Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end...

I can't remember the title of the song, but that line always strikes me as incredibly poignant. It's the last line of the song, and I know it, but I can't remember the title or the artist. Wait, Google is your friend: Closing Time, by Semisonic. 

I have been thinking about endings a lot lately. A friend posted a meme on FB -- you never know when it will be the last time you do something with your children. The last time they crawl into your lap, or the last time they hold your hand crossing the street. It'll be the last time, but you don't know it.

This year is my son's last year at elementary school. So many 'lasts'. Last Halloween parade and party. Last parent-teacher conference (hopefully!). Last holiday party. Last year staying at his pop-pop's before school. Later in the year it will be his last Field Day. Then graduation. I wasn't ready for it to be the last year, but here we are. Now I'm treasuring the lasts, because I KNOW they will be lasts.

How often do we get to realize in the moment that something is happening for the last time? That's a gift, really. I am dreading some lasts -- soon enough I know that it'll be the last time he wants to dress up for Halloween. We've had some real fun coming up with costumes-- Draco Malfoy, Doctor Who, Percy Jackson. This year Agent Coulson was a big hit. Eventually he'll want to go out without me trick-or-treating. And then he'll be done with it altogether. Someday soon I'll have to stop sending gifts from "Santa" -- that day is coming very soon, I think. He'll be twelve, he can't believe forever, though I'd like for him to.

Not trying to be a downer, but when you're a writer this kind of stuff gets stuck in your head.

It's not all doom and gloom. Like the song says, endings means new beginnings. Next year in middle school, he'll have all kinds of firsts. First time moving classes every period. First time coming home earlier than we do. First time using a locker (yikes!). I'm sure I'll have all kinds of new and interesting stuff to look forward to.

Meanwhile, I'll enjoy what remains of what we're doing now. Tempus fugit!

Life at 900 Miles Per Hour

It's been pretty busy around these parts of late. Not really with the new book, though we've sent out some electronic galleys to writers in order to gather some cover blurbs.Giving them time to read the book while they do all of THEIR own writing stuff. I thank them for whatever effort they can give.

I've been writing, of course, though it seems to be going slowly. And I've been doing a lot of other stuff for book promo, all the pre-pub stuff that needs to be done. Mostly booking appearances. My May looks like a maniac's calendar. So far I am booked at the following places:

May 10-11: Maryland Faerie Festival
May 17-18: Steampunk World's Fair
May 24-26: Balticon

If this isn't enough, there's also a chance of my heading up to BEA the weekend after Balticon, just to hang out with other Strange Chemistry people and maybe meet my editor, Amanda. We'll see if that happens. These events above, I'm mostly doing promo for the book -- handing out postcards and bookmarks, and maybe some other goodies if I can get my crap together. I need something really cool. But since the cover isn't ready yet I can't quite do that. Hopefully soon!!! Once that cover comes out, I'll be doing a cover reveal at YABC and all over the place!

Oh, and at Balticon I'll also be launching GASLIGHT AND GRIMM, a Steampunk anthology coming from Darkquest Books, where I have a story, as well as (hopefully), Alma Alexander's new YA book RANDOM, and the new Steampunk YA, ALI BABA AND THE CLOCKWORK DJINN, both coming from Palomino Press.

THEN, I'll be on faculty for the NJSCBWI conference at the end of June. And finally, I'll be at CONvergence July 3-6. Or mostly July 4-5, since the 3rd and 6th will be travel days. Now, at THAT convention I WILL be signing ARCs of the new book, stationed at the Strange Chemistry book in the dealer's room. There may even be some kind of SCB reception/meet-the-readers kind of thing. Not sure yet.

Yes, the schedule is packed. And somewhere in there I will also be working on the launch party for A CURSE OF ASH AND IRON, which looks like it will probably be in a Haddonfield, NJ in September, and then booking up some signings after that, before I go to the Baltimore Book Festival at the end of Sept.

And, if that that wasn't enough, in the middle of all this...I got a new job. I haven't really been talking about it too much because it sort of happened in Slo-Motion. First I sent a resume, then I had an interview, then another...then I got the offer, then I had to wait for their school board to approve me, then I had to submit my resignation at my old job and give my notice. Now it's all paperwork to be finished.

