The book is out and I am happy :)

Well, I'll be happier when I see it in a bookstore, on a shelf. Happier still if someone comes and buys it while I'm standing there! It arrived at Wild Rumpus today and I put it on display, but no one bought copies while I was working, which was sad.

But it has been cool hearing from old friends and new fans as word about the book gets out. (As a sidenote, Carol from CO, who lives in Alaska, I suck and I lost your email, so if you read this, email me!). Hopefully word of mouth will spread and I will end up selling copies to more than my friends and family. Not that I'm knocking that - my Aunt is so cute, she called me on Friday;

"I found your book in a bookstore downtown! They had three copies. I bought all of them, I couldn't resist!"

I love my Aunt. I will be seeing her in NYC this weekend, looking forward to the trip even though I'm feeling vastly unprepared to go out of town. If anyone's in the area and would like to meet, please email me.

I'm up to 50 pages on the newest novel, but it's crawling along at a slow pace. I've got a lot of choreography and lesson planning to do for the school year, which means my creativity is being used in other ways. But I'm still frustrated at how slowly this novel is being written. I like what I've got thus far, but now I'm kind of stuck on how the frost giants are going to try to take over Minneapolis.

Sometimes I think about how a fantasy writer must sound to normal mortals and I giggle.

"Well, he can't do that, because then the dragon wouldn't be able to do this, and what about the darned princess? She's refusing to cooperate with being locked up in the tower!"

Writers. We're a strange breed. But hopefully entertaining at times.

- D