River Road Books & Mostly Shepherds!

Okay, so I guess I shouldn't promise to post something "tomorrow" ever again, because my version of tomorrow takes half a week, apparently.  But oh, my goodness, I loved doing the STAY event at River Road Books in Fair Haven, NJ.  I'm still smiling about it!  Such a great group of people and wonderful dogs!

River Road Books is a beautiful book store run by a great group of book loving ladies!  They're such a vital and vibrant part of the community, offering a summer reading program for kids, writing workshops, and other events.  It's nice to see an indie bookstore that is thriving!

I read from STAY, answered questions, and signed books.  Libby Cook from Mostly Shepherds talked about her amazing rescue organization, and showed off a few of the adoptable animals at Mostly Shepherds.

Me & Gidget

I love dogs in general, although I tend to be more of a big dog person, but I fell hard for Gidget.  She's a Jack Russell/Pug mix (or "Jug") who acts like a big dog in a twelve pound package.  She's so sweet and funny and I had the hardest time resisting the urge to smuggle her home in my handbag.  Her listing is here, complete with an adorable video of her playing with a tennis ball that's almost as big as her head.

Libby had Magnum, a super smart German Shepherd with a long stock coat (like Argo's), do a few tricks for the crowd.  He'd only had two obedience classes before the event and he was already performing like a pro.  You can see a video of Magnum working on his obedience training on his listing here.  He was so calm, considering the crowd of people!

Magnum & Libby

One of the people at the event was a lovely woman who had adopted a German Shepherd from Libby about ten years ago.  She got up and talked about how her dog changed her life.  It was so moving!  She also said that German Shepherds are one of the more frequently abused breeds.  New dog owners mistakenly think that because German Shepherds are big, powerful dogs, they need to be handled roughly, but the most important thing an owner needs to train a German Shepherd is love.

What she said has stuck with me, because it's so true!  Positive reinforcement goes a long way with German Shepherds.  What they want most is to be a part of a pack.  When you love them and bond with them and make sure they know they belong with you, they will do everything they can to make you happy.  Giving them the opportunity to succeed goes a lot further than any kind of harsh correction ever could.  I think it's also important to note that herding dogs are wired a little differently from other breeds, and even if you're an experience dog owner, if you've never had a herding dog, doing research and talking to people with herding breed experience will be incredibly helpful.

It was so nice to spend time chatting with people who love books and German Shepherds as much as I do!  If you're in the New Jersey area and are thinking about adopting a dog, get in touch with Libby and Mostly Shepherds.  She's very mindful of matching the right owners to the right dog, and is a genuinely beautiful and inspiring person.  It was an honor to meet her.

There was also a kitty in attendance, but I believe she's been adopted.  However, Mostly Shepherds has a few more adoptable cats listed.

Roberta Van Anda from the Rumson-Fair Haven Patch was there and posted about the event, so you can read more about it, and see more pictures here. 

Before the event, I had a great little walk down memory lane Broad Street.  I lived in Red Bank, NJ (right next door to Fair Haven) one summer in the late nineties, and it was also just plain cool to have the opportunity to bum around downtown again.  I expected everything to be different. It's been over a decade since my last visit, but Red Bank is still hopping.  So many of the local stores and restaurants I loved when I lived there are going strong, like The Bistro (where I once accidentally wore my brand new summer dress to dinner inside out), The Downtown (where one of my roommates and I played along with the band leader at a swing show and pretended to be Swedish Swing Dance Champions . . . long story*), and, this place:

Now I'm back home, doing some writing, gearing up for my event in Batavia at Present Tense Books next week, and cuddling with my German Shepherds.  

I was only gone for a night, but they get pretty clingy when I've been away.  

Oh, and if you haven't already entered, I'm giving away five copies of STAY plus gourmet dog cookies!

*No, actually, it's not a long story. That's pretty much the whole story right there.  A good time was had by all.

Things that have happened - The Epic List Post

Wow, I've had blog back up syndrome.  There are too many things I've been meaning to blog about, but I haven't gotten around to blogging, because I feel like I need to address the things I should have posted about before I get to current stuff.  So here is an epic list post to catch you up.  With pictures.  Because pictures are good.

A few weeks ago, there was an airshow that seemed to happen directly over our house ALL weekend.

Stella was terrified.  Argo was curious.  Not about the planes.  He didn't notice them, even when the windows rattled and the ground shook.  Argo was curious as to why I was lying on my back with the camera in the back yard.

I made a video.

I went to an awesome book club that Steph the Bookworm organized! And had such a wonderful time chatting about STAY and other books we love!

I wrote a lot (no pictures).