I am really happy about the new job. I will miss the people and the kids where I am now, but in the end it's the right choice for me for about a million reasons. Older kids and older kid books (its a K-8 school). Structure. Dependability. All kinds of other things that would take another ten pages to explain. It's not any closer to my house, the money is slightly less, but in the end it's what I need to do.  And, of course, the timing is terrible. I'll be starting right in the middle of state testing, right at the end of the year...and right before my writing life goes from 0-60mph in about 2 seconds. I start April 30.  I know, I must be an idiot, but this is the way it had to go.

I WILL make it. I won't bail, or fall. And in July, I will sleep. And sleep. And hopefully have enough of the new books done that I can spend the summer revising and turn them in in the Fall. Sigh.

Purging the Clutter

It's summer again, and that means 10 weeks of no work. Which is great, except for the fact there's no paycheck coming in. But it gives me the chance to sleep in (not), write (more than usual, but I'm not sitting and writing 8 hours a day) and clean. Yeah, well, I hate cleaning, like most people. Every summer, it seems, the house has become filled with the junk of the rest of the year that we were too busy to put away. It doesn't look like the picture above, thank goodness. But we haven't eaten a meal at our dining room table for probably eight months. And I HATE clutter. So I spend days every summer cleaning. I've discovered that some of the furniture I have that I didn't personally choose, like our end table we rescued from the curb, and the dining room set I bought from the previous owner of the house for a ridiculously low amount of money, are actually decent antiques. Huh.

This year I've decided to purge as well -- get rid of stuff we no longer need or use, and make room to breathe (or for more stuff, I haven't quite figured that out yet). 

It's quite cathartic, to rip everything out and clean and then put it all back, and decide what to get rid of and what to keep. But what to do with all that stuff. I'm not the person who throws away perfectly good stuff. I actually hate tossing good stuff. If it's usable and in good shape, someone else can make use of it. This year I discovered my local area yard sale Facebook pages. Yeah, right? What's that about? It's easy, really. Take a picture of your stuff, put it on the site with what it is and how much you want and how you want people to get it (porch pick up or meet locally). Then people say they're interested and you work out the details of how to make the exchange. Easy peasy. I've joined three, and I've sold a bunch of stuff on them, not for any great amount of money -- they're bargain hunter and yard sale sites, after all-- but I am glad to have the stuff in the hands of people who need it. Two things I sold because people were looking for them and I happened to have them and wasn't using them. The money, like I said, isn't great, but I'm putting everything I get toward our camping trip next week. Everything that doesn't sell will go to the local thrift store, and I will take the tax deduction for donating. 

And in the end, my little bungalow house will feel a little larger, and life a little more streamlined. I find it's better for thinking. Once the cleaning is done, I will have time to do some of the home improvement projects I have lined up. Which my husband is not as enthusiastic about as I am, for some reason... 

Life is much stranger than fiction

January has been a real...challenge.

My husband, who has had various digestive problems for nearly two years, finally had surgery. Which actually turned out fine (thank goodness). But he was in the hospital for five days, which required a bit of juggling on my part.

About three days after he came home, I had a car accident. It was raining and dark and I had taken another route to work in order to avoid traffic and flooding. I just didn't see the guy. I was fine, mostly, but sore. I took my own visit to the hospital to be safe. The car was...not fine. The insurance company totaled it. I loved that car.

Meanwhile, three days later, my laptop died. Just died. Not the battery, not the power cord. Dead. I was planning on replacing it this year. Later this year.

I mean, overall it's come out okay. Hubby is getting better, I got a new car (along with new car payments, thanks), and I will be getting a retroactive paycheck that should cover most of the new laptop. I had wanted to buy us a new grill, but, c'est la vie. I need the laptop.

This month has been such a comedy of errors that if I wrote it in a book, the editor would laugh me out of the room. I was starting to feel like ol' Will up there in the poster, listening for my narration. Why is it that when we read something that could actually happen but is such a string of terrible luck or coincidence (the accident was just waiting to happen, I swear. I made deliberate choices about the route I took that morning) that we don't believe it? It sounds so outrageous, so implausible on paper, but yet, here I am, living it out.

Just goes to prove. Life is mush stranger than fiction. You really can't make this stuff up.

I hope February is better.