Purple Cows and Lists!

This Saturday (June 7) I get to read and sign at a GRAND OPENING!  

And not just any grand opening, but the grand opening of a CHILDREN'S BOOKSTORE!!!  Isn't that just the coolest thing ever?  there used to be a great children's bookstore in Salt Lake, but they sadly closed a few years ago.   

But now Purple Cow Books is opening up on Main Street in Tooele, UT, and they've got fun things planned all day.  There's going to be a cake contest, and they asked if I wanted to help judge!  Boy, do I!  So if you know where Tooele is (and, more importantly, how to pronounce it!), come on by!  I'll be there to read and stuff from 2-3, but there will be tons of things earlier.

Also, while I was at CONduit, I found myself recommending tons of books to people, particularly YA books.  I had actually thought of printing out a list to hand out at one of the panels, but Mr. Only Computer Hooked to Printer was being elderly and slow, and I did not have time.  I have decided to update my Favorites page to have some more comprehensive lists of cool books.  That should hopefully be up in the next day or two.

CONduit and Excuses

So, I have not blogged in forever.  Again.

This last weekend was CONduit, the local sci fi and fantasy convention.  I always have a whale of a time, because I get to run around with people like James Dashner and Julie Wright and L.E. Modesitt Jr., cracking jokes and talking about books.  And movies.  And hey, is that guy over there wearing a bathrobe because he's Arthur from Hitchhiker's Guide, or because he's just too lazy to get dressed?

But it also took a lot out of me, I think I was up until 1 am one of those nights, and on my way home, there were flashing red and blue lights behind me!  ME?!  NO!  Turns out a headlight was out, but for a minute there I was filled with righteous indignation.  I had just passed a speed limit sign, and checked my speedometer.  But there ain't nothin' I can do about a headlight that's gone bust.  Well, except fix it, apparently, then take it to the city building and get someone to sign a paper saying that I was no longer driving a one-eyed car.

This last week, between CONduit and a gig at the West Jordan B&N, I've probably spent more time with Dashner than my own husband.  This has resulted in a lot of teasing, and occasional elbow-jabbing, and such behavior.  After one of the panels at CONduit, someone came up and asked if we were married, or just siblings.  (We are neither.)  Later I heard from someone else that she thought it must be hard for two people who hate each other to have to sit together on a panel!  I laughed for about twenty minutes.

And now I'm back home, doing laundry, and also (GULP) trying to potty train Boy.  He has a wide array of underpants featuring his favorite cartoons.  He has a little special seat and stool for the bathroom.  He has had only one accident all day, early this morning.

I feel like I've been run over by a train!!!!!

I will pay hard cash to anyone who wants to come to my house, take this kid to the bathroom every half hour, and sit with him while he decides whether or not he really needs to go!

Behold, the Miracle of the Stickers!

So, Boy has been moved from his crib to a big boy bed.  And not just any big boy bed, but a Disney Pixar Cars Lightning McQueen bed!  He is bug-eyed with joy over it, and for the first week, it was all he talked about.

And then.

And then whatever it is that keeps this kid up at night kicked in.  From the day my child was born, he has fought sleep like the boogeyman is going to get him the moment he closes his eyes.  We've worked through that mostly, and bedtimes go very well.  But if he sneezes, coughs, rolls over, or hears the least little noise, the kid is up, and there is no going back to sleep unless he can get in with Mommy and Daddy.  And then the kicking and thrashing ensues.

You'd think getting to sleep in Lightning McQueen would change that.  You'd be wrong.

So along with launching my book and all the running around that that entails, I have also been getting about four hours of sleep. 

But one sleep deprived night, right about Launch Time (or D-Day, as it is also known), I came up with a little idea.  Hubby printed out a May calendar, and I taped it to the fridge.  Every night that Boy stays in Lightning McQueen all night, he gets a sticker on the calendar.  Coloring books have been promised.  Even water color painting coloring books.

And behold, it is a success!  He has not gotten up ONE TIME.  He has earned a painting book, and we are moving on to a bigger reward.  It's the most amazing thing in the entire world!  All this time, this sleeplessness, repeatedly trying to get him back into his own bed, the crying and pleading and begging and even threatening of middle of the night time outs, and all I needed to do was give the kid a STICKER?! 

The mind of a three year old is a strange labyrinth, my friends.  Very strange indeed.

And now, back to writing news.

Saturday's Authorpalooza was awesome.  I was at a table with Brandon "Fablehaven" Mull, and of course there was this huge line of people waiting for him when we all got there.  But looking down the line, I realized that a few of those books had dragons on them!  Wait a minute!  There are people here just for lil' ol' me?!  Yep!  Makes a girl feel good, I have to tell you.  I love Authorpaloozas.  During the lulls I chatted with Sara Zarr, knit a little bit on the freakishly complicated sock I am attempting, wandered over to take Guy Francis' place so that I could harass Nathan Hale, artist extraordinaire whose "Yellowbelly and Plum Go to School" is Boy's favorite book.  (And, by the way, Shannon Hale fans: He's also the illustrator of Rapunzel's Revenge.   And yes, I've seen the finished copy.  And yes, it rocks.)

If there's ever an Authorpalooza in your town, don't miss it!

And this week, people who live in or near Provo, it's the Provo Children's Book Festival!  Games, readings, crafts, people talking loudly about books IN A LIBRARY!

Let's do Launch!

I have launched Dragon Flight on the world, my people! 

Let us all admire its shiny cover!  And also the shiny new paperback cover of Dragon Slippers.  We need to put up a picture of that, too, it's quite fancy. 

I don't know if I ever explained about that, by the way.   Probably, but here it is again.  Pete Ferguson, the artist who did the original cover of Dragon Slippers decided to take a few years and go live in the jungles of Argentina (as is my understanding).  It's not something that I would enjoy, but everybody's different.  Anyway, so in order to try and get a uniform "look" to the dragon books, we switched to Brandon Dorman, who has also done the Fablehaven books.  So that's what's up with that.

Anyhoo.  Went to the King's English on Friday, and braved the cold on the patio with 30-odd other intrepid souls, to talk and read (very briefly).  Launch 2.0 was on Saturday, roughly the same number of people came to Barnes & Noble, where I was able to talk without my teeth chattering, which is always good.  What is up with the weather lately people?  Today I'm just sitting around the house, and it's probably 80 degrees outside, and on Friday it was 50 and dropping rapidly. 

But I digress. . . .

For those of you a bit to the south of us here in Salt Lake, there's a big to-do on Saturday.  At 2 pm, May 10th, the Orem Barnes & Noble will be hosting an Authorpalooza.  Brandon Mull, Brandon Sanderson, Nathan Hale, Rick Walton, Sara Zarr, Mette Ivie Harrison, and many, many more including yours truly!  We'll be there until 4, maybe later, signing books and I'm sure chattering nonstop.  Come and see the spectacle!