STAY came out in paperback, and to celebrate, I did a reading at the Greece Barnes & Noble, and spent a lovely afternoon at the Syracuse University Bookstore Book Fair for the second time, signing books with David Klein and Joan Ford.

And got to visit with my favorite Bigfoot novelist.  After the fair, I had dinner with The Other 1/4, and no cars were lost.

I had a blast hanging out with dog lovers at a STAY signing and Bark-B-Q at A Barker's Dozen, and got to meet Lucky, who is a super sweet adoptable Giant Schnauzer mix.  Lucky will be listed with Going to the Dogs Rescue after he gets a little extra training from Tails of Success.

Last week, I went to Edison, New Jersey to shoot a segment for The Pet Stop on New Jersey 12!  The segment aired last weekend locally, and I'll be sure to post it here when it's up on YouTube later this month.

And I just got back from my second trip to New Jersey for an event at River Road Books.  More on that tomorrow!

Book Club!

Last night I have the pleasure of hanging out with the lovely ladies of the Holy Trinity Church Book Club in Webster, NY.* They've been together for about three years and have an impressive list of books they've read and discussed. They're insightful, warm, and welcoming, and I am thrilled that they chose to read STAY and invite me to their book discussion. It was my first book club visit and it was so much fun!

We had such a great chat, and it means so much to me to have had the chance to talk with them. They asked about my writing process, and what my day to day life looks like. We talked about what it feels like to have a girlfriend who always seems just a little more perfect than you are, why Van felt the way she did about Diane, and what Peter was really about to say when he was interrupted. One of the ladies said she enjoyed watching Van grow as a person. Then another chimed in to say that she felt like she grew as a person reading STAY. She said that she had instant opinions about Diane, Janie, and Peter, and as she read further and learned more about the whys of who they are, it changed how she felt about them. This made her think about how sometimes we're too quick to judge people without trying to figure out where they're coming from.

I am honored by what she said, and everyone's kind words about STAY. I think the biggest gift of being a writer is to hear that what I wrote means something to readers, and I am so thankful for this.

It was a wonderful way to spend an evening! And they sent me home with treats for all of my furry friends and a lovely plant that is brighting up my office so much on this dark and dreary day! So sweet!

Thank you so much, Holy Trinity Book Club!

*Fun trivia: The "tagline" for the town of Webster, NY (which is, admittedly, quite lovely) is "Where Life is Worth Living," and it has always amused me. Apparently, it's not worth it elsewhere. I guess we'll have to move. :)

I swear I don't need a refresher on the days of the week

I know, I know, I missed a Friday again. It's not that I don't know what day is which, it's that I was so completely and totally exhausted on Friday that the idea of posting felt ridiculously involved and difficult. Ah, the joys of ADD. I swear the tagline for ADD (you know, if we were to all start promoting it) should be "Making molehills seem like mountains since 1798.*"

So, here's the final Friday prize - In addition to all the other fun stuff you'll get if you win, I'm throwing a signed ARC of STAY into the prize pack. ARCs are printed as review copies before the book comes out. There's only a small batch printed and once they're gone, they're gone, so they become something of a rarity. Submit your STAY photo before 10/31 to enter!

The reading at Fisher on Thursday was wonderful. I got to have dinner with faculty and a great group of students before the main event. When I got to the reading, I was stunned by how packed the room was! I had a blast. I read from the writing exercise that started STAY and the short story I wrote from the exercise, before I read a few selections from STAY. The students asked a bunch of questions no one has asked me before, I got to meet Steph (on the left) finally, and one of the students asked me to write "Mrs. X can suck it" in his book when I signed it. It was awesome.

And the day before that, I visited M. J. Iuppa's fiction class. STAY was actually course-adopted, and it was so much fun to be able to talk about the book with the class, knowing everyone had read it. Usually, when I talk with a group about STAY there's so much I have to avoid talking about so I don't spoil anything for the people who haven't read it yet. It was neat to talk in-depth about the ending and how I got there, and hear their ideas on the Van/Janie/Diane/Natalie dynamic.

This week I'm going to a book club! STAY was their pick for this month. It'll be my first book club chat and I'm really looking forward to it.

And, today I'm doing laundry, paying bills, answering e-mail, listening to Toad, wallowing in the icky grey weather, drinking absurd amounts of pumpkin spice tea, and possibly catching up on Desperate Housewives later while I eat lunch. It always amazes me how real life sneaks back in after a crazy whirlwind week.

What's on your agenda?

*The year Sir Alexander Crichton used the term "mental restlessness" to describe what we now call ADD. And, of course, I do realize that ADD existed before anyone was writing stuff about it. In fact, there may actually be a reason some of us evolved this way.

