Five for Friday

The dog is currently going mad from toaster waffle desire in case anyone wants to know. You know the phrase, "Like Pavlov's dog"? Yeah. Like that. Once I toasted two Eggos and gave her a bite. Now every time the toaster oven ticks or dings, she goes insane.

1. Draft 3 of the WIP off to agent this week. Now we wait.

2. So we're having major back yard landscaping done. The guys from the cable company came to spray and put down flags so landscaping people won't dig up cables. They do this. Phone rings. It's my publicist. Who has interesting things to talk about. I let the crazy dog outside to run around. I talk. I hang up. Yeah, the dog has pulled up every little flag. They're in a decorative pile in the middle of the yard. I put them back.... maybe.

3. First time ever, I am going to BEA (Book Expo of America) in NYC in June! More on this soon, but in a thrilling turn of fate, I will be signing advanced reading copies of THE SWEET DEAD LIFE, coming out next year from Soho Press. So if you're going to be there, too, stay tuned. And if you've ever been to BEA and have tips for BEA virgins, let me know.

4. So many books on the TBR pile. But I think next up is the arc of Insurgent that I fought tooth and nail for at TLA!

5. Just to make sure you understand this last one, let me clarify that the amazing Ruta Septys, who will be SCBWI LA in August, wrote an award winning book called Shades of Grey about a young Lithuanian girl fighting for her life w/her family against Soviet cleansing in 1941. It is brilliant and moving and everything a book should be. Got that? Remember it. There is also a very popular and um very racy series out there that has everyone turning the pages of their e-readers, called Fifty Shades of Grey. Got that? Remember it.

Okay here's number 5: my favorite conversational snippet of TxLA12 (and it happened just like this)

Me: So who's read Fifty Shades of Grey?

Person Who Shall remain Unnamed: Is that the Holocaust book?

And with that, I leave you.