Excerpts, Audio Clips, and iBooks! Oh, my!

Oh my goodness, it's getting close to the pub date! Every time I look at the calendar I get the same kind of fluttery feeling in my stomach I get when J and I approach the top of one of the High Peaks (except Whiteface). We are almost there!!!!

And things are happening. Like this:

• Allison Winn Scotch included STAY in her list of debut summer reads last week!!! Few things in life feel as amazing as being mentioned by an author you completely and totally admire (or being mentioned in such amazing company)! I've been on cloud nine since I saw her post!
• There's new stuff up on the website! If you visit the Book page, there are links to the audio book clip of the prologue for STAY, the first chapter, and a reading group guide (which you probably shouldn't read until you've read the book). And, if your book club reads STAY and would like me to call in, Skype, chat online, or answer group questions by e-mail, there's more information on the Contact page.
• If you read the first chapter and are dying for just a little bit more, check out STAY at iBooks, where there's a longer excerpt available for iPad users.

Oh, and I went to B&N this weekend to buy a copy of Diamond Ruby by @Joe_Wallace. I was practically skipping in the store, because going to the bookstore to buy a book by one of your Twitter friends is such a cool feeling. I've been following Joe's book journey for a long time now, and it was amazing to actually pull his book off the shelf (I'm not just a writer, I am a complete book nerd!). While I was there, trying my hardest not to skip in public, I stopped in the cafe to grab a lemonade and came face to face with . . . my face!

I don't think my brain was even completely able to make sense of it. I've thought about how it will feel to walk into the bookstore and see my book on the shelves, but I still have a few weeks, and it simply hadn't occurred to me that there would be signs!

The man in line in front of me kept looking at the sign. I stood there, trying hard not to watch him. It's a little odd to catch someone staring at a sign with your face on it, but I think it might be even more odd to catch someone staring at you while you're staring at a poster with their face on it. So, I looked at the scuff marks on my shoes, studied a hangnail, and read the back cover of Joe's book again. I tried really hard to think of something to say when the man eventually turned around realized that the picture he'd been looking at was the person standing behind him. I drew a complete blank, which turned out to be just fine. He finished checking out and looked directly at me as he walked past, but there wasn't the slightest hint of recognition on his face. I think there's a lot to be said for context, and not seeing what isn't expected. Or maybe he was just zoning out in the general direction of the event poster. Either way, it made for one of the most surreal moments of my life thus far.

We are almost there!!!