My oldest friends

On the plane back from Seattle earlier this summer, I read THE ONE THAT I WANT by Allison Winn Scotch (it's wonderful, go order it, I'll wait. . . ). There's a line in the book where the main character talks about how she and her friends from high school "raised each other." I read that line and spent the next twenty minutes fighting back tears, because it was such a perfect way to talk about that kind of friendship, and it reminded me of my friends from high school.

Last weekend, I had a reading in Poughkeepsie at the Maple Grove Restoration. I drove down on Saturday, and went to the Dutchess County Fair with 2 out of 3 of the Robs, and K. We met up with a friend we hadn't seen in seventeen years (when did we get so old that this is even possible?) and walked around looking at pigs and prize chickens, eating maple sugar cotton candy, and catching up. And even though we were still an hour away from where we grew up, it was like being home in all the good ways and none of the bad. It was hard to leave when it was over.

The reading on Sunday was wonderful. Daphne Uviller and Amitava Kumar read too. It was great to have the opportunity to hear other writers talk about their process - what sparks an idea, why they can't let it go. And I got to look up from reading and see so many familiar faces (including one who lives in Oklahoma and surprised us all!).

After the reading, we went out to dinner. We were talking and laughing and telling old jokes, and I had a moment where I looked at all of them and thought, these are the people who raised me. They are my oldest friends. I take after them. I grew up with them. I got my strange sense of humor from Tom and the Robs and the other guys in our group. I laugh with reckless abandon, because my friend S always has and it's beautiful. I've learned so many things about compassion from K.

They've known me as long as I've known myself. I fell on my face in front of them, time and time again -- the way you do when you're growing up -- and they love me anyway, or maybe even because of it. We went through the growing pains and the bad hair and the bad clothes and the bad teachers and the broken hearts together. And for the most part, if you don't count things like the time one of the Robs threw me in the dumpster behind the school (because I don't, you know, not really. . . or at least not very much), we were pretty kind and careful with each other. I am so thankful that I got to grow up with all of them and that I still have them in my life. And I'm so touched that they came out to support me.

Also, if you're wondering, yes, that brave soul to the far right is, indeed, the lovely and amazing Noelle Tannenbaum. She's now an honorary Somers grad, whether she likes it or not. It was so much fun to hang out with her again! You know, hers is the first personal blog I ever started reading, by the way, which makes her my oldest blog friend.

So, basically, I had a wonderful, wonderful weekend, and now I miss everyone like crazy and need to start planning my next trip. Also, since I was away, my canine entourage is a little more intense again. I need to go now so I can sit perfectly still on the floor next to Stella while she considers eating.

Book Fairs and German Shepherds and Bigfoot, oh my!

Well, I didn't mean to vlog and disappear like that!

I've spent the past week playing catch up on all the things that didn't get done while I was away. I'm starting to think that I need to find a way to be comfortable in the realm of not caught up, because I am always falling short of grabbing the "all caught up" brass ring. Is that just a normal state of life, or do you find that you have actual leisure time where everything that needs to be done is just done and you can sit around reading, or watching tv, or go play mini-golf without everything else hanging over your head? Or do you have to push all the to dos aside from time to time to carve out a little space for some down time?

Last weekend, I had a blast at the Syracuse University Bookstore Book Fair at the Downtown Arts & Crafts Festival.

The booksellers were lovely and so much fun to talk with, and I got to sit next to Shane Durgee, who wrote a novel about a Bigfoot hunter.

Since you all know how I feel about Bigfoot, you can probably safely assume how I felt about getting to talk about Bigfoot with Shane (if you can't, elated would be a good word to start with). Shane was awesome company and he drew a picture of Bigfoot in my copy of NORTH AMERICAN PRIMATES. And, I started reading it and am completely blown away. More on Shane & his book in future posts. Promise!

The Bigfoot novel alone would have made for an awesome day, but there were dogs, too! German Shepherd Rescue of Central New York is an absolutely wonderful group of people who are caring for some absolutely adorable dogs.

I fell in love with Sasha, an 18 month old GSD. She was so sweet, calm, and happy in the midst of the huge crowd of people at the fair. She even fell asleep right in the middle of it all toward the end of the day.

I wanted to sneak her home in my bag, but:

1. She wouldn't have fit
2. I think Stella (and J) would have been REALLY upset if I came home with another dog (Argo would have loved her)
3. I don't think that's how GSRCNY's adoption process works

If you live in Central NY and are thinking about adding a German Shepherd to your family, please check out GSRCNY. I'd love to hear happy stories about Sasha in her new forever home.

