It came in the mail!!! My book jacket! From my delightful, kind editor, who sends me lovely things from time to time, and this week sent me this:

As beautiful as a newborn unicorn, yes?

Is it not the most gorgeous thing ever??? Click on it to make it larger so you appreciate it more fully. I’ll wait.

Okay, I’ll admit. I feel precisely the way about my cover as I felt about my babies when they were born. All I can see is perfection. I love it all — the tree on the spine, the colors of the words that bring to mind flames or warning signs, the different colors of text on the foggy, misty, blackened background, the way they captured my author photo and even the ISBN/UPC with branches, the quote from the lovely Cynthia Leitich Smith framed in the treetops, the school crest, EVERYTHING!

And what you cannot see is that it is textured, the whole thing, sort of gritty, like SAND (and if you know the story you just screamed along with me!), except for the branches and lettering and a few other bits which are slick and glossy like butterscotch candy wrappers.

It is divine. So, so lovely.

Thank you, a thousand thank yous to the genius Emily Osborne, my cover designer, and also to Alexander Jansson, who did the illustration on the front.

I’m so happy!

I know, right? It’s the question every writer gets, and every writer I know has come up with some pat answer to fend off further questions. (One of my writer friends says he gets his ideas at a little shop in Marfa, Texas. I SO want to visit that shop. His ideas are really good.)

I had the amazing opportunity to present a workshop at the Dripping Springs Community Library today to a group of twenty-three 8-10 year olds about that very question. (No pictures, sorry! It’s not cool to post photographs of kids without those pesky permission forms. 🙂

I called the workshop “Finding a Fantastic What If.” We began with a quick overview of the parts of a story, and then I spoke to them about my book’s initial what if: What if Hansel and Gretel found a gingerbread house… but it wasn’t a house, it was a modern-day school. And what if the teacher was the witch?”

Then we collaborated to make up a new character (Snowflake the Delicious Unicorn, in this case), and give him character traits. (Poor Snowflake was lonely, scared, and prone to being snacked on by everyone since he had a mane and tail made of cotton candy and a horn made of fruit tarts. Whoa, fruit tart horn? I would totally eat that unicorn.)

Then I had the kids tell me what Snowflake’s problem was, and his goal. We talked about some good ways – and repetitious ways, using fairy tales and the lovely Rule of Three as a starting point- to write the attempts at solving the problem, etc.

Then the kids made up their own characters, made them out of modeling clay, drew them, danced the Cha Cha Slide, and ate chocolate.

Cha Cha Slide. Come on, you know you want to click this link.

Oh, and then I raffled off twenty-some books and other prizes. And then we wrote some more.

I think it was a success! I’m going back in next week for a different presentation with older kids. I’ll keep you all posted. 🙂

The most interesting part for me was figuring out where ideas come from. Seems they come from thinking about where ideas come from, because I TOTALLY got my next novel idea from doing this talk. WOOT!

News: My contributor’s copies for Pockets and Texas Poetry Calendar are here. They’re so purdy. Also, I’m heading off on a writer’s retreat Friday. I know what I’ll be working on now!

Hi, friends!

I want to direct your attention away from my little blog today, and over to the new brainchild of debut author Laurisa White Reyes (The Rock of Ivanore, 2012).

After realizing how easy it was to find YA lit blogs, and how not-quite-so-easy to locate the MG ones, Laurisa spent a lot of time compiling a list of over 100 middle-grade-related blogs. Then she very generously created this new site so no one else would have to do that work again!

I am in love with this site.* Check out Middle Grade Mania – and make sure to mention any other MG blogs that may not be on the list. She’s still compiling.

* And, FYI, my 12 y.o. son is in love with Laurisa’s book! He and his friends have read it, and love it. It’s on my TBR pile – higher up now, I’ll admit, with his hearty recommendation. Check it out!

Also Awesome: I have been invited to present at the Houston Writer’s Guild Fall conference! I’ll be doing a three-hour workshop on Building Your Writer’s Toolkit. Sign up, and I’ll give you chocolate.

TLA.

We don’t say the whole name. We’re too excited, for one thing, and we’re too breathless. But all the kidlit community knows instantly what we’re talking about: the Texas Library Conference.

This year it was in Houston, and it was… amazing. It was THE PLACE to be to meet famous and not-so-famous authors, librarians, teachers, booksellers, book buyers, publishers, editors, bloggers, and book lovers of all ages.

I think every Texas writer who can go, should. If not to meet and mingle, then to be surrounded by so many people who are deeply passionate about books. It does the heart good.

Here are some of my favorite pictures, with some of my favorite people from this year’s TLA!

Wait! What's that? My ARC??? And candy-covered bookmarks? Hooray!

Yes, this was sort of totally awesome. Now on to other people.

The YaHous! Awesome Houston Authors Lynne Kelly, Mary Lindsey, Jenny Moss, Joy Preble, Christina Mandelski, and Crystal Allen.

Apocalypsie Meet-up! With Megan Miranda (FRACTURE), and Lynne Kelly (CHAINED).

A small corner of the Suzieverse: Agent-sister Lisa DesRochers - with her smexy books. 🙂

Probably not cool to snap iphone pics at the publisher's cocktail party but OMG JOHN GREEN, right? With my friends Salima and Samantha.

The Texas Sweethearts (No Scoundrels here): Jo Whittemore, Jessica Lee Anderson, Kari Anne Holt, and Jeanette Larson. Look at those awesome books!

OMG David Lubar. And, yes, my friend Kari is totally photobombing us.

Austin Authors take TLA by storm! Also by tennis shoes. What NOT to wear to TLA? Pinchy shoes. Ouch!

Seriously, I could post pics all day. But I won’t. I’ll just say, be there next year!

This is an exciting week for me! The Advance Reader Copies of The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy are making their way out into the world, and so far the reviews have been lovely. If you would like to win an ARC of my debut novel (don’t you want to? DON’T YOU???), just hop on over to the extremely excellent Cynsations blog. Cynthia Leitich Smith, my friend, mentor, and all-around splendid person, is hosting a giveaway.

Not tempted? Then check out the CHOCOLATE and swag that goes along with it!

Now you want it, don’t you?