Five For Friday

1. Reading Samantha Mabry's Fierce and Subtle Poison which is not only gorgeously written but also a twist on Hawthorne's Rappaccini's Daughter, which is a short story I have long adored. Samantha and I will be paneling together (with others) at TxLA16, on a Fairy Tale Retellings panel on Thursday. If you are a librarian type, please come see us!

I'll also be joining Samantha at Book People on Sunday 5/22 at 2 PM, in conversation with Mandy Curtis from Forever Young Adult! We'll be talking our new books (IT WASN'T ALWAYS LIKE THIS  will be out then!) and magic and mystery and love and other juicy stuff.
http://www.bookpeople.com/event/samantha-mabry-joy-preble

2. Getting ready in general for TxLA16. I am honored to have a big schedule this year:

Tuesday 4/19
Panel: What's New with Texas Authors and Illustrators for MG to YA?
3:00-3:50

Wednesday 4/20
Texas Tea: Meet and Greet with YA Authors
Hilton Hotel
4:00-5:20

Off site event: Soho Teen Night at Murder by the Book
2342 Bissonnet Street, Houston 77005
with Adam Silvera, me, Robin Epstein, Brianna Baker
7 PM

Thursday 4/21
Signing galleys of IT WASN'T ALWAYS LIKE THIS at Author's Area: 1:00- 1:35 PM

Panel: Fairy Tale Retellings in YA Literature
2:00-3:50 PM
with Liz Bramwell, Samantha Mabry, Lisa Maxwell, Marissa Meyer, Liesel Shurtliff and me!

Did you notice that you can get galleys of IWALT on Thursday??
And just fyi Soho Press is distributed by Penguin/Random House, so if you are a librarian, check the PRH booth for any further info about IWALT! Which will be here 5/17! (more on that soon.)

3. So Blacklist. Last night. The big surprise. Not at all sure how I feel about this. Or if I believe it's even true. Hmmm...

But OUTLANDER season 2 is here. And it did not disappoint. Oh Jamie Fraser. Jamie. Fraser. You are the cause of the great Preble household "This is why I must have access somehow to Starz" debate. Which I lost last season. But won last week. Yes, I know. Shallow problems. But still. It's Jamie. I mean seriously.

And in less cerebral matters, RHONY 's Ramona Singer will be guesting with Amy Schumer on Bravo's WWHL next Wednesday and so yeah. The DVR will be cranking. Because where else would this pairing exist except in the mind of Andy Cohen?

4. The WIP continues. All I'm saying for now except that this book is set in Chicago, right in the heart of the city and so I've had the honestly fun research job of looking up El and bus routes and I've been spending some quality time on Google Maps looking at street views. Which always makes me think twice when I walk out to the mailbox and imagine those same satellites taking pictures of me in my yoga pants.

5. Can't wait to show you the amazingly awesome IWALT swag I just ordered. Counting down to 5/17.

Tis next time.

Let's Start with Good Stuff

Hello 2014! Welcome, little year.

Trying to catch up today and write some on a shiny new project. I'm in that happy editing the first 50-75 pages stage, which is what I do once I've spit out most of act 1 of a draft and need to see if this is actually a book or just random monkeys typing. Looks like it's a BOOK! And I still love the idea! Because it is January 2nd. And all good things are possible.

Also need to sit and read the keynote aloud. I'm giving a keynote talk to a literacy conference for HISD teachers next week, sponsored by ABYDOS, which is the brainchild of  Dr. Joyce Carroll Armstrong of New Jersey Writing Project fame. It is one of those moments where my world comes full circle since when I was first teaching, we were trained in the New Jersey Writing Project and now someone whose scholarly articles I have pored over has asked me to open the conference with a talk! To 200 teachers! Yikes!

Also, a few days ago, there was this:
http://bumblesandfairytales.blogspot.com/2013/12/my-top-13-favorite-books-of-2013.html

Which makes me deliriously happy! Because it means THE SWEET DEAD LIFE was her favorite along with some other amazing books that I personally also adore! For those moments when I've asked myself, "Hey! Is anyone reading my words?"-- this is a nice answer.

Also yesterday there was this!
http://bumblesandfairytales.blogspot.com/2014/01/my-top-14-must-have-young-adult-books.html

Which means she's looking forward to THE A-WORD, too!

Well, so am I!!

Thank you, Bumbles and Fairy Tales for making my year both end and start well.

And in other news, I am also caught up with Blacklist. Started watching two days ago, and it's been a worthwhile TV binge! Oh James Spader. You never disappoint me even though you are now middle-aged and bald. You do conflicted snarky bad guy better than anyone else, probably because you were so good at non-conflicted snarky bad guy in the 80's. You know - James Spader in that white suit in Pretty in Pink, being horrid to poor Molly Ringwald? There is nothing better. If you haven't watched Blacklist, go forth and do so! It's not unpredictable and I'm not sure how many seasons they can carry out the over-arching secret, but for now it's a great time!