTE. And I'll be at NCTE for a little while, too disguising myself behind a potted plant trying to get a glimpse of Judy Blume. Most likely, I'll be the shortest girl there with the most prominent drawl. So, if you're attending NCTE, listen for my twang, and holler! And snag a Snicker galley. And a surprise ... : )

Thanks for putting up with my updates. I promise to write a post just for fun in the near future. 

Namely, I decided to browse a few local "antique" stores recently and I found a bounty of fabulous junk that I cannot wait to show you. Some antique stores really are lovely and full of fun, old surprises. Other stores ... are full of fun surprises. Not so much "lovely" ones but to each his own, etc. If there's a hard-to-buy-for-someone on your holiday shopping list, fear not. Because I know where you can get a fancy lamp made out of a 7up can.

Can you imagine the kind of genie that would come popping up out of that thing? Exactly.

I'll have them put it on hold for you, don't worry.

PS - since the November 25th means we're only three months away from my book's birthday, I'm going  to share something very sweet and lovely. I think you'll dig it. (Allyson Kate made it. That's how pretty it is.) So scuttle back, k?



I would love to hear how you're doing down in the comments! And I would love to hear what you think I should read on the airplane. (Are you listening to holiday music yet? Or is it still a bit too early for that?)

*waves to you as you sail away*

*hoards chocolate*

*staggers back to cave*