I Suddenly Remembered My Charlemagne

(the non-Star Wars edition)

I had some mail waiting for me when I got home from The Woods:



I AM SO EXCITED.









...it'll probably be a while before I open the Star Wars boxes, tbh. I am having a moment.

The American School Library Journal does their own version of March Madness every spring. This year, THE STORY OF OWEN went up against a non-fiction book called THE PORT CHICAGO 50, and Rachel Hartman (Seraphina, Shadow Scale), who I adore beyond all reason, was the judge, and said some really nice things about my book.

(I agree with her 100%, actually. Her line of reasoning is brilliant, and her decision is wonderful. The only thing that makes me sad is that Elizabeth Wein is the judge of the next round, and now I'll never find out what she thinks of OWEN. But that is a little thing, and not really super important.)

++

If any of you have read and posted about PRAIRIE FIRE, and I have somehow missed it (I have been traveling a lot, so my internet has been all over the place), let me know. Likewise, if any of you read it and review it on Amazon, THAT WOULD BE AMAZING. Um, unless you hated it, in which case never tell me. :)

++

I am off to Homer, New York this weekend for a writing workshop/book club event. It should be fun! I will get to drive a lot and sing and maybe come up with a plot for SPINDLE. Or something.

++

I am sure I'm forgetting something. It's very annoying. I have my food for tomorrow (aaaaaaah, work!), and I think I've sent all the emails I need to? That's the dream, anyway. I want to watch THE CLONE WARS so that I can watch REBELS so that I can't be spoiled for it on tumblr accidentally.

I should have come up with a name that is slightly easier to say...

ANYWAY, this week on the blog, it's all about music, specifically music from YouTube, as I talk about Walk off the Earth, Heather Dale, and the Brooklyn Duo each represent a facet of what I was going for when I came up with how Siobhan was going to write music, and Emily was going to make her famous.

The Story of YouTube

A MONTH AND A HALF.

Not that, you know, I'm counting. MUCH.

No, not that star.

But one for PRAIRIE FIRE from Kirkus!

I am very excited (since Kirkus liked OWEN so much, I was terrified that they wouldn't like PRAIRIE FIRE), and pleased. AND ALSO: THERE IS AN EXCELLENT PULL QUOTE, because apparently that is how my brain works now.

Today we meet Declan Porter, who is absolutely not based on my two favourite (fictional) SAS officers, and is TOTALLY not played by Richard Armitage.

Not.

One.

Bit.

(okay, maybe just a little)

A twitter follower actually told me I had won, and then I poked around on Google until I found the website with the announcement. The Moonbeam Awards are handed out at the Traverse City Book Festival, and promote "readable" books. So that's nice! Plus it's an actual medal, which is kind of exciting.

I make a decision about world building, a terrible pun (involving Latin), and hint strongly that my next book will involve more of the same.

No one is really surprised, are they?

THE STORY OF OWEN has been reviewed by the New York Times! It's about as kind as these things get, too. So that's excellent.

And now back to my original plan for Friday: aggressive napping.

I had my launch party last night at this amazing toy store called Family & Co., and it was amazing. So many people showed up! It was good times. Here are some of the highlights (well, some of the highlights before the Official Pictures go up…)

My sister called me earlier in the week and asked what club it was the students form. I told her it was called The Guard, and then she hung up the phone. I emailed emmaorgana, and said “I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I think the babies might be coming in costume.”



The babies totally came in costume. The t-shirts say “The Guard” on the front and “Dragon Slayer in Training” on the back.

(That's OB-Wan, holding Tiny, me holding The Angry Bird, my best friend's husband with their son, Baby Gaby, and The Miami Project in the front.)



So cute. Also, that’s the stuffed dragon my mother made for me for Christmas a few years ago. His name is Bean.



Friend-Rachel made me 6 dozen cupcakes (all demolished), and this AMAZING cake topper! You can’t see from here, but the top actually looks like a ploughed field! DRAGONS! AND TRACTORS! Perfection.



And here I am, signing.