Then, to top off an already fantastic day, The Other 1/4 and The Accountant came to see me at the book fair. I wish I had the right words to fully explain the all-is-right-with-the-world kind of feeling I get when I get to spend time with my Ladies. I wish I could bottle it. I never stop feeling lucky for having the kind of friends who are the most excellent family.

I have a great Other 1/4 story to tell you, which also reminds me that I should explain why she's The Other 1/4 to begin with. This week. I promise. :)

So, in closing, I want to know if you ever feel "done" with your to dos, I owe you a post about Shane's book and one about The Other 1/4, and Sasha is awesome and adoptable.

Thank you, and goodnight. :)

I showered!

Okay, here's my first attempt at video blogging. It's also only the second time I've ever used iMovie, so it's all a little weird. And, quite frankly, I'm a little weird, but, you know . . . Anyway, I won't do the whole vlogging thing to you all that often, but if you have questions you'd like me to answer via vlog, leave me a comment or send me an e-mail. (BTW - I think I kind of hate the word vlog. It sounds like something you cough up when you're sick.)

So, tomorrow (Saturday, July 31st, 2010) I will be at the Syracuse University Bookstore Book Fair from 1-5 PM, along with adoptable German Shepherds from GSRCNY.org and a bunch of fantastic New York State writers. If you're local, I hope to see you there!

Notes from the road

I'm in Denver! I haven't seen much of the city yet, but from what I've seen, I love it! And, as someone with asthma, I am amazed by just how well I can breathe here. I can totally understand why Asthma Mom moved her family here. I went running this morning and my body tired out (altitude) but my lungs didn't. It's wonderful! And gorgeous!

And I get to stay with my dear friend, M, her adorable fiance, and their sweet, sweet dogs (one of whom is lying at my feet while I type).

I'm speaking at a creative writing class at Regis University this afternoon, and reading at Tattered Cover tonight. I am SO excited! I am addicted to the Authors On Tour podcasts and have been hearing about the legendary Tattered Cover stores for years and years now. To be completely honest, I would be in total awe to just get to visit Tattered Cover, so to get to READ there is just beyond my comprehension. And I'm going to get to meet some blog friends I've known since I started blogging in person (finally).

Also, if you see pigs flying around, it's because . . . . I IRONED. I'm not joking. I actually ironed the dress I'm going to wear tonight. Ten bucks says I'm all wrinkled my the time I get there, but I will have started out the evening neatly pressed. That's got to count for something, right?

The event at Treehouse Books in Holland, MI was wonderful! I had so much fun! The room was completely packed and we had a great discussion going. I really love getting to talk with people who come to readings. I learn so much about how other people approach writing and reading. J's family and family friends came out in full force! And I got to meet a blog friend I've known for years.

On Saturday, we spent the day out on Lake Michigan with the family. Perfect weather, so much fun, and a chance to make sandcastles with my niece and nephew. Awesome!

I think I did a pretty good job packing for this leg of my trip, thanks to all of your tips, but I still feel like my suitcase exploded everywhere the second I opened it. I've seen some travel pouches for clothes on a few sites. Maybe I need to consider packing every day's clothes in it's own pouch? Is that going too far?

I'm traveling with just an iPad and cannot for the life of me figure out how to get photos into this post. So, I'm going to just direct you over to my flickr page to see photos from the Treehouse Books event. I'm really not sure what I think about this iPad - on the one hand, watching Entourage on the airplane = awesome, as does not lugging my big heavy laptop. On the other hand, no track changes in Pages KILLS me, and all my blog posting interfaces feel kind of buggy. So, I feel like traveling without my laptop is still a bit of a handicap. The jury is still out on this one.

On the road again!

So, I am feeling better! That was not pretty. I was getting to the point where the sound of my own cough was annoying the crud out of me.

I've finally unpacked from my Seattle trip...so I can pack again to head to Holland, MI for a reading at Treehouse Books on Friday night. The big suitcase we took to Seattle never made it past the kitchen. Right under the toaster. We're good like that.

Do you travel a lot? Do you have travel tips? If so, I would like to hear them. I feel like I pack too much, but not the right things, and the second I open my suitcase there's a huge explosion of clothes everywhere. I long to be one of those super organized travelers who has everything they need and nothing more, folded neatly in perfect little compartments. I do suspect that super organized and me are not congruent terms, but I'd settle for less messy.

In Mrs. X can suck it news, The Miami Herald included STAY in their list of beach reads and said some really nice things!

And here are more amazing links:

Inside the Writer's Cafe - Radio interview with Cheryl Nason

The Burlington Times News

Examiner.com

Between the Covers

Coffee Time Romance

Bright Yellow World

Mandy Hubbard

Simply Me

M.I.S.S.

LA Youth

Trish's Dishes