come on-na my house

I will actually give you candy, too, just like the song (George Clooney's aunt! famous song! look it up).

So this weekend I am participating in the Writer's Room Home Studio Tour, part of the Fusebox Festival here in Austin. I am one of several local writers inviting people into our homes from 11am-3pm Sturday and Sunday. We'll each be doing short readings on the hour. If you come at any other time, you can wander around--various writers have planned various things, and my own home will be tarted up a bit to look more like the inside of my head--and, at my house, have tea and chocolate and possibly muffins (all three are critical components of my Process). Perhaps we can talk about writing, or whatever you like.

One wall of my writing room. Don't expect it all to be this fancy!I am not sure whether to be worried that no one will come, or that only my friends will come, or that lots of strangers will come. All those possibilities look scary! That said: please come! Here's a page with a couple of brief audio clips of me (interview and reading excerpts) related to this project, as well as an awesome photograph by Leon Alesi.

And don't just come to MY house. The other participating writers are all blazing stars: Annie La Ganga & Bill Cotter, Spike Gillespie, Robert Faires, Wayne Alan Brenner, and Amparo Garcia-Crow. And I've now been to most of their houses, which are wonderful. You can see photos and hear excerpts of them on that Writer's Room site.

See you this weekend, I hope (I think).

when a priest marries a witch

I  did another Fusebox blog, this one about the fascinating Suzanne Bocanegra artist talk When a Priest Marries a Witch. The talk is performed by Paul Lazar, which is awfully cool. I'd like to get him to perform key moments in my life.

blogging at fusebox

I did not forget my promise to blog at least once a month--but I've been blogging at the Fusebox Festival website instead.

Yesterday I actually bought a Stairway to Heaven at the Yard Sale in the Sky.

And the day before I swung on one of the Red Swings.

writing is hard

Long time no see. I was doing a tricky revision for most of February, and then I was in Ireland for a couple of weeks, researching my second book. (That period should really be a !, which is more how I feel about being able to take that trip.) It was gorgeous and terrifying--the left-hand driving at highway speeds on tiny shoulderless roads was the terror--and tremendously useful.

Anyway. I am now on a mission to post on this blog at least once a month -- I realize that's a low bar, shut up: I am like a nervous second grader, I need ACHIEVABLE GOALS to boost my confidence. 

I am also going to tweet more often. Yeah you've been warned. 

The point of both exercises is to meet writers and readers. I feel like there's this giant Intenet cocktail party going on and I'm sort of hovering at the edge of people's tables, eavesdropping, hoping they'll notice me; and then if they look over at me, I'm quickly looking away. Because I am 13.

Anyway: so more blogging! I want to talk about stories. But for now, some Ireland pictures.

Ross Castle in Killarney National Forest. I have to say well done (or Fair play to you! more Irish-ishly) to my super-cheap Canon point & shoot. That was seriously the view from my room at this B&B in Dingle, Pax Guest House. Fair play to you iPhone camera (it gets jealous.)That's a two-way road, just FYI.

hello new york

Hello New York! I am here for SCBWI.

Hello classic tourist picture of Washington Square Park: In Winter.

Couple of blocks from my hotel! Moving uptown to the Hyatt tomorrow.

Hello finally meeting my excellent and charming agent David Dunton while simultaneously delighting in a pulled pork sandwich--what could be lovelier?

Hello High Line, you are unphotographably (by me at least) awesome, and worth wearing out my boots on:

Lots of people courting up here, or whatever you call it in New York.

Hello Metropolitan Museum, why do I always get stuck in your Crazy Masks section? Am I meant to put some masks in my current book?

I feel like the opposite of this guy today.Hello tomorrow, when I will meet my editor/publisher and other Penguin people, and maybe later go to the kidlit drink night at the Public House and maybe NOT stand awkwardly in the corner (that's just a working theory, don't hold me to it); and then hello SCBWI itself, which will be a whole other story.

Hello New York: thanks for being so chilly and gray (hurrah) and kind to me so far. Let's get together more often in the future.