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There's been a delay from the printer with Lessons In Stalking.  The book was supposed to be in this week but they have 2 huge book runs of 20,000 and 22,000 copies to run, so my itty-bitty book run of 2,000 has been pushed back. 

I sent not a nasty e-mail but a "I am not pleased with the situation" e-mail to my contact at the printer.  She wrote back that she was trying to sneak my book in between the two print runs and hoped to have it to me by next Thursday, which would be October 6th.

I was disappointed but then got a grip.  People are in crisis the world over.  The fact that I have to wait an extra week or two for my book is pretty damn minor in comparison.  I always like to ask myself, when I feel blood temperature rising, is this a problem or an inconvenience?   99% of the time, it's an inconvenience.

I have my first radio interview tomorrow - WGOS AM radio at 9:05 am.  The station is in Greensboro so I'm actually going into the station to do the interview live instead of over the phone.  It's a small world - the D.J. who's interviewing me has an office next to a man whose newspaper I used to write for.  They are good friends and have known each other for years.  So maybe he'll be extra nice to me since I'm friends with a friend.

I'm a little nervous as this is my first radio interview and I have no idea what will be asked.  The interview is for the Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul book but I'm hoping to plug my book as well. I'll post tomorrow how the interview went.

Meet Max!

Our friends Mariela and Dean have a new dog!  This is Max.  Here's Mariela's story of how they came by him:

"Dean found him on the side of the road, near Asheboro. He seems to be 3 months old. At first he was shy, trembling, afraid of everything, even the click of his nails on the tile floors...  You just wanted to give him love, hug him, and make him feel protected. He was even afraid of the chickens and duck... he'd hide behind our legs to peek at them. But now he's just a happy puppy, very alive...He's even chasing after the chickies and the duck.  Funny!

He was in bad shape though, after eating whatever he found on the side of the road, but he is now taking vitamins and other medications, as well as eating nutritious foods."

Look at that face!  What a sweetie pie.  Max doesn't even know how good he's going to have it.  Mariela and Dean are two of the nicest people on earth.  That puppy's guardian angel was looking out for him.

Welcome, Max!!

Public Speaking at SCBWI

I attended the SCBWI (Society of Children Writer's & Illustrators) fall conference held this weekend in Charlotte, NC.  I was one of the featured speakers on Friday, the opening night of the conference.  My talk was on public speaking tips for writers.

I'd been told to expect 20, maybe 30 people.  It was the first day and people were still arriving, getting settled in, having critiques, etc.  But just to be safe, I made 45 copies of my handout.  I always come prepared. 

Or so I thought.  I handed out my last copy and they kept coming!  I'm guessing we ended up with close to 60 people in the room.  Next time - more handouts!

I gave my talk and as anyone who does public speaking knows, you always have that "I could have done more," moment after it's over.  I even address this in my talk.  Every speaker forgets a certain point or two and is kicking themselves afterward.  What I remind my audience though, is that the people you're speaking to don't know that you've forgotten anything.  So I did forget to do one of my favorite interactive audience exercises, but am letting it go.  What's done is done.

I received fantastic feedback from the group all weekend, which brightened my mood.  They were such a fun group to speak to anyway - the best groups ask questions and interact and this group was right on target.  My friend and fellow road tripster Maggie took a picture of me while speaking.  

Here's another pic of the me and the three women I drove down to Charlotte with - we nicknamed ourselves "The Charlatans."

Bruce Coville, the author of over 90 children's books was a guest speaker and was amazing - just one of those everyday hilarious Jim Carey like people.  Please forgive the brevity of this e-mail.  My brain is on information overload.  I allowed myself the luxury of concentrating on nothing but the conference this weekend and, as a result, came home to a LOT of work.  Which of course I'll dig into--first thing tomorrow ! =)

Saturn Possessed

I promised you a car story so here it is.

Two days ago I'm driving my Saturn station wagon home from yoga and all is good.  I pull up to the house and turn off the car, but as I go to lock the door, I notice something odd about the locks.  They are simple push button locks with the "Lock" button on top and the "Unlock" button below, but now both buttons appear to be almost recessed, like they've half caved into the door.  I press the "Lock" button and the whole car shimmys as the locks on all four doors start to rattle in a rising hum.  Click-click-click-click-click-click-click-click.  I'm surrounded by the noise.

So I press "Unlock."  Now the locks are actually vibrating in the door - ack-ack-ack-ack-rurh-rurh-rurh-ack-ack-rurh-rurh.  Very scary noises are coming from the locks.  Plus, the locks in all four doors are doing this so it feels like the car is possessed with someone shaking and rattling all the doors.  Naturally, I got the hell out of there.

Later that night I inform Blair the car is possessed.  Or broken.  Whatever.

"I'll drive it to the dealership, you follow," he says and hops in my car and takes off.  I can never get out of the house as fast as he can, having to track down shoes, wallet, and pet the cats at least once before I go.  But no big deal because he'll need a little bit of time to write out the night-drop ticket.

So about 5 minutes later I follow.  As I pull up to the closed service door, I notice Blair just sitting in the Saturn.  I get out and as I walk toward him I hear the locks rattling and humming and doing their little dance. I grin at him through the window.

"Locked in?" I ask through the glass.

"Yes," he answers.

"Mmmm. Bummer."  The car continues to rattle and hum.

"Would you unlock the door?" he asks, motioning to the keys I hold.

I look hurt.  "You didn't say 'please.'"

He then gave me a look that made me unlock the door in a hurry. 

Anyway, the dealership called yesterday and it's no big deal - something like $50 to repair which I don't know for sure but is probably cheaper than an exorcism. 

I missed my chance though.  Blair locked in the car would have been a prime time to negotiate for a third cat.  Maybe with luck the Lexus will become possessed next and I can try again.