If you’re an audiobook fanatic, you might be interested to know that I received an excerpt of the very fantastic Stephanie Willing giving voice to Lemon Ziegler in A Misfortune of Lake Monsters and am downright giddy about it (and I’m probably days away from the getting to hear the final version of the full book–I’ve totally got ants in my pants about it: I’ve been waiting for this moment for months!). Now might be a very good time to sign up for my monthly author newsletter if you haven’t already done so: newsletter subscribers are going to get a sneak peek (sneak listen?) at that excerpt in the next issue (out on April 1), and first crack at hardcover preorders… which includes a fairly awesome cotton tote bag that is only available for the first 50 orders.

In other news, the fabulous Kathleen Fine, author of Girl On Trial, interviewed me for her Behind the Pen series! Do check that out if you might be curious about the oddities I keep in my home office. A life-size heart that looks freshly torn from someone’s chest? Yeah, I’ve got one of those. Something I didn’t mention in the interview but which is one of my prized possessions: a framed poster from a Henry Rollins spoken word tour that a friend of mine picked up about a decade or so ago–she had him write a personal message to me on the poster, which continues to make me laugh every single time I look at it. Hey, not everything in my office is dripping blood!

Lastly, I received word today that the hardcovers of A Misfortune of Lake Monsters have gone to print! As I sit here in my writing office, typing this, the wind is absolutely howling outside–so much so that I’m shivering, despite wearing a heavy sweater and a few other layers… yet it warms the poisoned cockles of my cold, dead heart to know I’m going to have final copies of my baby soon. I’ve had a short story included in a hardcover edition before, but not a book of my very own–and not one with a handsome jacket. It’s a delight to me that there are still firsts for me as a writer, despite my Elder Crone status. And while I’m thrilled to be able to lay hands on my book, what I’m even more excited about it getting to sign a few and send them off to the very wonderful writers who agreed to blurb Lake Monsters. It feels like such an adult thing to do–again, as an Elder Crone, you’d think I’d be firmly entrenched in my adulthood, yet I don’t feel that way at all… in my personal life or my writing life. Maybe that’s a good thing?