Labor Day weekend is upon us. The sun is setting earlier and earlier. I’ve spotted a few orange leaves in the lawn and the air is starting to taste crisp and snappy in the mornings–just like the apples I’ll soon be picking. Gosh, when did summer slip away on us? One moment it was 98 and sweltering, and now fall is in the air.
I’m not complaining, of course. Autumn is, without a doubt, my favorite season. Everything about the leaves and scarves and sweaters and boots and chai lattes and pumpkin pie and candy corn makes me warm and fuzzy. If it could be fall year-round, I would never complain about the weather again.
But back to the point of this post…Summer is almost over.
To soak in the last of the sun, I’m heading to a writer’s retreat this week with a few friends: Sarah Maas (THRONE OF GLASS), Susan Dennard (SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY), Meg Spooner (SKYLARK and THESE BROKEN STARS), and Amie Kaufman (THESE BROKEN STARS). I am so excited to sit around all day and talk about books and publishing and nerdy things like why Disney movies are the greatest and how Han Solo is the best anti-hero ever. Maybe I’ll even be inspired by the fabulous lake-side views and churn out a few chapters of my WIP…
But what I really wanted to say is that I will be in Asheville during the retreat, attending a fabulous event at Malaprop’s on Wenesday (9/5)! Sarah, Susan, and Meg will be talking about kick-ass heroines and signing copies at 7PM, along with Beth Revis (ACROSS THE UNIVERSE and A MILLION SUNS), and Gwenda Bond (BLACKWOOD). Details can be found here.
If you live in the area, you should absolutely stop by! I’ll be in the audience and would love to say hi in the flesh. An ARC of TAKEN will also be raffled off at the event, so there’s that added bit of incentive, too, since ARCs won’t be widely distributed until closer to October! ;) Hope to see you there!
And lastly, here are a few note-worthy (and random) updates:
- Since I’ll be on retreat the first Thursday of September, we will play our monthly game of #NameThatBook the following week–9/13! Mark your calendars.
- I’ve blogged about various topics on Pub Crawl recently, specifically: the cliffhanger dilemma, facing the blank page, and why the words you cut are the most important. If you haven’t already, you should check them out!
- I stopped by Gypsy Book Reviews earlier this month to chat about TAKEN’s cover and share the opening line of the novel!
- Revision #1 of TAKEN2 is complete and back in my editor’s hands (as of this morning)! *tosses confetti*
- I’m currently in the midst of a massive re-read-athon of the Harry Potter series. For those of you who haven’t already seen my tweets, you can follow the fun (real-time reactions, nostalgic musings, favorite quotes, etc) with the #HPAlways hashtag.
That’s all for now. I hope everyone celebrating has a marvelous Labor Day weekend. I’ll see you on the other side, where the weather will be fall-like, and the apples in season. ;)