around the world and ...

We're still here! We're just, not, *here*.

I've been in the cave of revisions. Biscuit has been dutifully hanging out with me because ... that's her job (bless her). Once I send this new revision to my editor (BLESS her, too, extra-a-lot), I'll start gearing up for a fun fall of new stories, book festivals (huzzah!), more revisions (ha), and coffee with my friends. Or french fries with my friends. Any excuse to see them and eat stuff ... that is all I'm after.

Which brings me to Rebecca!

Rebecca is a wonder; a whimsical and lovely* (*seriously, she looks like a J Crew model) word-lover who blogs at Sturdy for Common Things. She spends her days helping kids create and dream and discover books they'll never forget. I am a fangirl of Rebecca, in case it's not obvious. So when she told me she enjoyed A Snicker of Magic, I did the dance of joy. And when she invited me over to her blog, I squealed.

And then I found out she was moving to The Kingdom of Chattanooga and I said, "LET'S GET COFFEE OR FRENCH FRIES AND BE FRIENDS!"

I wasn't quite that geeky. But close.

As you know, I have a whole Santa-sized list of reasons that Chattanooga is a super-cool city. It's gorgeous, for one. It's full of mountains and fairy-tale towns and battlefields and carousels. We have mighty fine restaurants, and quirky snack shops that sell chocolate whisky cake pops. We have golden dance steps embedded into the sidewalks and a bakery downtown that only makes dog treats. As of this fall, we will have an Anthropologie!!! *cue angel chorus* But the better-than-best part of this city is the people. And I think the heartbeat of a city is always its library. We have a rock-steady heartbeat of a library. And we have amazing librarians.

See HERE for an example. 

And HERE for another one. 

And then check out Rebecca's blog or Pinterest because, wow.

One of the many reasons the Chattanooga Library is so special, in my opinion, is because it merges technology and art in such imaginative ways. Heck, I didn't know technology could be art until I started reading about all the amazing stuff happening at the library downtown. Rebecca just moved to town to be the children's librarian, and I think that makes us a bunch of the luckiest ducks. I remember how it felt to tuck my hopes and dreams and heart into books when I was little. But I didn't realize what a library could be until I was an adult. I'm so happy kids in the city have this library. And that they have folks like Rebecca and Justin and the rest of the magicians there who are creating a place where it's safe to dream and wonder and create. It makes me sappy.

This song, however, just makes me happy. I'll be singing it for the rest of the day. 

You can read the full interview [[here]]. We discussed the folks who live in Midnight Gulch and the power of words and the meaning of magic. I even got to talk about why my word for 2014 is PIONEER. And I got to talk about why this gift means so much to me: 

Do you ever pick a word for the year? Even if you don't, is there a word that fits what you want your year to be? 

Okay! I must grab some supplies (aka: coffee and M&M's) and crawl back into my revision cave. I hope you are having the sweetest summer. I would love to hear how you're doing (and what you're reading!)!